23. Homecoming
CHAPTER 23
Homecoming
A lmost four months after leaving Hatfield, Shaun Jackson arrived back in town late one evening. Driving a small, second-hand coach he’d bought in London along with the two horses pulling it, after getting thoroughly fed up with the inadequate transportation he’d been able to get for Riot Jones with his broken leg, he pulled into the yard at the Red Lion and jumped down from the driver’s seat.
“Mr Jackson!” Coming forward to take the horses, Mr Thomas gaped at him. “Well, I never! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!”
Shaun smiled, clasping the burly ostler’s hand. “It’s good to be home, Mr Thomas! Can you take care of the horses and find somewhere to put the coach? It’s mine.”
“Of course, of course!”
“And I’m not alone.” Shaun opened the coach door to reveal Riot, trying to scowl but failing miserably, all too obviously happy to be back.
“Riot Jones!” Mr Thomas looked at the Welshman’s splinted leg, propped amidst a stack of cushions on the seat. “Ah… I see the need for the coach.”
“And the reason I’ve been so delayed. Couldn’t leave him.” Though every day had been painful, Shaun wouldn’t abandon the Welshman who’d followed him into hell and back. He owed Riot too much for that. They would go home together, or not at all.
“Let’s get you upstairs to a comfortable bed, eh?” Shaun said to Riot, who shook his head.
“Sod off, silly bugger. Thomas here can help me. You go.” He nodded to the building next door, where Shaun’s heart yearned to be. “You got me here safe, didn’t you? Job done. She’s waiting.”
He could see light in the upstairs windows above the bookshop, and though propriety said he should probably wait until morning, Shaun had waited quite long enough. With a grateful smile at Riot, he turned on his heel and ran around the corner of the building, to the front door of the bookshop.
He was about to create quite a din, half the town would probably be coming to see what was going on, but he didn’t care.
“Louise!” he roared, banging on the bookshop door. “LOUISE!”
There was silence for a moment, and then above his head, a window opened.
“Who’s making that racket?” Mrs Poole said irritably.
“It’s me, Mrs Poole.” He grinned up at her, seeing her expression change in an instant from annoyance to delight. “Is she here?”
“Of course, of course… Brutus, run downstairs and let him in!”
He had only a moment to wonder why Brutus was there so late at night, when the door crashed open, and it wasn’t the young boy standing there staring at him, it was her. His beloved.
His Louise.
“Shaun,” she whispered, her face pale with shock. “Shaun? Is it really you?”
He didn’t answer her, not with words anyway. Instead he did what he’d dreamed of every hour since he left her; he stepped forward, took her in his arms and kissed her until neither of them had any breath left.
“Will you marry me?” he asked when he lifted his head at last.
“What? I… Shaun, where have you been ?”
“France,” he said. “Well, Belgium mostly, but also France. Did you not get my letters?”
“Not a single one!” she cried, and he realised she was really quite overwrought, swaying where she stood. Pulling her closer against him, he hugged her tightly.
“I should never have left,” he said into her hair. “Realised it as soon as I was on the ship, but there was no way to turn around and come back, I had to see it through. But it’s over now, I promise, and I’m not leaving again. Will you marry me?”
She was clinging to him now, her whole body shaking, and he realised to his horror that she was crying, great wracking sobs. She was in no fit state to answer him.
“You’re back, then,” a voice said dryly behind him, and he looked around to see Dr Williams had arrived, presumably having come out of Mrs Bell’s after hearing Shaun shouting and banging on the bookshop door. “Dear me, Miss Louise looks a little overwrought. Why don’t you bring her into my consulting room?”
Probably the only place they could have a passably respectable private conversation this late at night, Shaun thought, and nodded gratefully. Dr Williams accompanied them to show them into the consulting room, and then made himself scarce. Through the window, Shaun saw the doctor go across the street to the bookshop and inside, presumably to tell Bernadette and Mrs Poole where Louise had gone.
She was still crying, though as Shaun led her over to sit on the small couch, she stopped and reached up, framing his face in her hands.
“It really is you!”
“It really is me,” he said.
“I needed you!”
Something was wrong, more than just his prolonged, and, to her, unexplained absence. Shaun took Louise’s hands in his. “Is it your father?” he asked gently. Matthew Baxter’s even longer absence had been weighing on him for a long time; perhaps the bad news had finally come.
Louise shook her head, then nodded, then shook it again. “Oh, I don’t even know where to start!”
“Tell me,” he said. “Tell me everything.”
Once she began, the words seemed to spill out faster and faster, until he could barely make sense of them. He heard enough, though. Reverend Millings dead… of poison? And Phoebe Baxter, that horrible woman, trying to claim Bernadette had something to do with it? And then Joshua Baxter going to the Chancery Court… Shaun’s outrage grew.
