The Marriage Trap (34 page)

She looked at him pensively. “I did not try to persuade her to stay. Perhaps that was unfeeling of me. This has been her home far longer than it has been mine. If you want her to return, you'll have to ask her yourself, and I will do my best to make my peace with her. But one thing I insist on. Alice is going to have her wedding breakfast here among her friends.”

“Ask her to return?” His horror was genuine. “I am not so softhearted as you. She's right about one thing. This is the last straw. I've turned a blind eye to her conceit, her small-mindedness and her constant fault-finding, but a slight to Alice, after all you have done on the girl's behalf, is more than I can stomach.”

Ellie said crossly, “You should have reined her in long before now. Why didn't you?”

“Because . . .” He had to think this through. “Because,” he said slowly, “her faults were not so glaring until you were here to compare her to.”

She cocked a brow. “Careful, Jack, you're coming perilously close to a declaration. But I won't tease you. I have a million things to see to for Alice's wedding breakfast.”

He was left staring thoughtfully at her retreating back as she stepped jauntily from the room.

The wedding breakfast was held in the Servants' Hall. Alice was very self-conscious and looked as though she would shrivel if anyone looked at her the wrong way. She need not have worried. Every servant there knew that a wrong word or a wrong look would not be tolerated. Besides, a month ago, they were laboring under the heavy yoke imposed on them by Frances and her henchwoman. The new mistress and her housekeeper had removed that yoke, but their patience was not limitless. No one wanted to follow in the footsteps of Lady Frances and Mrs. Leach.

As the breakfast progressed, Jack became more and more mellow. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. It made him think of the time he had spent with the Brans-Hills. Their dining table wasn't very large, but there was always room for one more. He supposed a great many people would look back on the Brans-Hills with the same fond memories. Cardvale for one. Louise Daudet and her mother also came to mind, as did Sir Charles Stuart.

He knew there was a metaphor in his reminiscences, but he couldn't put his finger on it except . . . Ellie seemed to personify that dining table. No. The dining table personified Ellie and her family. Now he had it right. He knew one thing: He was going to make sure that he always had a place at Ellie's table.

It was time for the toast to the young people, a duty that Ellie had bestowed on him.

“Nothing fancy,” she'd told him. “Just wish them long life and happiness.”

At a nod from him, Wigan dutifully went from guest to guest with a tray of long-stemmed glasses filled with champagne. There were “oohs” and “ahs” from everyone when they discovered what was in the glasses Wigan had served. It was a grand gesture, something for Alice and Sam to remember fondly when they looked back on this day. They were so young, not much older than Robbie. He hoped to God time was kind to them.

His wife was making faces at him, telling him to get on with it, so he got up, cleared his throat, and began on the little speech he had rehearsed.

“Alice and Sam,” he said, addressing the bride and groom, “I used to think that marriage was a trap for the unwary. I think most men do, until they meet the right woman. Well, look at me.” There were a few encouraging titters.

“We men never think that women have the same apprehensions, but they do. Ask my wife.” There were no titters this time.

He cleared his throat. “Some marriages get off to a bad start. What I mean to say is a less-than-perfect start. That doesn't matter in the long run. There will be hurdles to overcome. Don't give up on each other. Always remember that marriage is what you make of it. And you two young people have a head start. No one can doubt your love for each other.”

The servants were staring at him with unblinking eyes. Caro and Robbie looked flummoxed. His grandmother was laughing into her handkerchief and Ellie was making a face at him again, telling him to cut his speech short and get on with it.

He obeyed. When he raised his glass, a collective sigh of relief went up. Everyone got to their feet.

“To Alice and Sam,” he said. “Long life and happiness.”

“To Alice and Sam,” everyone chorused, and put their glasses to their lips.

It wasn't until they were clearing the table that he had a private word with Ellie. “I'm not very good at speeches,” he said. “You should have asked Wigan to give the toast.”

She gave him the sweetest smile. “No one doubts your sincerity. Words are cheap. Everyone knows how generous you have been to Alice and Sam. You were the right person to give the toast.”

That made him feel much better.

He looked down at the table as Wigan came to clear the glasses away. “Well,” said Jack, “everyone seemed to enjoy the champagne.”

“Why shouldn't they?” intoned Wigan with a pained expression. “It cost forty pounds a bottle.”

Jack gave a wry smile. “It was worth it,” he said.

Ellie called out to him. They were seeing the young couple off. He felt in his pocket for the banknote Ellie had requested for their wedding gift. As long as Ellie was happy. That's what mattered.

When they climbed the stairs to bed that night, Jack had the candle, so Ellie had to follow where he led. This last week, he'd been sharing her with Robbie, and that was all right. They'd wanted to relive and retell how Milton had come to hate them so much that he'd tried to kill them. It wasn't easy to understand. But it was over. It was time to turn the page and start on the next chapter of their life. And this time, he was going to do it right.

