Chapter 54
It was three hours later when their carriage pulled up outside Vance House, a large imposing townhouse in Belgravia. Gervaise had ushered Caroline halfway up the steps before she emerged from her thoughts and asked in an urgent undertone where they were.
“Jeremy’s townhouse,” Gervaise responded patiently.
The hours they had spent at the police station had been somewhat exhausting even for him.
Telegrams had been sent to St. Ives regarding the apprehension of Goring.
Sidney Price had been found in a nearby charity hospital, in a very sorry state and barely conscious. Mrs. Needham had died of her injuries.
Gervaise was not entirely sure how much of these facts Caroline had absorbed. “We’re staying here for a couple of nights until we can be sure everyone involved is behind bars where they belong.”
She came to an abrupt halt, grasping his arm. “You are not leaving me here, Gervaise?”
“Why would I leave you?” he asked calmly.
“We are man and wife now, are we not? Till death do us part.” Only after uttering this did it strike him as somewhat tactless after the ordeal she had been through.
Still, his words must have reassured her, for she allowed him to bring her inside where a discreet manservant met them and took their cloaks.
Once divested of these Caroline turned to him with an apologetic expression.
“I don’t suppose we could just quietly slip up to our room, could we?
” she asked, sending a furtive look around the elegant hallway.
No sooner had she spoken than small, hurried footsteps were heard descending the curved staircase.
“Miss Halperston!” Teddy cried. Caroline whirled around and to Gervaise’s surprise bounded up the steps to meet the child halfway, where they embraced fervently. “Reg gave me my present!” Teddy enthused. “The box was done up and addressed to me, so I opened it right away.”
“Reg is here?” Caroline said with surprise.
“He’s in the kitchen eating beefsteak. Cook pressed it on his eye first but then she fried it in onions. She says he will have two black eyes tomorrow and no mistake.”
“Did you like your gift?”
“I did! Come and see! I am holding a wedding ceremony for Miss Pomfrey and Captain Gerrard now.”
Caroline gave a broken laugh and wiped the tears from her face as the child started tugging insistently on her hand. Emmeline appeared on the landing above, looking dismayed. “Teddy! Did I not tell you to wait until we were sent for?”
She sent an anguished look over the banister. “I’m so sorry, Gervaise, I meant for you to get settled without any of us interrupting you. No, Teddy,” she said firmly. “A bath has been drawn for Caroline, and she is not to be disturbed by any of us tonight.”
“He is fine,” Gervaise said, mounting the stairs behind them. “Teddy is exempt from all such considerations.”
Are you sure? Emmeline mouthed. He nodded at her and she tactfully withdrew.
Teddy regarded him thoughtfully. “Hello, Godfather.”
“Good evening, Teddy.”
The boy cast a quick look over his shoulder to check his mama had disappeared. “Is it true that you two are married now? Everyone is acting so strangely, but I heard Papa tell Reverend Ryland it was sure to be so, no matter what everyone in Penarth was saying.”
“We are married,” Gervaise answered firmly. “Can you not see Caroline’s rings?”
Caroline held out her left hand and Teddy inspected them solemnly, running a finger over the sparkling emerald there.
“Yes,” he said, nodding. “You’re married alright.
Mama has a sapphire engagement ring, and Miss Pomfrey wanted a ruby one, but Captain Gerrard can only afford a garnet on his wages. ”
“Ah, the unfortunate captain,” Gervaise murmured. “Tell me, is his sorry excuse of a brother-in-law to take part in this wedding?” He waved a hand to indicate they should continue and they started up the stairs together.
“Miss Pomfrey wouldn’t marry him without her brother there,” Teddy confirmed. “It’s too bad for he wanted Carstairs to stand up with him as groomsman, not Pomfrey!” He turned to Caroline. “Did you have your brother at your wedding, Miss Halperston?”
She shook her head. “No, only Reg and Mrs. Chelmsley were there besides the vicar.”
“I must say, I prefer Reg to your brother,” Teddy confessed artlessly. “Edgar Needham’s a bit of a poor stick, isn’t he?”
Caroline’s lips quivered and Gervaise decided it was laughter rather than tears this time. “Why do you say that?” she asked unevenly.
“Well, he’s not much fun, is he? The whole journey here he was casting a damper on everything and looking sick as a parrot,” Teddy said critically.
“And he looked like he was going to faint when he came back to the house earlier. Colfax had to help him up the stairs and he was moaning the whole time about disgrace and ruin. I thought he had an injury, but Mama said it was just distress of mind and I shouldn’t pester him. ”
It was clear from Teddy’s stern expression that he considered such behavior most unmanly. They had reached the landing by this point, and a maid was waiting there quietly to lead Caroline away to her bath.
“You go on ahead to take your bath,” Gervaise said, dropping a kiss on Caroline’s brow. “Teddy and I will proceed to the doll wedding. Effie packed up your things for you, and your dressing robe will be ready and waiting. You can join us when you are ready.”
Teddy, who had looked as though he would object strenuously at having to part with her so soon, held his tongue, looking from one to the other as Caroline was led away.
“Have you really been at the police station all afternoon?” he asked as he led the way to his room.