“How dare he,” he said, through gritted teeth.
“And then Benjamin came back…”
Shaun stiffened. “Fires?” he asked, suddenly terrified.
“Only one.” She smiled, a little victorious, though tears still ran down her cheeks. “I set Mrs Poole and Rosie on him. On the whole town, spreading gossip… that the fires stopped when he went away and came back as soon as he returned. The farrier made Joshua’s horse lame so Benjamin couldn’t go far afield, and everyone in Hatfield has been watching him like a hawk.”
“I bet he’s hating that,” Shaun murmured.
“But Brutus had to come live with us, because Benjamin beat him so badly.”
“The poor little lad!”
Louise seemed to have calmed now, and just sat, clinging to his hand so tightly Shaun thought she might never let go. His right hand, fortunately; the fingers of his left were still splinted together, which had made driving the coach an uncomfortable business.
She spotted the bandage then and reached out, crying, “What happened?”
“I don’t even know,” he admitted. “Waterloo was… chaos. At the end, Riot had a broken leg and I had two broken fingers.”
“Riot’s alive?”
“And home with me,” Shaun confirmed. “We lost the Fox brothers, though.”
“I saw their names, in the lists.”
He could only imagine how she must have felt, reading those lists. Looking for his name, undoubtedly. Lifting her hand to his lips, he kissed her fingers.
“Marry me. Joshua won’t have any power over you, then.”
“Yes.” She said it so simply, he didn’t understand for a moment. When he just blinked at her, she laughed, threw her arms around his neck, and said loudly “YES!”
He had to send her home to bed, eventually, and took a room in the Red Lion even though Dr Williams offered his old room back. Shaun shook his head. “I’m going to be a married man. I need my own house.”
“Well, congratulations.” Dr Williams looked a little wistfully across at the bookshop. “Miss Louise is a fine woman. Both the Baxter sisters are.”
“You’ve changed your tune about Bernadette,” Shaun said, amused, and was still more entertained when Dr Williams blushed. Was the good doctor sweet on Bernadette? What an interesting match that would be! It was too late to ask any more questions, though, and Shaun made his way to a bed at the Red Lion and the first good night’s sleep he’d had in many months.
The following morning was Saturday, and Shaun was woken early by a knock on his door. Pulling his trousers on, he opened it to find Louise standing there, a grin on her face. She looked him up and down, smiled even more widely and said;
“Do get dressed, dearest. We need to go and see the vicar. I’m not waiting another Sunday; the first banns can be called tomorrow!”
He laughed, reaching for his clothes. “I quite agree! Tell me, who exactly is the vicar now?”
“Oh.” She leaned against the doorframe, watching quite shamelessly as he put his shirt on. “It’s Mr Charles, who’s a lovely young man from Cumbria - Renwick sent him. Lord Ferndale seems to have taken to him, too, I’m sure he will give him the living when his trial period is over.”
“Must be a nice change, after Old Brimstone.” He sat on the edge of the bed to pull on his boots, before tying a very shoddy knot in his neckcloth and shrugging on his coat. “And will he mind us knocking on his door so early?”
“He’s already out and about, I just saw him coming back from his morning walk. Come on.”
Shaun had no objection at all to Louise’s plans, and they went to see the young vicar together. Mr Charles congratulated them heartily and said he would happily add their names to the list of banns he was calling on the morrow - several returned soldiers had decided to make sure of their sweethearts and he had quite a rash of upcoming weddings to conduct.
Shaun spent the rest of the day happily becoming reacquainted with the town and his friends; he thought about riding out to see Lord Ferndale but decided that since he would see him in church in the morning, that would be soon enough.
On Sunday morning, Lord Ferndale was quite overcome to see him returned safe and embraced him like a long-lost son, which made Shaun feel rather choked up. He gladly accepted his regular invitation to sit in the Ferndale pew, which meant he could share Louise’s prayer book and hymnal and gaze at her during the service. Dr Williams appeared to have been adopted too, he noted, seeing the doctor standing beside Bernadette. Something was definitely going on there, and Shaun made a note to quiz the doctor at some point when he had the opportunity.
Mr Charles beamed happily around the church as he began to call the banns; Shaun recognised the names of several people he knew. At last, it was their turn.
“I publish the banns of marriage between Shaun Jackson of this parish and Louise Baxter of this parish. If any of you know cause or just impediment why these persons should not be joined together in Holy Matrimony, you are to declare it. This is for the first time of asking.”
Shaun smiled down at Louise as Mr Charles read their banns, and she smiled back at him, her face full of joy.
