She Will Rejoice (2 page)

             
“It is a distance of about sixty miles,” he continued. “If we must, we can stop at an inn along the way. There is a clean one at our next change of horses.”

             
Naomi wondered if all the rumors about her husband could be wrong. He was not the unfeeling cad she had heard him to be.

             
“Do we need make that decision now?” she realized he was asking her preference on the matter.

             
“Not at all.”

             
She adjusted her hat with little success. It was slipping down the side and she could not seem to make it behave.

             
“You could simply take it off,” he suggested.

             
Naomi was sure she did not need to explain to him why she could not do that. Man or no man, he was aware that a lady must wear her hat in public.

             
“We are alone,” Mr. Haydn must have read her mind. “This is not a public conveyance.”

             
Her lips turned up at the corners.

             
“Do you always do what is proper, Naomi?” he still smiled, but his voice was serious.

             
She opted for honesty, “Until quite recently, my mother was convinced I would never do anything proper in all my life, Mr. Haydn.”

             
“Finn,” he interrupted her.

             
“Finn,” she found the name was becoming easier to utter. “I did not care for needlepoint or covering screens, and I was quite rebellious about sitting for my lessons.”

             
“Did you learn nothing while growing up then?”

             
A smirk caught hold of her lips before she could stop it, and the words that followed were just as inappropriate, “I learned to fish and climb a tree.”

             
Finn smiled broadly, “Fine accomplishments for a lady.”

             
Naomi cleared her throat, “I did not say they were.”

             
“Your mother must have had her hands full, attempting to tame you.”

             
“Perhaps she would have, had she tried.”

             
Finn leaned back and folded her arms across his chest, “Are you of such a stubborn nature that she gave up?”

             
Naomi tried not to be offended by the implication, “No. She simply encouraged my pursuits. In the past few years, I believe she wondered about the wisdom in letting me run so wild, but I am glad to have had a happy childhood, at least.”

             
“At least?”

             
She wished she had left off that last part.

             
“Do you mean to say you have no hopes of being happy now?”

             
Naomi searched for the right words to correct her error.

             
“I suppose,” he looked at her from under lowered brows, “there are plenty of reasons to be unhappy, married to a man like me.”

             
“Married to any man,” she shot back.

             
He was surprised.

             
“I do not mean to say I never wished to marry,” she hurried on. “I simply wasn’t prepared. . .that is, I hadn’t thought it to be so soon.”

             
“We were engaged for nearly four months. Just how long did you feel we should wait?”

             
Four months, indeed. The day after the banns were read, Mr. Haydn had left with his uncle on a trip to the north of England and hadn’t returned until the day before their wedding.

             
“I am but nineteen.”

             
“Many girls are married younger.”

             
“I do not know you, sir,” she finally got to the crux of the matter. “We have, perhaps, as great a chance at happiness as anyone else upon entering the marriage state, but I do not know you.”

             
Finn blinked as if he could not quite comprehend what she had just said.

             
“I mean no offense to you, Finn,” she assured him.

             
“I have not yet decided whether to be offended,” he spoke in earnest.

             
A soft laugh escaped her lips, “It is plain you do not know me either.”

             
He narrowed his eyes, “What makes you say that?”

             
“You are surprised by my forthright nature. Nobody who knows me ever is.”

             
He didn’t respond.

             
“Sometimes my family is surprised by what I say, but rarely are they astonished that I have said something I oughtn’t.”

             
Finn scratched at his cheek, making Naomi wonder if his beard was coming in. She had never seen him without a little stubble on his cheeks, but he had shaved completely for the wedding.

             
“I suppose there are benefits to having an outspoken wife,” his comment came slowly.

             
“Can you think of any?” she was truly curious.

             
He laughed, “I shall not have to worry about you keeping anything from me.”

             
“You are assuming I cannot keep a secret.”

             
“Can you?”

             
“Not very easily.”

             
His smile grew.

             
She knew she would have to keep the secret about all she had learned of him. He undoubtedly did not want all his faults brought back to him.

             
“Tell me, did any of your tutors succeed?”

             
She thought for a moment, “I do play piano, and I have a fair grasp on literature and geography.”

             
“Languages?”

             
She shook her head, “My French is terrible.”

             
“This is just as well,” he consoled her, “as I am not a fan of France.”

             
“Perhaps,” she argued, “but all ladies of good breeding should speak it fluently.

             
“Your mother has lectured you on this, I suppose.”

             
“My father,” she corrected his assumption. “He was afraid I would never find a husband, and he would be forced to support me all my life.”

             
Finn stared at her a moment. Then he spoke, “It was your father’s decision, wasn’t it?”

             
She did not have to guess at what he was asking.

