Chapter Fifteen
It was an odd thing to suddenly have Liberty back in his life, Toby thought as he joined his friend.
Just as it was odd he was now guardian to a small child and her dog.
Odd and unsettling, and yet when he thought of Liberty and Florence, a small kernel of warmth flared to life inside him.
One had every reason to hate him, the other didn’t.
“Come, I am hungry. We shall go to the supper room and eat,” Jamie said. “And you can tell me about that dance you just had with Lady Liberty.”
“No, I can’t,” Toby added, looking for her, but she was not where he’d left her. Was she dancing with someone else?
They walked down the hall to the supper room to find other guests already there. The table was groaning with the weight of food on top of it. Jamie grabbed two plates and passed one to Toby. He was soon loading it with patties and cakes.
“Lord Corbyn.”
Turning from the table, Toby found Liberty’s father behind him. A man he’d once known well. They’d shared meals together, and he’d spent hours in his house with his daughter. With him was his wife, another whom he’d once been close to.
“Duke, Duchess,” Jamie said, bowing. They’d not spoken a great deal in the years since he’d turned from Liberty, and he’d wondered if she’d told them of that day, but dismissed that thought because the Duke of Talbot would never have talked to Toby again if she had.
“Will you attend the Bidham fair this year, Lord Corbyn?” the duke asked.
“I will, yes,” Toby said. I hope, he added silently, thinking of Florence. Surely his friends were right, and she’d love to attend.
The man’s smile was wide, as was his wife’s. “Well now, that does make me happy,” he said. “As it will the village.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Toby said honestly.
“They will soon forgive you, but the hurt runs deep. The Corbyn family has been important to the village of Bidham for many years.”
Toby nodded. “I know, and I’m sorry for my absence for so long, Duke.”
“I’m sure you had your reasons.” He held out his hand and Toby shook it. “On behalf of Bidham, welcome home, Lord Corbyn.”
The words made his throat tighten. They were standing in a supper room in London, and Liberty’s father had just welcomed him home to a village many miles away. Why did that make him want to weep like a babe?
“Enjoy your food, and we will look forward to seeing you at the fair,” the duke said, then he and the duchess left.
“There,” Jamie said coming back to his side with a laden plate. He was pointing to two chairs. “Quick, before we have to offer them to anyone.”
“You are a gentleman,” Toby said. “Should a lady require one, we are duty bound to offer.”
“Eat fast then, and I have several questions for you while you do.”
“I’m sure you do,” Toby said dropping a crab patty into his mouth.
“First, I want you to open that note and show me the names on it,” Jamie said. “Second, does the Duke of Talbot know that something is going on in Bidham, or just his daughter?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t believe he does, or Liberty would have said something,” Toby said. Wouldn’t she?
“So because I am married, I therefore do not get an invitation to join you for supper with my wife?”
Anthony arrived with Evie. A woman with a forthright nature, wonderful spirit, and perfect in every way for their friend.
He had once been a man who didn’t smile, and rarely laughed, unless with Toby or Jamie.
His aunts, too, saw a different side of him from the one he showed society.
All that had changed the day Evie had walked into his life.
Theirs was a tumultuous story that thankfully had a happy ending, which many were not afforded in life.
Jamie and Toby now counted Evie as a friend, and would forgive her anything for what she’d done for Anthony.
“You and your wife were looking longingly into each other’s eyes, so we left you to it,” Jamie said.
“Jealousy is an ugly trait,” Anthony said, looking smug.
“How are Florence and Barnaby doing, Toby? I cannot wait to meet her,” Evie said looking at the eclair on Jamie’s plate. He held it out, and she took it. After a large bite, she hummed out her pleasure.
“Florence is scared, and dislikes me, or more mistrusts me,” Toby said. “Barnaby, however, loves me as I take him outside in the morning and hurl sticks for him to bound after. I enjoy having a dog in the house again, even if he sheds his hair over everything.”
“How are your staff coping?” Anthony drawled.
“I doubt they’d tell me if they weren’t, but so far, all seems to run smoothly.” Except the fact Florence wants nothing to do with me.
“That poor little girl, how she has suffered. But time will help, I promise you,” Evie said.
“I hope you are right,” Toby added.
“You would never have given me your éclair.” Anthony glared at Toby.
“I like your wife better than you,” Toby said. “She helped me pick out dolls and a house, and other things for Florence.”
“There is that,” Evie said. “Find us chairs, Anthony, and I will get us food,” she then added.
“Other food too please, Evangeline,” her husband called as his wife headed for the eclairs. She didn’t acknowledge him.
“Has Florence spoken to you yet?” Anthony asked.
“No. When I visit the nursery that she never seems to want to leave, she looks at me through her large brown eyes and stays silent. I tell you, Anthony, I was sure my heart was a shriveled, hard muscle inside my chest, but seeing that little girl’s pain makes it ache.”
“I have no doubt that from the first meeting, we will all feel the same,” Jamie said. “Remember, we are there for you, Toby.”
“I know, and am grateful for it, and for the fact you are giving her time to settle before you visit,” Toby added.
“Yes, well, let’s move on to the exciting news of the night,” Jamie said.
“What news?” Anthony demanded.
“Your aunts have given Toby a list.”
“Now that’s exciting,” Anthony said, knowing immediately what the list held.
