Chapter 7
Not one to delay the bearing of bad news, Felisa brought her ladyship”s breakfast to her in bed. Instead of departing to get her own, she dawdled, and it didn”t take the older woman very long at all to pick up on it.
”What do you want to say to me, Felisa?” she asked pointedly.
”My lady, I need to confess something to you.”
Amelia stopped in the act of spreading marmalade on her toast. ”Oh? What is it? Are you leaving me? Oh, Felisa, please tell me that you”re not leaving me!”
”No, no, I”m not, although you might well decide that you want me to once I”ve told you what I”ve done,” she admitted boldly.
”Are you pregnant?”
That question surprised her, although she supposed it shouldn”t. ”No, I am not.”
”Are you sick?”
”No, m”lady, I am not.”
”Are you?—”
For once, Felisa interrupted her employer, ”Please, if I could just get it out, we wouldn”t have to play guessing games.”
Amelia sniffed then wiped her fingertips on the napkin she”d spread over her robe. ”All right. What deep, dark secret is it that you have to tell me?”
The connecting door between their rooms opened then, and Penny appeared, wearing one of Felisa”s gowns and robes. ”Me. I”m the secret.”
The dowager looked astonished. ”Miss Worth? Whatever are you doing here?”
Felisa went to stand by her friend, taking her hand in her own gently. ”I brought her here last night?—”
”She rescued me, Lady Sommerville,” Penny stated bluntly. ”Lady Bellevue had beaten me quite badly—and not for the first time.” She took several steps closer to the side of the bed, deliberately giving the other woman a view of the bruises she still sported. Then, quickly, before she lost her nerve, she undid the robe and let the too big gown slip down her back, showing even more—and much worse—welts and weals.
Lady Sommerville had been going to object at the girl”s audacity in exposing herself, but when she saw the condition of her back, she couldn”t help but exclaim, ”Oh, my word! You poor child!”
There was a knock at the door, and Rune came in, causing Penny to hastily shoulder herself back into the gown and robe, but not without a lot of wincing and gasps of pain in doing so.
Without batting an eyelash, and despite the fact that there was a man in the room, Penny offered bravely, ”There is more, and if you need to see them, I will show you.”
The older woman surprised everyone by putting her tray aside and getting out of bed to come over to stand in front of Penny with tears in her eyes. ”I am so sorry that you had to endure that, Miss Worth. I knew that Esther Bellevue was a petty, vindictive woman, but I had no idea that she treated her people as badly as that. Come here, child.”
The great lady, the Dowager Marchioness of Sommerville, then proceeded to hug her companion”s friend, who was no one to her at all, except someone in desperate need. ”You are nothing but skin and bones—doesn”t she feed you, either?” There was no mistaking the absolute disgust in the dowager”s tone.
”Not very well, my lady,” Penny answered honestly, although she was blushing.
”Well, there”s no shame in any of that for you, my dear, but plenty of it for Esther Bellevue! I shall see that vengeance is exacted upon her, you mark my words.”
His mother then went to stand in front of Felisa. ”You brought her here?”
”Yes, m”lady. Last night.”
”In the middle of the night, by herself, Mother. She took a horse from the stable, rode all that way in the dark of night to collect her friend right out from under their noses and bring her back here.”
Amelia smiled at Felisa. ”I always knew you were a resourceful young woman.” Then she hugged Felisa, too, pulling back to say, ”That was a very wonderful, generous—but entirely too dangerous—thing to do, young lady! Why, any number of horrible things could have happened to you while you were out there alone!”
”Hear, hear!” Rune chimed in in agreement.
”And what would I have done without you?”
Felisa and Rune both shook their heads at her, while Penny just stood there.
”Felisa, go get Miss Worth back to bed, then come back here so that I can scold you properly.”
”Yes, m”lady.”
When she returned, Rune was still there, too.
”My son has called for Rowe, to ask him to bring an extra tray up for Miss Worth. I think we should keep her presence here as quiet as possible and perhaps move her to a less conspicuous place?”
The three of them talked about what was best to do, although permanent plans weren”t made until several weeks later, when Penny was nearly mended and had even put on some weight, since she had no duties They rarely threw weekend shooting parties themselves any longer, so that freed up the space.