Gervaise gave him an admonishing look. “Where did you hear that?”
“The kitchen. Cook told Reg he was ever so brave and by rights he should get some kind of medal. He went ever so red. Why should Reg get a medal?”
“Because he saved someone’s life.”
“Not Edgar’s?” Teddy said with disapproval.
“No, not Edgar’s.”
“I suppose you like Miss Halperston now,” Teddy said moodily.
“I do,” Gervaise admitted promptly. “How clever of you to notice.”
Teddy frowned. “You didn’t like her before.”
“No,” he conceded. “But then I did not notice her secret prettiness as quickly as you did.”
Teddy looked gratified by this admission and pointed to a bookcase where a handful of his toy soldiers were propped up against the book spines.
“Here’s the wedding party,” he said and Gervaise leaned down to inspect the little congregation.
“Did you dance with Miss Halperston at our Christmas party?” Teddy asked, adjusting the position of two of his soldiers.
“No,” Gervaise admitted. “But I did hide behind a curtain with her. That has to count for something surely?”
Teddy frowned at him. “Which curtain?”
“The blue one,” Gervaise remembered from their game of play-pretend.
Teddy’s frown cleared. “If you were playing hide and seek you jolly well ought to have asked me to join you.”
“It was a special kind of hide and seek. Meant only for courting couples.”
“So, you did court her?”
“Somewhat after the fact, but yes.”
“I expect you started liking her on the day of Pomfrey’s court martial,” he mused.
“Which day was that?”
“That day her mama lied about cutting up her own shawl.”
“Oh.” Gervaise withdrew his cigarette case. “No, it was not then, though I did notice she had rather nice ankles that day. Where is the bride by the way? She seems conspicuously absent.”
“She’s waiting to make an entrance,” Teddy answered mysteriously.
“Ah, I see.” Gervaise set his cigarette between his lips unlit. “Let us arrange the congregation tidily to wait for her. They look rather a rag-tag bunch at present.” They set about industriously lining up the waiting soldiers.
“Not him,” Teddy said. “That’s Gerrard, see the pips I painted on his collar?” Gervaise admired the smudgily painted insignia. “He will have to stand here next to Pomfrey, waiting for the bride.”
“Ah, yes, the infamous Pomfrey.” Gervaise picked up Pomfrey and scanned the untidily painted face of Teddy’s most insubordinate soldier. “Gerrard has my sympathies.” He placed him back down next to the groom.
“So, when was it, then?” Teddy said.
“When was what?”
“That you started to like Miss Halperston.”
“That is not her name anymore, Teddy,” Gervaise corrected him. “From henceforth you must address her as Lady Atherton.”
“No,” said Teddy. “I shan’t. For I mean to start calling her Caroline very soon.”
Gervaise regarded him narrowly, then sighed. “You really are the most repellant brat, you know.”
Teddy shrugged. “She liked me before she liked you,” he reminded him.
“I know. That is a cross I have to bear. One of many.”
Teddy gave him a sidelong look. “Is your new brother-in-law another?”
“Edgar?” Gervaise gave a contemptuous shrug. “Hardly. He’s a complete nonentity.”
“He’s not like her at all, is he?”
Gervaise shook his head. “Nothing like.”
“I know. It never made any sense that everyone said Miss Halperston was the bad one. It was her mama that was bad,” Teddy said, lifting a box down carefully and starting to sift through delicate tissue paper. “Edgar is just dull.”
Here comes the bride, thought Gervaise, watching the little peg doll emerge in her shimmering pink confection of a gown.
He marveled anew at the hours of work that had gone into crafting the tiny wedding gown.
He found himself wondering again why Caroline had gone to such lengths, after convincing him she cared so little about weddings or marriages?
His eyes pored over the exquisite little veil and silk flower bouquet.
Why would she go to so much effort over a child’s trifle?
Oh, he knew she adored Teddy, that part was no mystery, but the boy would have been just as happy with something that had taken half the time.
This was nothing short of a labor of love.
His heart thudded at the notion that on some level it was important to her that Miss Pomfrey ended up with the wedding of her dreams.
No, that made no sense. Caroline did not dream about weddings, he knew that much.
She had resisted his own proposal for weeks.
I’d sooner die, he remembered her saying with unfortunate vividness.
It still left a bitter taste in his mouth even now.
“What is this?” he asked, reaching for a small piece of paper that had fluttered down from the gift box. “A note?”
Teddy nodded, quite unconcerned as Gervaise lifted it to read, “‘For Miss Pomfrey’s marriage to her true love,’” he read aloud and felt a strange sensation in vicinity of his chest. Could this be the key to solving the mystery?
Could it be that Caroline’s foolish insistence marriage was not for her was because she thought love should play a part in any wedding? How ridiculously trite. How infuriatingly foolish. How… He discarded the note with a hand that shook.
Didn’t she know that he loved her? It must be blatantly obvious to everyone at this point. How could she not know? He had not proposed out of shame or duty, that much should be obvious. Such considerations had never prompted him into action, and most likely never would.
If he had told her he wanted to marry her for love, would she have answered him more favorably? The thought had him blinking. “Do you want to know a secret?” he asked Teddy, already knowing the answer.