The Arrangement (17 page)

I remembered standing at the door of the drawing room, holding Nicky in my arms. “My God, Tommy,” I had said, “this is absolutely dreadful.”

We had looked at each other, and then we had begun to laugh. I laughed so hard that tears came to my eyes. What had decrepit furniture and tattered rugs meant to us in those days?

I patted Polly’s neck and thought about the young couple who had come to Deepcote eight years before.

Tommy was dead, killed instantly by the kick of a horse as he had bent over to pry a stone out of a rear hoof. The iron horseshoe had caught him squarely in his left temple.

Tonight, as I stood alone in the middle of the place where we had once been so happy, I realized that the girl I had been when I married Tommy was buried here along with him. I was a woman now, a woman who had learned to rely on her own capabilities and strengths because she had a child depending upon her and no one else to turn to.

I placed my hands on top of the fence, rested my cheek on them and listened to the softly breathing night.

“Goodbye, Tommy,” I whispered. “Wish me luck.”

No answer came whispering out of the dark, but my ears didn’t need to hear what my heart already knew. Tommy had always wanted me to be happy.

Red and white hawthorns were out all along the roadside and the scent of the coming summer was in the air on the day that we left Deepcote. Savile and Nicky and I rode on the front seat of the phaeton, a seat that was really meant to accommodate only two. Neither Nicky nor I was very big, however, and the earl assured us that there was plenty of room for him. The chaise, driven by Grove and carrying our meager baggage, followed along behind us.

I started out by asking Savile about his nephews, because I knew that was the subject in which Nicky would be most interested.

“Charlie is the oldest, he’s ten,” Savile said obligingly. “He’s very smart—he’s like his father in that—and he’s also very imaginative. He makes up his own games and has been known to spend entire days living in make-believe worlds of his own creation.”

“What kind of worlds, sir?” Nicky asked.

With his long whip, Savile competently flicked a fly off the back of one of his horses. The horse’s gleaming coppery hide never even twitched. Savile said, “He once spent an entire week being a castaway who befriended a monkey on a jungle island.”

Nicky laughed delightedly.

“And Theodore?” he prompted.

We had been driving under the shade of a short avenue of beeches, and as we came back out into the sunlight Savile’s eyes crinkled a little at the corners to adjust to the brightness. For the first time I noticed that his lashes were several shades darker than his hair.

He said to Nicky, “Theo has always been horse-mad, but lately he has also grown very fond of fishing. The way he has been going these last weeks, I am beginning to wonder if we are going to have any fish left in the lake.”

“Your nephews sound like they are great fun, sir,” Nicky said wistfully. “Do you think that they will like me?”

“I am very sure they will,” Savile replied, giving my son a reassuring smile.

Savile’s being nice was very difficult for me to handle and I tried to get a grip on my fluttering stomach.

“I am surprised you do not have a houseparty at Savile for the summer, my lord,” I said with an attempt at lightness. “Isn’t it customary for the
ton
to entertain one another at their country homes during the warmer months?”

“Well, actually I do have something of a house party at Savile, Mrs. Saunders,” came the surprising, and unwelcome, reply.

I whipped my head around and said accusingly, “You said nothing to me about any house party! You said your sister was the only person staying with you!”

“I said that my sister was staying with me,” he corrected. “I did not say she was the only person.”

Perhaps he had not, but he had certainly led me to think so. “Who else is there?” I asked suspiciously.

“Well, there is my cousin Roger Melville, whom you met the last time you stayed with me.” He paused briefly and shot me a quick look. “Then there is also Lady Devane and her three daughters, and her father, Mr. Cole.”

If I had not been sitting in a phaeton I would have leaped to my feet.

“What! Are you mad, Savile? I never would have come with you if I had known those people were staying in your house.”

Nicky said nervously, “What is wrong, Mama? Why don’t you like the people his lordship has staying with him?”

I hid my hands in the folds of my skirt so that Nicky would not see my fists opening and closing. The look I gave Savile was scorching. He had done this on purpose, waiting until Nicky was present before he told me about the rest of the house party.

