Lord Dearborn's Destiny (15 page)

A short time later, everyone but the Fenwicks ventured out: the ladies to see the beauties the grounds offered and the gentlemen, at Forrest's suggestion, to discover what the fishing might be like. The Countess set a surprisingly brisk pace, and the group arrived at the dower house in under ten minutes. Ellie looked eagerly about her as they went, revelling in the feel of soft, springy grass beneath her feet and the warm, rich scents of early summer.

"Here we are," said Lady Dearborn cheerily as they came within sight of a handsome half-timbered house. "I vow, I can scarcely wait to live here. I have always wished to be a dowager, you know," she said conspiratorially to Mrs. Winston-Fitts, but in a voice loud enough for all to hear. "Then my eccentricities might be more readily excused. I have enough of them, goodness knows!"

Ellie glanced at the Earl as his mother spoke to see how he would react to her blatant prodding and was diverted to see his colour deepen. Never one to dwell on her own disappointments, she could not help smiling at Lady Dearborn's humour and her son's discomfiture at it. Lord Dearborn caught her amused glance and grimaced in response, rolling his eyes at his mother's words. Ellie stifled a giggle and quickly looked away, lest the others —her aunt in particular —notice and question the nature of their private joke.

As the Countess moved ahead, she heard Mrs. Winston-Fitts murmur to Rosalind, "There, my dear! Doubtless Lady Dearborn will take all her beastly cats along with her to the dower house once you are married."

Ellie suddenly lost any desire to laugh.

After a brief tour of the dower house, which was of handsome proportions, if in need of redecorating, the ladies went on to see the duck pond while the Earl led the gentlemen in the direction of a small lake fed by the stream they had crossed on their first approach to the house. As she had the day before, the Countess attempted to draw Rosalind out of herself, but with no more success. Meanwhile, Ellie was striking up a friendship with Lord Dearborn's sister, Lady Glenhaven.

"Teddy loves to come here for the fishing," Juliet confided to Miss O'Day after the gentlemen departed. "He would spend the entire summer here in that pursuit if he did not need to attend to his own estates, I believe."

"My father was fond of the sport, also," Ellie told her, "and I must admit that I rather enjoy it myself, though I have not had a chance to fish, of course, since I was quite a child." She was liking Lady Glenhaven very well. Though Juliet was nearly as shy as Rosalind, what little of her conversation Ellie had so far heard showed her to be both intelligent and informed.

"Do you really?" Lady Glenhaven was delighted. "I did so as a girl, as well. Perhaps the two of us might slip out one morning to indulge —I believe my old tackle box and poles are still in the stables."

Ellie had just acceded to the plan when Mrs. Winston-Fitts called out for her to keep up. She wrinkled her nose at her aunt's peremptory tone, which caused Juliet to choke with laughter. With a final smile for her new friend, Ellie trotted to Mrs. Winston-Fitts's side to echo any praises she might utter on her daughter's behalf for the remainder of the tour.
 

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"No, No, Rosie! You have to follow suit!" Though normally patience itself with her cousin's slower understanding, Ellie was growing increasingly exasperated after nearly an hour of trying to explain the rudiments of whist to her. "Really, you must attend."

"Perhaps I won't play tonight, after all," said Rosalind, pushing her cards to the centre of the table with a sigh. "I cannot seem to grasp it at all."

"But I thought you wished to learn, to please the Earl and his mother," Ellie reminded her, gathering up the cards so that she could deal them out again. She had intended to go over a hand or two with all cards showing, and then ask her aunt and uncle to make up a table for a few practice games, but Rosalind was not yet ready for that step.

"I thought I did, too, for it sounded like fun. But I had no idea it would be so
difficult."

"It's not— well, never mind. It is almost time to dress for dinner. Perhaps you can sit out tonight and we can try again tomorrow." Ellie had no real enthusiasm for another attempt just then, either.
 

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That evening, the Countess was determined not to be put off again. Really, it had been ages since she had enjoyed a good game of whist! She had invited the vicar for dinner that evening solely because he was one of the best players she knew of, barring Forrest and herself, of course. Therefore, when the ladies entered the drawing-room after dinner, four tables had already been set up at Lady Dearborn's express orders.