And then everything came crashing down as Joshua Baxter stood up, three pews behind them, and said “I object!” in a loud voice.
The church erupted in shocked gasps and whispers. Mr Charles did not seem to know where to put himself; Shaun supposed this was not something he had ever expected to happen.
“I… what is your objection, sir?” Mr Charles said finally.
“Louise Baxter is not of legal age. As her closest available male relative, she requires my permission to marry.” Joshua smiled smugly. “And I do not give it.”
“I’m going to kill him.”
Shaun had thought the words, but it was Louise who said them, loud and clear. A fresh wave of gasps rolled through the church, and Joshua cried out; “You heard her threaten me! She’s a madwoman, belongs in Bedlam!”
“Sit down,” Lord Ferndale said sharply as Shaun began to rise to his feet, his fists clenching. “Jackson. Leave this to me.”
“Sir!” Shaun could not possibly stand by and let this happen.
Lord Ferndale gave him a glare, and stood up, his cane rapping sharply on the floor.
“Silence, if you please,” he said, and the whispers stopped. Looking at Joshua, Lord Ferndale said, “This is neither the time nor the place for your petty nonsense, Baxter. Now, get out of this house of God until you can learn some Christian kindness and generosity.”
Shaun’s jaw dropped open. He had never, until that moment, heard Lord Ferndale so much as say an unkind word about anyone; the old baron was the soul of politeness even in the face of extreme provocation.
Joshua Baxter seemed shocked too, staring at Lord Ferndale in silence. At least until Lord Ferndale looked at Shaun and said “Mr Baxter appears to be hard of hearing, Mr Jackson. Would you escort him outside for me, please?”
“Gladly!” Shaun said, getting to his feet. “Perhaps I might give him some education on the topic of manners while we are outside, my lord?” He would very much like to beat some manners into Joshua Baxter!
Phoebe Baxter jumped to her feet, pale-faced, and pulled on Joshua’s arm. The two of them made their way out without meeting the eyes of a single soul, Benjamin trailing behind them with venomous glares back over his shoulder. Every eye was on Lord Ferndale, standing at the front of the church.
“Thank you, Mr Charles, and I do apologise for the interruption. Please carry on,” Lord Ferndale said, retaking his seat. Glancing at Shaun, he winked.
Shaun appreciated the old baron’s intervention, but he was also quite sure that Mr Charles would not be able to conduct the wedding ceremony unless Joshua Baxter relented. Louise was not twenty-one until October, and he did not want to wait that long to marry her.
“We could go to Gretna Green,” he suggested, as they all sat down to luncheon at Ferndale Hall after church. “Your sister Marie did, with Renwick.”
“We can’t,” Louise said despairingly. “We wouldn’t get there and back in time for the Chancery Court hearing. And I couldn’t leave Bernadette all alone anyway, not with Cousin Joshua being so dreadful, and with Benjamin in town just looking for an opportunity to be awful in some way.”
“She wouldn’t be alone,” Dr Williams protested, flushing a little when Shaun raised an eyebrow at him.
“We wouldn’t be back in time. We can’t,” Louise repeated, and Shaun sighed, accepting that she was right.
“I suppose we can wait until you turn twenty-one, then,” he said, a little glumly.
“Well, perhaps not. If we win our petition at Chancery Court, I’ll be their legal guardian,” Lord Ferndale pointed out cheerily. “And you’ll certainly have my blessing!”
“If,” Louise muttered grimly.
Shaun reached for her hand, under cover of the tablecloth, and squeezed it. “We’re going to get married,” he promised her quietly. “Sooner, rather than later.”
She smiled back at him and squeezed his hand, but he could see the doubt and fear clouding her eyes. Honestly, he could just wring Joshua Baxter’s neck!
Life in Hatfield resumed very much as it had before he left, which seemed strange to Shaun, after everything he’d been through. With Lord Ferndale’s blessing, he hired a few more returned soldiers and began nightly patrols again, which allowed the good people of Hatfield to relax a little and stop being quite so vigilant over watching Benjamin Baxter. The boy was clearly simmering with rage and frustration, a powder keg just waiting to explode. He was spotted several times climbing out of his window at night and wandering the town, but with Joshua’s horse still lame, Benjamin was limited to where his own two feet would carry him, and he was inherently lazy. A few piles of rubbish were found aflame in alleys, but no property had yet been targeted, Benjamin obviously too afraid of being caught.
“Bore da.” Shaun looked up from his contemplation of his plate of breakfast in the Red Lion’s dining room to see Riot hobbling over to join him. Walking with the aid of a crutch Dr Williams had built for him, Riot was starting to get around quite well, though he still wasn’t up to resuming patrols. Not that Shaun had any intention of allowing him to do so.
