Chapter Fifteen #3
That was not his place. Indeed, this whole night he felt as if he were an interloper in a vast network of women’s business.
Someone who had forced his way in to see what should not be seen by a man.
And this, right now, was something so private that he was ashamed of himself.
He had accused Miss Caddick of horrible things, he had insulted her and met her with suspicion at every turn.
And now, just when he was fully cognizant of how deeply he had misjudged her, he found himself seeing her at her most vulnerable.
She was crying. Her body shook and her breath came in gasps violent enough that he imagined the carriage rocked with it. There was nothing to say. Even her maid was silent as she rocked her mistress gently in her arms. And all the while, Gabriel could do nothing but stew in his own incompetence.
He had not realized what she did. He had not understood. And now he was unable to do anything but bear witness to something he could barely comprehend.
How she humbled him!
Unable to watch so private a moment, he looked outside and worried that they would arrive at her home too soon. They were mere blocks away. The maid must have realized it, too, for she turned to her mistress.
“Do I tell him to go ’round again? Out to the park or something?”
An excellent idea. He was already rising to knock on the carriage roof when Miss Caddick straightened.
“No, no,” she said, the words muffled by her handkerchief. “I’m better now. Truly.”
She didn’t look better. Her face was streaked with tears and her hair askew. Her breath was still stuttering and though her body didn’t shake so much, her shoulders were high against her neck. But then he watched with amazement as she composed herself.
First her shoulders went down as she closed her eyes.
Her breath smoothed and the last tear leaked away.
Her maid was obviously used to repairing her mistress’s looks.
She patted Miss Caddick’s face dry and quickly brushed out the hair that had fallen wrong.
She had a paint pot, too, that she used to soften the dark circles under the eyes and to pat a bit of color into the cheeks.
All of it came together in the short minute it took for the carriage to come to a stop in front of the lady’s house.
Then Miss Caddick opened her eyes, narrowing them as she looked at him. “Can you straighten your cravat, Major? And pray, allow Faye to smooth down your hair.”
He hastily complied, doing what he could in the small confines of the carriage, especially when her maid whacked him about the head with her brush. Then while he was still recovering from that, Miss Caddick instructed him as to their lie.
“If anyone asks, I took a morning walk to try to clear my migraine and you chanced to meet me along the way. Because I was feeling so poorly, you insisted that we take a carriage back, for which I am embarrassed but profoundly grateful. Do you understand, Major?”
“I do,” he said, impressed anew by her forethought.
“I rely upon you,” she said as she pushed the carriage door open.
She did not rely on him. Indeed, she was the most self-sufficient woman he had ever encountered. But still she sat in the carriage, her expression growing more blank as she ticked her head to the side.
Why?
Oh! He was supposed to disembark first. Scrambling to keep up, he nearly tripped as he stepped out of the carriage.
Then he held out his hand to assist her, as if she were the frailest of women suffering from a brutal migraine.
She acted the part beautifully, wincing at the light, and then smiling wanly at him.
Was she acting? Hard to tell. She had to be exhausted. He was aching with fatigue, and he hadn’t done half the work she had. They made it up to the house where the butler opened the door with a formal greeting.
“Miss Caddick, did your walk help with the migraine?”
“A little, Parry. And look who I’ve found. Major Vance was out as well, and he insisted on calling a carriage for me.”
“Janelle?” a voice called from the parlor.
It was her aunt who wasted no time in joining them in the hallway.
“Janelle! Did you forget that we are to shop today? There are any number of things to decide upon for your wedding. It’s going to be an exhausting day, and here you are, starting us out late. ”
“I’m so sorry, aunt. I think it’s my nerves. We can go immediately.”
Go shopping now? After she’d been awake for more than a day already? “My lady,” Gabriel said, interposing himself between Miss Caddick and her aunt. “She must rest. These migraines are terrible things. Lord Benedict himself has suffered from them.”
“Oh, don’t worry about Janelle,” the lady said blithely. “She always manages to muster through.” She glared at her niece. “We can’t have Lord Benedict think he’s marrying a sickly woman.”
“Of course not,” Miss Caddick said.
“He won’t, I assure you,” Gabe said forcefully. “However, I should note that Lord Benedict has ordered me to assist with his marriage. The devil is in the details, you know, and I am a fearsome devil.”
Miss Caddick’s aunt trilled a laugh at that. “A handsome one, at least. But Major—”
“I insist.” He used his most authoritative voice. “I will go with you, my lady, and together we will guarantee that your niece and my superior have the most beautiful wedding ever.”
The lady frowned. “But there are private things—female things—that must be seen to.”
“And I am sure that you are very accomplished with those. If Miss Caddick trusts your choices—”
“Oh, I do!” Miss Caddick said. “I most certainly do.”
“And Lord Benedict trusts mine,” he continued. “Then together we shall get it all done in tip top time.”
The lady frowned. “Are you sure, Major? Shopping can be such a tedious affair for men.”
Yes, he knew. Indeed, he would rather face a firing squad that spend the day frittering about laces and ribbons with the Lady Boxval. But even so, he would not force Miss Caddick to do such a thing after a night such as she’d had.
“I will hear no more about it. Miss Caddick,” he said as he bowed over her hand. “Pray get some rest while you can.”
“Major, you are being very gracious. Are you sure—”
“And now,” he held out his arm to her aunt, “let us be away.”
He gave none of them a chance to argue. Within moments, he had Lady Boxval out of the house and Miss Caddick, presumably, headed for bed. And all it took was a Herculean decision to delay his own bed in favor of a day of shopping.
He deserved a medal.
What he got instead was the shocking and wholly inappropriate realization that he’d fallen in love.