“How is it he knows what is on the list, but you didn’t?” Toby asked Jamie, as he searched the room for Liberty. He found her seated with Miss Hamner.
“I knew. I just wanted to make you tell me,” Jamie lied.
“I can’t believe my aunts have decided they will marry you off next,” Anthony said, looking far too happy about the prospect.
“Yes, well, it’s not happening. I know I should want a wife because of Florence, but I am not ready.”
“If you say so,” Anthony said.
“I do say so,” Toby added.
“Show us the list,” Jamie said.
He pulled it out reluctantly from the pocket he’d forced it into. Opening it, he felt dread grip him. He shut it again.
“What?” Jamie demanded.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think I want to read it. If I read it, then I’ve acknowledged this list, and what your aunts want me to do.”
“You’re an adult. No one can make you do what you don’t want to, Toby,” Anthony said, snatching the list from his grip. He then opened it and was soon laughing. Jamie leaned closer to read the names and joined his friend.
Toby snatched the list back and looked at the three names written in black ink. Reaching the last of the women who would supposedly make him an excellent wife, he understood their laughter.
Lady Liberty Talbot.
*
Toby did not stay at the ball much longer after that.
His friends had spent the rest of the evening heckling him over the names on the list, and then there was Florence.
Worry for her had niggled in the back of his head.
Was she all right? What if she woke and needed him, which she’d never done before, but tonight could be that night?
Toby wasn’t sure how it had happened, as he’d not even had a conversation with the little girl, but he’d changed since she’d entered his life.
He wanted to label it as vulnerable, but as he’d vowed to never be that again, he didn’t.
But one little girl who carried his blood had done what no one else could. She’d made him feel.
Not quite true. Since Liberty reentered his life, she’d made him feel, too.
Entering his townhouse silently, Toby went to his room and took off his boots, jacket, and waistcoat.
Then he did what he did most nights before he retired.
He went to stand outside the nursery. Barnaby would be in there with Florence, keeping her safe, but he still hated that she could be in there alone and upset.
Her nanny would have sought her bed by now.
There was, as usual, no noise, and that was a sign for him to leave. He hesitated with his hand on the door and then opened it and entered.
Toby didn’t see her at first, but when his eyes went to the window, he found her under it.
She sat on the floor in a shaft of moonlight hugging the blonde-haired doll under one arm, and Barnaby lying beside her, her other hand on his fur.
Her eyes were on him as he approached. Toby did so slowly, unsure of his next move.
When he reached her, he dropped to the floor beside Florence, kneeling.
She was crying, and his heart burned for her pain.
Barnaby’s tail gave a thump on the floor, and Toby ran a hand over his soft head.
“I’m so sorry you are hurting, Florence.”
Totally at sea, he went on instinct and continued talking.
“I lost someone I loved when I was young. My brother Mathew. He was my friend, and I missed him so much. I cried a lot too. We used to play together every day.”
She looked at him through those sad eyes.
“I was so sad, and I wanted him back. Angry too that my brother had left, and I didn’t have him in my life anymore. I felt lost.”
Florence turned her head from him, and then she was picking up the black-haired doll. She handed it to Toby silently. He hugged it close.
“Does hugging your doll make you feel better?” And that was possibly the stupidest thing he’d ever said. As if a doll could make her feel better.
“I miss Mummy and Daddy,” she whispered in a husky voice. They were the first words she’d spoken to him.
“I know,” he said, holding her gaze. “I’m pleased you brought Barnaby with you. I haven’t had a dog in many years, and having him here makes me realize how much I miss that.”
They sat there looking at each other for a while in silence, and Toby worked through what he wanted to say to her. She was only five years old, so he had to temper his words so she understood them.
“I want to be your friend like Barnaby, Florence. I want us to be friends and spend time together. I don’t have a child, or family, but I would like you and Barnaby to be that, if you’ll let me.”
Toby leaned in closer and wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumb and she let him, which to him was a win.
“I want to go home,” she whispered.
“I know. If you’d like to, I can take you from London soon, and we can go to my home, which will now be yours too. It’s in the country, and there is going to be a fair in the local village. Would you like that?
He saw something flicker in her eyes, and then she nodded.
Toby didn’t know what was going on in Bidham yet, but he would keep her safe and always at his side when they got there. The fair will be full of people and fun things for her to enjoy, and he suddenly wanted her to experience what he and Mathew had as children.
She climbed to her feet suddenly, and Toby thought she may leave him and return to her room. Instead, she went to the bookshelf. Taking a book down, she returned to him and held it out.
“You want me to read that to you?”
“Yes, please.”
“How about we go to your bedroom? You can get in bed, and I’ll read it?” It was well past time she should be sleeping; even he knew that.
She nodded.
They rose silently and walked into the bedroom.
He helped her into bed and pulled up the covers.
His hesitation was only brief, but he remembered his mother kissing him when she came to see him in bed sometimes, so Toby leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead.
He then lit the lamp on the small table beside her bed.
“Here.” Florence patted the space beside her and he wondered why now, tonight, she was letting him get closer, but he didn’t ask.
More emotion clogged his throat as he settled on the bed and read with a little girl who carried his blood.
She lay on her pillow looking at the book, and something powerful gripped him.
Right then, he knew he would fight any battle he needed for this child.
Not his child, but his blood. She was now his and he hers, and he would keep her safe.