She looked a little surprised when he passed the door to her chamber and led her to his own. He said in an undertone, “Your door is always open to anyone who wants a heart-to-heart talk. This time, it's my turn.”

“‘Heart-to-heart'?” Her brows lifted. “Now this I must hear.”

As he dismissed Coates, who had been waiting up for him, she walked to one of the long windows and looked out. The park was in darkness except for lanterns that watchmen carried on their rounds, but Park Street, where Milton had met his end, was well lit. He hoped she wasn't reliving that night. He joined her and closed the drapes.

She smiled at the gesture. “I'm not going in terror of memories of Milton,” she said. “If anything, I'm thankful that his family was spared the agony of a trial.”

“Then what do you think when you look out at the park?”

She made a helpless gesture with her hands. “I feel sorry for a wasted life, but I feel more sorry for the life he cut off without a qualm, so it's not only Milton I think about when I look out the window. Cardvale said that Louise was hoping to meet me. That's what Milton took away from me. He tried to take Robbie, too. I'm not vengeful. I'm just glad it's over.”

She put a hand on his arm. “What do
you
think when you look out the window?”

He remembered the rage that had consumed him when he had sprinted in pursuit of Milton. If he'd caught him, he would have throttled the life out of him.

“I try to be forgiving!” he said.

She gave a hoot of laughter, slipped off her stole, and perched on the end of the bed. “You mentioned something about a heart-to-heart talk,” she said. “Was that it or is there more?”

He perched on the bed, too. This was harder than he thought. “There's more,” he said, and stopped. Her eyes were dancing.

“You know what I'm trying to say!” he reproved.

“Oh yes, Grandmamma told me. That convoluted toast you made to Alice and Sam was really meant for my ears.”

“I wish my grandmother would mind her own business!”

“Now that was unkind. She means well.” She rested her chin on one pointed finger. “I should have guessed when you mentioned a marriage trap. I seem to have heard those words before.” She shook her head. “But, Jack, you said that bad word, you know the one I mean.” She spelled it out for him. “L.O.V.E.—and that put me off the scent. I knew you'd never use that word to me.”

“I suppose I deserve that.”

Her humor vanished. “That's wasn't a reproach! That was a joke.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and gave her a steady look. “Well, this is no joke. I mean it. I never knew what that word meant until I met you. When Milton tried to kill you, all I could think was that you would never know how much I loved you.”

She covered his hands with hers. “Idiot,” she said. “I knew, oh, not from your words, but from your actions.”

“I didn't do anything!”

“Oh? Then who gave me an alibi? Who was there when Milton broke into my rooms and attacked me? Who married me to redeem my character? What about Robbie? Alice? I could go on and on. Face it, Jack, you betrayed yourself at every turn. I felt so useless. I knew how little the words meant to you, and I had nothing to give you in return.”

“There is one thing you can do. Always make sure there's a place for me at your table.”

“What?”

“And give me the words. From you, they mean something.”

She wanted to ask him to explain about the table, but before she could get a word out, his arms closed around her and his mouth came down on hers. Blind instinct did the rest.

Another week went by when Jack and Robbie entered Ellie's little parlor to find her once again at the window, looking pensively out at the park. Jack cursed softly under his breath. Robbie did not notice. He was waving a paper over his head.

“Ellie!” he cried out. “Ellie! I passed my Greek examination. I can be back in Oxford for the Easter term.”

Her pensive expression vanished as she was swallowed up in a bear hug. They were both laughing when they broke apart.

“Well done, Robbie,” she said. “I knew you could do it. How do you feel?”

He was jubilant. “As though I'd climbed the Matterhorn! Where are the others?”

“They're in the house somewhere.”

He was out the door in a few strides. “Caro!” he called out. “Grandmamma! Where are you? Coates! Wigan!”

Jack looked at Ellie and smiled. “No more talk about not graduating from Oxford,” he said.

“No. It's funny what a little success can do. Robbie will do just fine.”

He stopped her when she made to go by him. “Still gazing out at the park, Ellie? Still thinking of Milton? You must try to put all that behind you.”

Puzzled, she glanced out the window. “Oh,” she said finally, “I'm not thinking of Milton. Believe me, Jack, I was thinking of something entirely different.”

“What?”

“I was watching the children playing. Their nursemaids and mothers take them to the park from miles around.”

Now he was puzzled. “So?”

She fingered his lapels and sighed. “You told me in no uncertain terms once what you thought of the marriage trap. I know you'll be honest with me. What do you think of the baby trap?”

It took a moment for him to make sense of what she was saying, then he reached for her and held on for dear life. That one gesture told Ellie what was in his heart. With Jack, actions would always speak louder than words.

“I love you, too, Jack,” she said.

About the Author

Best-selling award-winning author Elizabeth Thornton was born and educated in Scotland, and has lived in Canada with her husband for over thirty years. In her time, she has been a teacher, a lay minister in the Presbyterian Church, and is now a full-time writer, a part-time babysitter to her five grandchildren, and dog walker to her two spaniels.

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