Rune had long since promised Felisa retribution, but it had turned out that he was much too busy to actually exact it—for which she was very grateful.
One of the schemes he had come up with to rally their fortunes had paid off, and he was busy trying to finesse what had been a reasonably good windfall into one that would set them up for a while, and it demanded all of his attention for the next month or so.
By then, Penny was fully recovered, and the dowager had two young woman dancing attendance on her, which was highly unusual and extremely impractical. Everyone knew that another position was going to need to be secured for Penny, and both the dowager and her companion scoured the advertisements for what might be a suitable post.
”But I don”t have a reference!” Penny had pointed out.
”Nonsense, my girl. I shall give you a glowing reference. You”ve been of great help to me, and the fact that my Felisa loves you is more than enough for me to base a reference on.”
It was late one night, when the household was quiet and Rune was headed to his room, that he noticed his mother”s light was on, which was unusual, so he peeked in on her.
She was, indeed, up, and he sat down to talk with her before retiring, after kissing her on the cheek.
”And how is our recovering coming, son?” she asked, first thing.
”Well, Mother, better than expected, by far. We are in a much better spot than I expected to be at this time last year, and with your acquiescence, I shall soon be making our servants whole, with a generous bonus.”
”Absolutely. They deserve it for their service and their loyalty to the family. Your father would be proud of you, Rune, for the way you handled yourself during this crisis. And I couldn”t have asked for a better son.”
”Mother. You”ll make me blush!”
Amelia chuckled, then she said something that made him have to pick his jaw up off the floor.
”So, since we”re chatting, when are you going to tell me about you and Miss Heath?”
All he could do was bluster and try to dance around it. ”I don”t know what you mean, Mother,” he started, but his mother”s piercing eyes narrowed.
”Stop that, Rune. I could always tell when you were lying, and you”re lying now.”
Damn—she was right! He”d rarely gotten away with anything with her while he was growing up, because he had some kind of ”tell” that he didn”t know about, but she did!
”She had a hard life before she came here, Rune, and I won”t have her hurt.”
”I don”t intend to hurt her, Mother.”
”But you”re trifling with her. That”s not right.”
Rune was quiet for a moment. ”I don”t mean to do that, and I-I”m very… attracted to her, but I can hardly marry her.”
”Why not?” she shot back, not batting an eyelash at the unconventionality of it, and he was again amazed by her attitude.
”Be-because she”s?—”
”A smart, capable young woman, who”s been putting up with me—and you—and doing a wonderful job of it, who obviously cares deeply for her friends. And what”s much more important to me, she”s the only woman—of any rank—that I”ve ever seen you evince any interest in.” She held up a hand as he seemed to be about to protest. ”Now, I”m not na?ve enough to think that you”ve never had any woman?—”
”Mother!” he yelled, nearly apoplectic at the turn in the conversation that she was steering.
”But you”ve never brought anyone home to me in all your years. I can see how you look at her, son. It”s how your father used to look at me, frankly. And, need I remind you that I wasn”t at all who your grandmother wanted your father to marry, either. I was a lowly parson”s daughter. I had no title, no money, and no education to speak of. And your grandmother gave me hell because of it until she had the good grace to die, even though I—not her beloved son, who could do no wrong in her eyes—was the one who made certain that she was well taken care of in her declining years. At least, Felisa wouldn”t have to put up with that.”
She gasped as if she”d thought of something else. ”Oh, and once you get married, I could have Miss Worth as my companion! Wouldn”t that be something, to parade her right under Esther”s nose, all fattened up and happy and well treated! It would be worth it just to be able to do that!”
”Mother, you are getting well ahead of yourself.”
”Why? Do you not care for Felisa, Rune?” He felt as if he was six years old, being lectured for misbehaving. ”I thought I”d raised you better than that.”
”No, I do. But I never really thought of the possibility of marrying her. I thought you”d object.”
”Well, you were wrong. In fact, I bet she”s still up. I don”t think she”s gone down to the library yet. She likes to read in there sometimes when she can”t sleep.”
”I know,” Rune admitted tellingly.
”Knock on the door—hurry. We want to catch her before she goes to sleep.”
Rune was rooted in place.