“I don’t have the proper clothing for a house party,” I said to Nicky tersely.

He knew it was more than that, but he said, “Oh,” and fell silent.

“I shall be happy to advance you some of the money you will make on Maria’s foal if you wish to purchase some clothing,” Savile said.

I wanted to hit him so much that my hands were trembling. “No, thank you, my lord,” I said emphatically.

The faintest trace of a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. He said, “Don’t you want to know why I have invited such an unattractive group of people to stay with me for the summer?” His eyes left the road and shot me another quick look. “And I don’t mean you, Gail.”

I didn’t say anything.

He continued smoothly, “One month after George’s death, in what has to be a stroke of supreme irony, Harriet found that she was in the family way.”

That got my immediate attention. “No!”

“Yes. And of course, if the child is a boy, he, rather than Roger, will be the new Lord Devane.”

“Good heavens,” I said, completely diverted.

“Precisely. Mr. Middleman and I discussed this potentially explosive situation, and we both decided that it would be best if neither Roger nor Harriet was officially put in possession of Devane Hall until the succession was quite clear. That is how I earned the joy of housing both Roger and Harriet until Harriet’s child is born.”

Silence fell as I contemplated this astonishing news. The roadway slipped by beneath the phaeton’s wheels and the chestnuts maintained their steady, perfectly matching trot. Finally Nicky said tentatively, “Did you say there would be other children there besides Charlie and Theodore, sir?”

“Yes. There is my niece, of course, the boys’ younger sister, Caroline, who is three. And then there are my cousin’s children—Maria, Frances, and Jane.”

“Oh,” said Nicky. I could see that he was finding the prospect of so many strange children a bit frightening.

“I expect the girls will be spending most of their time with their governesses,” I said brightly.

“That is so,” Savile said.

Nicky, who had had very little experience of small girls, looked relieved.

“You will all sleep and eat together in the nursery, of course, but Mr. Wilson is in charge of the boys, and he’s a very good-natured young man. His father is a friend of my brother-in-law’s, and when my sister was looking for someone to take the boys in charge for the summer, Gervase thought of George Wilson. He’s studying law at the Inns of Court and was looking for employment for the summer.” Savile gave Nicky an encouraging smile. “I’m sure you’ll like Mr. Wilson, Nicky. He is young enough to remember what boys your age like to do.”

At the words “sleep and eat together in the nursery” I felt Nicky press closer to me on the seat. His thin body was very tense. “Oh,” he said, attempting to sound casual, “then I won’t be staying with Mama?”

I
should never have agreed to come,
I thought. I wanted to put my arm around my son and hug him to my breast. I wanted to tell Savile to turn the phaeton around immediately and take us home.

I hadn’t thought about the fact that Nicky would be expected to conform to the ways of an aristocratic household. I hadn’t thought that he wouldn’t be sleeping in the room next to mine or taking his meals with me. I hadn’t envisioned this kind of separation.

I looked at Savile and bit my lip, trying to think of a way out of the situation I appeared to have gotten Nicky into. At the same moment, the earl turned and looked directly at me over the top of Nicky’s head.

His eyes were grave. His face was stern. He shook his head slightly but definitely, then turned back to the road.

“I realize that you might be feeling a little overwhelmed, Nicky,” he said cheerfully, “but I can assure you that dinner in the nursery will be far more fun than a long, boring evening with the adults. We dress up for dinner every night, and my cook always serves five separate courses.”

“Five
courses, sir!”

“Always. Dinner goes on for a very long time.”

“I could never eat five courses,” Nicky said.

“Neither can I,” I said. “Perhaps I could join the nursery party, my lord.”

“Absolutely not,” came the instant reply. He added in a humorous voice, “One of the reasons I invited you to visit was to provide me with relief from the company of my relatives.”

Nicky actually chuckled.

I scowled at the earl’s profile, but he gave no sign of noticing.

I stared at the passing landscape, chewed my lip, and wondered how I could ensure that no one said anything to Nicky about George’s legacy.