"How went Rosalind's lesson this afternoon, Elinor?" asked Mrs. Winston-Fitts in an undertone, seeing the inevitable before her.

"Not well, I'm afraid, Aunt Mabel," Ellie confessed. "I fear she is by no means ready to play against anyone of skill."
Or anyone who understands the rules,
she added silently.

"How can that be? The two of you were closeted together for an hour!" her aunt hissed. "You said you knew the game. I am most disappointed in you, Elinor."
 

Lady Dearborn directed a comment her way just then, and Mrs. Winston-Fitts turned with a brittle smile. "I beg your pardon, my lady. Of course, we shall all be delighted to play."

"Excellent!" The Countess beamed. "Lady Emma is feeling poorly, and wishes to retire early, but with Mr. Marsh here, we will have just sixteen."
 

In truth, from something Forrest had told her, she had expected Miss Winston-Fitts, and possibly her parents, to beg off, as well. The news that Forrest's Rosalind could in fact play came as a welcome surprise to her.

The gentlemen came in a few minutes later, and Lady Dearborn immediately appropriated Mr. Marsh, the vicar, as her partner. "Forrest, perhaps you and Miss Winston-Fitts would like to play at our table," she suggested. That would allow her to gauge the level of her future daughter-in-law's play.

To her surprise, however, Forrest responded, "I'll be happy to be your opponent, Mother, but it will have to be with Miss O'Day as my partner. I have already promised to test her skill at the game. Perhaps we can mix up the tables later on," he added as an afterthought, apparently realizing that his response might seem to slight the girl he had all but offered for.

As they took their places, he whispered to Ellie, "I thought you said Miss Winston-Fitts and her mother did not play," with a significant nod to the table where all three Winston-Fittses were seated with John Willoughby. The elder Willoughbys were seated opposite Sir William and Lady Fenwick, while Miss Childs and Timothy Willoughby challenged Lord and Lady Glenhaven.

"I can't answer for Aunt Mabel, but I cannot but sympathize with Mr. Willoughby as Rosalind's partner," Ellie whispered back, "for I gave her her first lesson in the game this afternoon. Perhaps in actual play she will pick it up fairly quickly." This last was said more in the spirit of complimenting Rosalind to her future husband than from any conviction that her words might prove true.

The Countess called their attention to the game at that point, and Ellie was soon completely absorbed in the play. The years since she had last played seemed to melt away as she kept careful count of the cards as they were laid on the table, theorizing which ones were likely left in which player's hand. The mathematics at which she had always excelled as a girl stood her in good stead in the game, just as it had contributed to her skill at the pianoforte. When points were counted up at the end of the hand, Ellie and Lord Dearborn were well in the lead.

"It is a good thing the stakes tonight are imaginary, or we should owe my son and Miss O'Day a small fortune, Mr. Marsh," said Lady Dearborn when the Earl and Ellie made game a few hands later. "Forrest, why did you not warn me that we had an expert in our midst? I vow, I don't believe you misplayed one card, Miss O'Day."

"I was dealt good hands, my lady," Ellie disclaimed. "I do enjoy whist, though. It was my father's favourite game."

"And his father's, too, as I recall," replied the Countess with a reminiscent smile. "Lord Kerrigan was a formidable player when he was young, and I do not doubt that he has improved with age."

Soon after that, the assembled party stopped to take some refreshment before sitting down again with different partners. This time Ellie was partnered by Juliet, playing opposite the Willoughby brothers, while Lord Dearborn teamed with Miss Winston-Fitts to play opposite her father and the Countess. Mrs. Winston-Fitts was successful in persuading the Fenwicks and Prudence Childs to sit out and observe for a while.

"Perhaps I can win back some of what I have lost," said John Willoughby cheerfully as he seated himself. "To think I grumbled about the stakes being imaginary tonight!" He shook his head and groaned.

"You'll not win any back if we can help it, John," said Lady Glenhaven with the easy banter of long familiarity. "The ladies will win the day, you'll see."
 

