Chapter 11 #2
Madeline picked up the next card and read the word printed upon it. “‘Tempestuous.’”
Momentary panic dashed across Charlie’s face.
“Tempestuous. T-e-m-p-e-s-t-u-o-u-s. Tempestuous.” He quickly sat down.
“This is getting tense,” Jacob said.
Madeline glanced at Adam, who sat in one of the wing chairs with his legs crossed, his temple resting on an index finger. He was watching her.
Feeling a whoosh of butterflies in her belly, she quickly picked up another card. “George, it’s your turn.”
George rose and took his place in front of the fire. “I am ready.”
Madeline read the word. “‘Apprehension.’”
George spelled it correctly, and the bee continued for another hour until Penelope finally took the prize, after George and Charlie both misspelled dilemma and she proudly got it right.
After much applause and congratulations and the presentation of the award—a cream cake in the shape of a trophy—the children made off to bed, and Mary went into the kitchen to feed the baby and tidy up before going upstairs to join Jacob.
Madeline was left in the parlor to collect and put away the spelling cards she’d made, while Adam moved the furniture back into place.
“Are you ready for Lord Blackthorne’s arrival?” Adam asked. “A ship is arriving from Halifax tomorrow, and he should be on it.”
“Almost. Mary has been a wonderful help to me.”
All too aware that she was alone with Adam in the candlelit room, she stood up to leave him—a little too quickly.
He gently squeezed her arm. “Won’t you stay and have a cup of tea with me?”
She tried to keep her voice steady and polite. “I really shouldn’t. Tomorrow will be a busy day.”
His expression was impossible to read. “Of course. I understand, but will you come to the fort with me tomorrow to meet the ship? I would be proud to have you at my side, Madeline.”
Proud to have you at my side. Oh, with words like that, how could he even think she would refuse?
His beautiful eyes and his deep silky voice reduced her to a puddle of melting resolve on the floor. The idea of being alone with him even for an hour was a temptation too powerful to resist. “I would be delighted.”
With a charming, flirtatious smile, he released her arm. “Sleep well then, and I will see you in the morning.”
She nodded and said good-night, picked up a candle and turned from the room. Madeline reached the top of the stairs and made her way down the back hall to her bedchamber. She set the candle down on her bedside table and noticed the book, Clarissa, lying unopened on the bed.
She had not read a word of it. She had been too busy with her household duties and had been spending all her free time with the children and the baby.
It was as if she felt a need to make up for a lifetime of missing companionship, and to savor it while she could, for it might not last long after Diana arrived.
Madeline decided to return the novel to Adam’s study, at least until after Lord Blackthorne’s visit.
She carried the candle into the dark hall and down the stairs, and tiptoed into the room.
She set the candle on his desk, moved to the bookcase and slid the book into the empty space on the shelf, then returned to the desk for her candle.
She had her finger through the brass grip when she noticed a miniature lying there beside it. A miniature of Diana, and a pile of her love letters.
Madeline’s heart broke a little at the sight of it, for she had been hoping again…
But somehow, she managed to keep her head out of the stars. This was the reality. She knew it. It should not be a shock or a surprise.
She let her fingers roam over all the letters spread out on the desk, letters from Diana, written years ago. Madeline picked up one of them, held it next to the candle, and read a few words.
My dearest Adam, how deeply I regret the way we parted and how I made you suffer.
You were my one true love, and I betrayed that love.
If I could see you one more time, I would not trust myself not to run away with you and correct all my mistakes, for I may be another man’s wife, but my heart will always belong to you.
I will go on dreaming that one day, we will be together again—forever—as we were meant to be… .
Madeline closed her eyes briefly, and searched for the strength to put down the letter and read no more of it, for it felt like a vise around her heart. Madeline picked up her candle and walked out of the room.
* * *
Early the next morning, Adam waited anxiously for Madeline, who was upstairs, dressing to go to the fort to greet the lieutenant-governor. It was not Lord Blackthorne’s arrival that was making Adam anxious, however. It was something much more profound than that, for Adam had a letter in his pocket.
He remembered sitting in his study the day before, deliberating over what to do about the situation with Diana. He hadn’t thought he could go one more day without somehow telling Madeline how he felt about her, and at that moment, he had known he could not marry her sister.
Yet, he’d already sent the proposal. It was on a ship bound for London.
What if Diana had already received it and signed the marriage papers?
On the contrary, she might send a letter turning him down and he would be free, but could he wait six weeks or more to find out?
Could he go on for that long, keeping his desires for Madeline in check? He sincerely doubted it.
So, with a new sense of purpose, Adam had sat down at the desk, reached for a clean parchment, picked up his quill pen, dipped it deeply into the ink and began his letter to Diana: the retraction of his proposal, which he could still get out of if she had not officially accepted.