* * * *

Predictably, Nicky was struck with wonder at the magical sight of Savile Castle materializing in the distance. The other time I had been to Savile, it had been encompassed by snow, and today the sight of its high round towers soaring above the clear waters of the surrounding lake made it look more than ever like a fairy castle out of the pages of Thomas Malory.

The horses’ hooves crunched on the gravel of the causeway. A long, low stone wall, which had been hidden by the snow on my last visit, separated the causeway from the water of the surrounding lake, which lapped very gently against it. The island that contained the gatehouse was also visible today, and I was able to see how truly small it was. From the island we crossed over the last expanse of water and drove through the immense gate in the medieval walls and into the castle courtyard.

Thick carpets of lawn stretched on either side of the drive, and carefully trimmed and shaped evergreens softened the stone walls of the house. Beds of flowers, with each bed planted according to color, lined the paths that left the driveway to circle around to the back of the house, where, presumably, the stables were hidden.

The phaeton came to a halt in front of the stone-arched front door of the house, and the butler and two footmen in the earl’s blue and gold livery came out the door so quickly that one would have thought they had been standing there all morning, waiting for us.

One of the footmen went to the horses’ heads.

Savile jumped down, then turned to help me alight as well.

I didn’t want him to touch me, but there was no way I could avoid it. I rested my hands lightly on his shoulders and he lifted me down. I turned away from him immediately to look at the house.

Nicky came to stand beside me.

“It’s so big, Mama,” he said a little breathlessly. “Why, it’s even bigger than Rayleigh.”

I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently.

“Uncle Raoul! Uncle Raoul!”

Two boys came tearing around the side of the house and began to run across the lawn in our direction. They skidded onto the gravel drive, came to a halt in front of the earl, and stood grinning up at him delightedly.

“You’re back!” the smaller one said.

“As you see, I am back, Theodore,” Savile returned, “and I have brought with me another young man who is going to be staying with us for a while.” He reached out, gently removed my hand from Nicky’s shoulder, and drew him into the orbit of the two other boys.

“This is Nicky Saunders,” he said. “Nicky, these are my disreputable nephews, Charlie and Theo Austen.”

Charlie and Theodore took turns grabbing Nicky’s hand and pumping it furiously.

“Are we glad to see you!” Theodore said fervently. “This whole place is infested with
girls.”

Nicky’s smile was a little tentative, but it was a smile. “I’m glad to be here,” he said.

“May we take Nicky up to the nursery and show him where he is going to sleep, Uncle Raoul?” Charlie asked.

Savile turned to me. “Allow me to apologize for my nephews, Mrs. Saunders. I assure you, they have been taught manners. I can only assume that in the excitement of the moment they have forgotten them.”

The two little boys looked abashed. “We’re sorry, Uncle Raoul,” Theodore said.

“Mrs. Saunders,” said Savile, “may I present my nephews, Charles and Theodore Austen.”

Both boys had smooth, shiny hair cut in a neat fringe over their foreheads. Charlie was dark haired, however, while Theodore was blond, like his mother. Both of them had large, long-lashed brown eyes.

“How do you do, Mrs. Saunders,” they chorused.

“Hello, boys,” I said with a smile. “I am very glad to meet you.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” said Theodore.

“Sorry if we were rude, Mrs. Saunders,” Charlie said with a beguiling smile. “It is just that we are so happy to have reinforcements against all these girls.”

I grinned.

“Someday you will not feel that way, Charlie,” Savile said.

Charlie looked unconvinced.

“May we take Nicky with us, Mrs. Saunders?” Theodore asked charmingly.

“Of course,” I replied.

There was a spring in Nicky’s step as the three boys walked together back across the drive toward the side of the house. I could see Theodore gesturing largely as he talked to Nicky, no doubt explaining to him the horrors of the female invasion.

“Feel better?” Savile asked me softly.

I didn’t look at him. “A little,” I said.

At that moment, Lady Regina came out of the front door of the house. “Oh good, you’ve brought Mrs. Saunders, Raoul.” She came up to the side of the phaeton where we were standing, kissed her brother on the cheek, and held out her hand to me.

“I am very glad to see you, Mrs. Saunders. Welcome once more to Savile Castle.”