Unfortunately for the Willoughbys, she was correct. Juliet was no mean player herself and her skill, combined with Ellie's, allowed the brothers very few points, though the dealing, if anything, was in the young men's favour.

"We make a good team, do we not?" she asked as she tallied up their winnings after a final, hard-fought hand. "You had best take care, Miss O'Day, or Mama will never let you leave Huntington Park. She is constantly on the alert for good whist players to add to her circle."

Ellie returned a suitably light remark, but she could feel her insides contracting. More and more, it looked as though she was to be forced to stay here after Rosalind's marriage, and much as she was growing to love the house and its inhabitants, she could think of no fate more certain to bring her constant pain. She prayed that the longed-for invitation from her grandfather might come soon.
 

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"Are you certain you have no clubs?" Forrest asked Rosalind as she played a six of hearts on the five of clubs he had led.

"Oh, yes, I suppose I do." She picked up the card she had played and replaced it with the king of clubs, which he had been fairly certain she held. As a matter of fact, she had misplayed so many times that he had seen nearly every card in her hand by now—as had their opponents.

"Our game!" said the Countess triumphantly at the end of the hand. "We must be about even now, Forrest. Let me see... yes, I have won back all but a hundred pounds." As always when the stakes were fictitious, they were playing for exorbitant sums. "Another game?"

"I'm willing," said Mr. Winston-Fitts at once. He was clearly enjoying himself enormously, in spite of his daughter's abysmal performance.

"Would you care for a walk in the gardens, Miss Winston-Fitts?" asked the Earl, desperate to do anything rather than continue with her as his whist partner. "Perhaps the Fenwicks would care to play some more."

The transition was quickly arranged, and Rosalind picked up her shawl, obviously as eager as Lord Dearborn to leave the card table. Forrest led her to the end of the room and opened one of the long French doors leading onto the terrace.

"I see we have nearly a full moon tonight," he remarked conversationally. "Mother will want everyone to stay until after the new moon, I imagine, so that they can travel more safely."

"Is... is it dangerous to travel after the full moon?" Rosalind was startled into asking.

"Just unlucky," replied Forrest with a smile. Really, she did look lovely in the moonlight —almost lovely enough to make him forget his irritation over her card-playing. "My mother is a consummate expert on all things pertaining to luck, as you will no doubt discover."

"Oh," said Rosalind softly, turning slightly away from him to gaze across the moonlit gardens.

Suddenly, Forrest realized that he had unwittingly created the ideal opportunity to propose to her. The moon, the gardens, everything was romantic perfection. He cleared his throat, but then stopped. Unaccountably, Ellie O'Day's face arose before his mind's eye, and he suddenly knew that he was not ready to commit himself to the beautiful but slow-witted girl beside him.

He thought of Ellie spending the afternoon trying to teach Miss Winston-Fitts to play whist, and his heart went out to her. He was certain he could never display so much patience himself —and, as Rosalind's husband, surely that and much more would be required of him. He would have to make her understand the running of his estates, her social obligations, even the balancing of a table of dinner guests. He was not at all certain that he could face the prospect. He imagined a lifetime of explaining the simplest matters, over and over, to his wife and felt suddenly tired.

"It is rather cool. Would you like to go back inside?" he asked abruptly. He knew full well that his mother, the Winston-Fittses —in short everyone —was expecting him to offer for Rosalind, but he couldn't do it. He was not certain how he might honourably withdraw his suit, but do so he must. He knew now that he could not sacrifice his life's happiness for the sake of propriety, honour —or even his supposed "Destiny". With a suddenly light heart and a spring in his step, he led Miss Winston-Fitts back into the house.
 

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Ellie misplayed her first card of the evening. Her entire attention was on the probable scene outdoors, where Lord Dearborn and Rosalind had disappeared a moment ago. She knew that her aunt had been contriving to get the two of them alone almost from the hour of their arrival at Huntington Park, but it appeared that this romantic
tete-a-tete
had been the Earl's idea, and not Aunt Mabel's. Ellie had no doubt that an announcement of his and Rosalind's betrothal would be made shortly, perhaps that very evening.