And if necessary, the request for an annulment.
It had been a difficult thing to do, but he knew it was the right thing. For everyone.
Now Adam paced up and down the hall, still waiting for Madeline to come downstairs. He patted the letter in his pocket. He couldn’t wait to hand it over to the ship’s master.
Of course, Adam couldn’t actually propose to Madeline until he received a reply from his solicitor, affirming that Adam was free, but he could at least explain to Madeline what he had done, and assure her that Diana would not be coming to Cumberland.
He was eager and impatient to take the first step toward a life with Madeline if, God willing, she would have him.
He supposed that after today, he would have plenty of time and opportunity to make it happen, for he had every intention of fighting for her.
By God, he was going to give John Metcalf a good run for his money.
Just then, Penelope came running down the stairs. “Papa, may I take Thunder out for a ride on the marsh this morning?”
Adam cleared his throat and cupped his daughter’s soft chin. “Have you had breakfast?”
“Yes. I had two eggs and a slice of cornbread.”
“Then yes, you may take Thunder out, but stay on the path.”
“I will! Thank you, Papa!” She bolted past him and out the front door.
He heard a rustle of silk behind him and turned.
There stood Madeline, wearing a peach-colored floral gown, her hair pulled into an elegant bun beneath a wide-brimmed straw hat adorned with dainty wildflowers.
Her short, tight sleeves were trimmed with a triple layer of lace flounces just above her elbows, and at her neck, she wore a white crossed handkerchief to cover the deep, square décolletage.
Adam could barely speak. How could he ever have imagined this woman was plain?
“You look exquisite, Madeline. I…”
There were no words to describe how she affected him. All he could do was bow deeply to her, as if she were a duchess and he, her humble servant.
She laughed. “Oh, Adam, you flatter me.”
“The lieutenant-governor will fall over when he sees you.”
“I certainly hope not!” she replied, her smile beaming.
Adam offered his arm. “Shall we go then, my lady?”
“As you wish, sir.” She looped her arm through his, and they ventured outside to the waiting carriage.
As he helped her into the seat, he remembered the first time he had set eyes on her at the fort. She had come here as his intended bride. She had been willing to marry him that day.
If only he had known then what he knew now. He should have called for the reverend right there. If only he had known how his feelings would change and grow.
He climbed in beside her and flicked the reins. They turned up the road and drove into the woods.
Along the way, they talked about the marshes and discussed which sections to show Lord Blackthorne. They discussed the entertainments they had planned for him, and what songs Penelope should sing first, for she had rehearsed a number of them.
By the time they reached the fort, the wind had picked up.
The British flag was snapping noisily atop the mast, and Madeline had to hold on to her hat to keep it from flying off her head.
They saw the schooner still a distance away in the basin and decided to wait inside the courtyard until it reached its berth.
There was an entourage at the bottom of the hill, lined up at the wharf—buggies and carriages that must have traveled overland to meet the viscount here.
Adam and Madeline marveled at the pomp and ceremony of it all, and Adam felt a surge of pride to be Lord Blackthorne’s host in Cumberland. Then he thought of the letter in his pocket, and a sense of excitement joined the pride, for he would eventually—soon, he hoped—be free to pursue Madeline.
Finally, when the schooner drew near, Adam and Madeline drove down the cart road to meet the lieutenant-governor. They parked the buggy behind the others and walked to the gangplank, now lowering onto the dock.
The deck of the schooner was crowded with officials and footmen, and Adam could see the bright colors of ladies’ gowns.
What a sight. Had Lord Blackthorne brought the entire population of Halifax with him?
Adam hoped he would have room for all of them in his home.
And food, and enough entertainment. He hoped they weren’t expecting a ball or anything of that nature. Cumberland was a farming community.
Lord Blackthorne emerged from the crowd and was the first to disembark. “Good day, everyone!” he shouted.
He was a portly man with gold-rimmed spectacles and a powdered wig with horizontal rolls.
He wore a cream satin coat, trimmed with sham buttonholes and embroidered in blue lace.
His breeches were also made of satin, with silk-clocked stockings and a shiny buckled shoe on one foot, but not the other, for it was a wooden stump.
It was a well-known fact that the viscount had lost his leg in the war with the French, twenty years earlier.
He walked down the gangplank, his wooden leg tapping lightly, and Adam prepared to introduce Madeline. Adam froze, however, when he looked beyond the lieutenant-governor’s shoulder and met the eyes of the woman descending the gangplank behind him. Oh Lord…
Dressed in silks and satins and fluttering her fan ridiculously in the driving wind, she smiled broadly at Adam.
He struggled to keep his balance, for the woman approaching, and flashing her blue eyes at him, was Diana.