             
“Yes. He made the decision the night he met you.”

             
Finn’s eyebrows rose, “I had not even met you.”

             
She laughed softly, “I hardly think that would matter to him. He had already decided he wanted me to marry you.”

             
Finn stared out the window, but she doubted his eyes were seeing anything in the dusky countryside.

             
“I am sorry,” she interrupted his thought. “I know you would have preferred a wife who wanted you. . .one who knew you and chose you.”

             
A humorless laugh met her statement, “Mrs. Haydn, I would have settled for a wife who chose me. It would be impossible to assume that one who knew me would want me.”

CHAPTER THREE

Naomi did not ask her husband to stop for the night. He was in a brooding mood, and, though could not yet discern how that would fully manifest itself, she had experience enough with her father to know it was best to avoid confrontation while the mood lasted.

             
They arrived at the seashore during the darkest period of the night. Naomi initially feared he would insist on finding a boat to take them to the island, but he surprised her by telling her they were to lodge on the mainland for the night.

             
“Please lock the door, and do not leave your room without me,” he said as he stood in her portal.

             
“Mr. Haydn,” she spoke up to ensure he would hear her though he was turning away, “it was not my intention to injure you.”

             
He stopped moving, but he did not look back at her, “Do not concern yourself, madam. I am well.”

             
Naomi had experienced both pleasant dreams and nightmares regarding her wedding night. None of them resembled this. The room was nice but empty. Despite her relief at not being forced into a physical relationship with a man she scarcely knew, Naomi wished for his company for just a few minutes more.

             
She went to bed quickly and quietly, hoping to repair in the morning some of the damage done of the evening. Despite the strangeness of the bed, her nap along the journey, and her unsettled mind, Naomi fell asleep instantly.

             
“Naomi,” a voice woke her from a deep sleep. “Are you in there, Naomi?”

             
She sat up in bed and looked around, trying to remember where she was.

             
“Naomi,” the voice was louder now, “if you don’t answer, I’m going to break down this door.”

             
“Perhaps she has stepped out,” another voice spoke.

             
“She had better not have stepped out,” the first voice was angry.

             
Naomi rose to unsteady feet and crossed the floor.

             
The door shook with the force of the next knock, “Naomi.”

             
She recognized that voice now. She opened the door without thinking, “What on earth are you doing, Mr. Haydn?”

             
Her husband’s scowl turned to astonishment and then something else. He opened his mouth to say something, but clamped it shut just as quickly as he turned to glare at the man beside him. The older man blinked and then pivoted to hurry down the hall. Finn propelled his wife none too gently into her room and shut the door behind himself.

             
She planted her fists on her hips and was about to share her opinion on being so manhandled when she realized she was still in her nightdress.

             
Her hands went to her mouth just before she spun around and tore her dressing gown from the foot of her bed.

             
“Mrs. Haydn,” his voice was low, “why didn’t you answer the door?”

             
She fastened her belt quickly, still facing away from him “I did.”

             
He took a step to move around her and look down at her, “I’ve been knocking for so long that the innkeeper came to see what was going on.”

             
She stepped a little closer, “Perhaps that was because you were knocking so loudly you woke every person in the inn.”

             
“Every person save my wife,” the last word was spoken with a bite.

             
“I am awake now,” she pointed out the obvious with an icy glare that could have frozen the channel.

             
Finn’s nostrils flared as he stared down at her. She waited for his response. She was surprised when she got it.

             
He lifted one hand and threaded his fingers through the ends of her hair, “You’re lovely.”

             
His whispered words surprised Naomi so much she lost all ability to speak.

             
Finn leaned down and brushed a kiss over her lips before standing upright again.

             
“I’ll be ready when you are, Naomi,” he moved swiftly from the room.

             
She could not move for some minutes. The only thing that finally set her stubborn feet in motion was the remembrance that she would only see that man again once she was ready to leave.

             
“That was remarkable,” Finn commented as she descended the stairs.

             
She cocked her head in question.

             
“I have never seen a woman get ready so quickly,” he offered his hand as she neared the bottom. “My mother and sister are tediously slow about it.”

             
She took his hand willingly but cautiously. His good mood was a surprise. Was he simply acting a part for the benefit of the other inn patrons or was he truly in a better mood this morning? If it were the former, she should be grateful he was, at least, not causing a scene.

Finn seated her at a corner table,
“Do you become ill on the water?”

             
Naomi frowned at the conversation opener.

             
“If you do, it may be best to take only tea and dry toast right now.”

             
“Oh,” she smiled at him but did not receive an answering grin, “I cannot say as I have never been on the water.”

             
He looked surprised, “Never?”

             
“Unless you count the raft my brother and I made when we were children. We would float it down the trout stream and land on a little island where the fishing was excellent.”