“Good morning, Riot.” Shaun returned the Welshman’s greeting, waved to catch Mrs Haye’s attention and asked her to bring some more breakfast over. Riot settled into the seat opposite him with a grin.
“It is, that. Good to be out of my room. Getting sick of those four walls.”
“As to that, you look almost ready to travel,” Shaun noted. “Perhaps next week?”
“And where would I be going?” Riot looked startled.
“Home, of course! I should have sent you home to Wrecsam long ago, man. Time you got back to your family.”
Riot shook his head. “No, not me. I’ll be staying, I think.”
“What? Why?”
“Still haven’t caught the arsonist in the act, have we?” Riot looked down at the table, a little grin coming to his face. “Eh, listen to me, I’m as bad as you were, making up excuses. Truth is, there’s a woman, isn’t there?”
“Is there indeed!” Shaun sat back, rather enjoying himself. He’d put up with a good deal of teasing from Riot over Louise. “And who might that be?”
“For an observant man, you can’t see what’s right under your nose. Or maybe it’s just that when Miss Louise is in the room, you can’t see anything but her!”
And there was the teasing again, right on cue. Shaun scowled, and Riot chuckled.
“It’s Rosie.”
“Rosie!” Suddenly, several things made sense. Riot had always been eager to keep an eye on the bookshop, and Shaun had spotted him talking with the maid several times, but hadn’t put two and two together. “And does she return your affections?”
“Aye.” The little smile stayed on Riot’s face. “Came to see me, she did, when we got home. We agreed, when I’m back on my feet, and I’ve got a steady job, we’ll look for a little cottage and speak to Mr Charles to call the banns for us.”
“Well, I’m very happy for you,” Shaun said sincerely. “And about that job. Lord Ferndale’s been talking to me about setting up a regular police force. There’s no crime in Hatfield these days with the nightly patrols; he wants it to be permanent and has asked me to manage things. I could do with a good sergeant to help me out.”
“Policeman, is it!” Riot offered his hand, but then paused and drew it back. “And will we be under the direction of the magistrate?”
“Joshua Baxter? Absolutely not.” Shaun grinned. “Lord Ferndale has already petitioned the Lord Chancellor to have Baxter stripped of his warrant, and he had the support of a majority of the town council, who put their names to the petition. Turns out Ferndale was at university with the Lord Chancellor, back in the dark ages.”
“And who’ll get the job?” Riot asked.
“You’re looking at him. The petition suggests me as a qualified and willing replacement, about to marry a local woman and settle here permanently.”
“Well in that case, count me in.” Riot held out his hand again, and Shaun shook it.
After finishing breakfast, Shaun made his way next door for his favourite part of the morning routine. Louise had just unlocked the bookshop door and smiled when she saw him, turning her face up for a most satisfying kiss.
Brutus, cleaning up Crafty’s leavings behind the counter, made a small gagging noise, which they both ignored. Shaun cuffed the top of Brutus’ head gently as the lad scurried past him with the ash pan.
“You’ll change your mind when the right girl comes along, lad.”
Brutus made a scoffing noise, but the grin he flashed Shaun was full of respect, almost hero-worship. He was a good little lad, and Shaun was very glad he was out of that house, where his parents ignored him and his older brother tormented him.
Ruth was the next arrival, flashing a shy smile at Shaun. And there was another change; although the lass was still on the shy side, before she could hardly even stand to look at him. Her father’s death was probably the best thing that had ever happened to Ruth, shocking as that might seem.
“Ugh.” Ruth froze near the counter, nose wrinkling. “What’s that smell ?”
“Oh, sorry. I brought down some fresh glue for Brutus and I to work with… oh.”
Ruth clutched at her stomach, put a hand over her mouth, and rushed back outside.
“Turned her stomach, poor lass,” Shaun said sympathetically. “It is a mite early in the day for a smell that strong.”
“She’s never noticed it before!” Louise shook her head, putting a lid on the pot. “Take it back upstairs, would you, Brutus? If it’s making Ruth feel sick, it might drive customers away. We’ll do the gluing upstairs.”
“I’m sure Bernadette will love that,” Shaun said dryly.
“I’ll put it in my room, I don’t mind the smell,” Brutus said cheerfully, taking the pot and scurrying off.
For a brief moment, Shaun and Louise were alone again, and he wasted no time in stealing another kiss. She laughed, putting her arms around his neck and kissing him back, and he held her close against him, trying to think of a way he could bully Joshua into withdrawing his objection to their wedding, because waiting another three months to marry this beautiful, clever, wonderful woman was just not something that felt possible right now.