             
The maid approached them with plates of food and cups of tea.

             
Naomi sense Finn was interested in her story, so she continued.

             
“Of course we had not the strength to push ourselves against the current to go back upstream, so we always had to drag it back up the bank.”

             
“Was it very large?”

             
She was pleased that his tone was casual.

             
“No, but we typically had fish to carry as well. On occasion, my father’s tenant, Mr. Pennywinkle, would see us coming and help us to get the raft back to the shed. He was happy to take a fish in payment.”

             
“Did you and your brother clean and cook your own catch then?”

             
Naomi wrinkled her nose, “Cook showed us how to do it when we asked her, but it was not an enjoyable experience. We were content to give her the fish and eat it later.”

             
He chuckled, and Naomi found herself trying to remember other funny things from her childhood just to hear the sound again.

             
“Do you still fish?” he spoke before any more memories could surface.

             
She shook her head, “My father came home from town three years ago and put an end to all unladylike behavior.”

             
“To create a bride, I suppose.”

             
She nodded, “He said my mother had been too permissive, and it was time we children grew up.”

             
“Was Miss Ruth found wanting as well?”

             
Naomi sipped her tea before answering, “Ruth was but eleven at the time. He did not feel so anxious about her situation.”

             
“And the youngest is often coddled,” his voice held a touch of bitterness.

             
“True, but Ruthie was always more ladylike than I. She will probably marry at an earlier age and be happy to sit and embroider all day long.”

             
Finn watched her over the top of his tea cup as if waiting for more, but Naomi found herself afraid to say anything else.

             
“Are you finished eating?” he pointed to her half-finished food.

             
She stirred it with a fork, “I’m sorry. It is a pity to waste it, but I find I have little appetite this morning. I believe it is due to nerves.”

             
“Nerves?” he rose and offered her a hand.

             
“I am travelling, sir, and everything is such a new experience that I find I cannot do it with the poised demeanor my father was so hoping to instill in me.”

             
Finn’s smile lit his eyes, “I hope you are able to ignore those lessons in etiquette long enough to enjoy the trip.”

             
She laughed back at him as they left the inn together, “It is to be hoped, Mr. Haydn, that I can enjoy our time without abandoning all ladylike behavior.”

             
Once they settled in the carriage for their short trip to the docks, Naomi decided it would be best to clear the air completely regarding the night before.

             
“Finn,” she began carefully, “I am sorry for causing you pain last evening.”

             
She was prepared for the change to his dark mood.

             
“It is best left alone,” he immediately shifted away from her.

             
“I beg to differ, sir,” she pressed him, unafraid. “I think you misunderstood me, and I would like to be clear.”

             
“I understand that you came into this marriage, not of your own choice, but because you were required to do so by your father – a man apparently more concerned about financial gain than about his own flesh and blood.”

             
Naomi was not surprised to him speak of her father in such a manner, but it grated, nonetheless. She decided to put that topic aside for a later time.

             
“Did you believe me to be attached to you?” she had to know.

             
He was surprised by the question.

             
“The first time I met you, we exchanged little more than two words.”

“I thought you were shy,” he explained with little patience.

“I hope that wasn’t what caused you to offer your hand to me. I have never been shy.”

“So I have learned,” his wry response was almost comical.

“My father told me not to speak because I would frighten you away.”

He opened his mouth to answer, but the carriage stopped suddenly, forcing Finn to redirect his attention.

“Have we arrived already?” Naomi twisted to look out the door.

“No,” Finn’s expression was serious as he exited the carriage quickly. He closed it and turned away but spun back to look at her through the window.

“Stay in here,” he ordered.

Naomi hadn’t had any intention of following him out into the dirty streets, but she was now curious as to why he felt the need to tell her to remain in the carriage.
She decided to do as she was told, but she did lean as close to the window as she could without actually leaning out of it.

“I don’t care what the reason,” her husband’s voice was soft, but it carried well.

The other man’s voice was louder, but he had an accent, and Naomi could not make out much of what he was saying.

Finn’s volume dropped further.

Naomi pressed against the door, hoping to better discern the conversation. Unfortunately, the position was awkward, and, after a very short while, her legs began to cramp.

“Oh, phooey,” she whispered. “I wasn’t hearing anything anyway.”

She made an attempt to push herself back into her seat, but her foot slipped out from under her. Naomi lost her balance altogether and slammed her shoulder against the inside of the carriage door. Somehow, her brush with the door managed to release the latch, and the door opened.

Not in any position to catch her descent, Naomi slid, head and shoulders leading the way, out into the muddy street. Her middle and feet followed but not in that order. When she was a child, it was fun to do backward tumbles. It was not fun now.