”What are you waiting for?” his mother prompted.
Rune”s eyes narrowed back at her. ”How did you know about us?” he asked.
”Never you mind, young man. But it”ll do you well to remember that there”s precious little that goes on around here that I don”t know about.”
Finally, shaking his head at her, he rose to knock on the connecting door.
Before he could say anything, she burst through it, ignoring him entirely and coming over to stand by his mother. ”Are you all right, your ladyship? Is there anything I can do for you or get for you?”
His mother answered her in a terribly smug tone, ”Yes, you can. You can marry my son.”
Rune could see how shocked Felisa was, and it felt good to have someone else in the same boat with him.
He put his hands up when she looked at him accusatorily. ”I didn”t tell her. Don”t ask me how she knows; she”s being cryptic. It”s the first I”ve heard of it, too, and don”t let her bamboozle you into anything.”
”Don”t tell her that!” his mother crowed. ”It”s the perfect solution.” She turned to Felisa. ”Do you want children?”
Felisa looked taken aback. ”Well, yes, eventually, I guess.”
”And Rune loves them. He”s very good with them. Good. Then it”s settled. Felisa, bring me my jewelry case.”
”Y-your j-jewelry case?”
”Was I not clear enough?”
Felisa retrieved it from the vanity and brought it to his mother. While the older woman rooted around in it, she hissed at Rune. ”What is she saying?”
”She”s matchmaking. She”s got us married and Miss Worth taking your position. I had nothing to do with it, I can assure you.”
Did that mean that he didn”t want to marry her? Of course, he didn”t. She was nobody. He could marry anyone he wanted—he just had to ask.
”Ah—there it is!” She was holding up a ring that was heavily encrusted with diamonds. ”This was your paternal grandmother”s engagement ring. It should be your bride”s.”
Rune stood there, looking at her as if she was crazy as she held the ring out to him.
”Mother, you can”t be serious about this!”
”I am deadly serious, son. Unless I miss my guess entirely, you have already jumped the marital gun, and the least you could do is to make Miss Heath an honest woman.”
Felisa sank into one of the chairs by the bed at that, putting her head in her hands while Rune stood there and blushed as furiously as she usually did with him.
”Mother!”
”What? Doesn”t this work out just perfectly?”
Felisa was no help in refuting his mother”s claims whatsoever. She simply sat in the chair and groaned every time the dowager opened her mouth.
”Felisa! Felisa!”
Her head still half buried in her hand, she mumbled, ”Yes, what?”
”Do you think you could come to care for my son?” The older woman looked at the younger one shrewdly. ”Or, perhaps, do you already have some care for him?”
”I-I can”t possibly marry him, so what I feel is entirely irrelevant.”
It was Rune who seized on that sentence, rather than his mother.
”But you do feel something?” he asked, coming to stand in front of the chair she was in.
When she didn”t answer him immediately, he sank down in front of it, putting his hands on the arms and trapping her there. ”Felisa?” he asked quietly. ”Answer me.”
She outright refused to look at him. ”I can”t.”
”Felisa.”
”I won”t. It”s not possible, anyway.”
”Anything is possible,” his mother contributed.
”Mother, please! Don”t you think you”ve interfered enough already?”
”If you haven”t proposed, and she hasn”t accepted, then, no.”
”Stubborn old lady,” he murmured under his breath.
”Obtuse young man,” she countered. ”Felisa, would it help if I said I give you my blessing? That I would welcome you into our family?”
Felisa looked past him to his mother, which he found quite strange.
”How could you possibly do that? You don”t know who I am or what I”ve done in my life.”
”I know you”re honest, hard-working, and that you”re willing to contribute to a cause you believe in—this family—and that you”re willing to risk your own health and safety to help a friend.”
That last had Rune growling low in his throat.
”What more could I ask for in a daughter-in-law?”
Rune took her hands in his. ”I never thought it would be possible, so I never talked to you about anything more than just what we”ve had. But I want more from you. I want everything.”
She was biting her lip, and her mouth was open, but she couldn”t seem to form any words. It was all just too bizarre for her to even begin to believe.
But Rune was certain enough for the both of them.
He turned and took the ring from his mother then sank down in front of her again. ”Do you want me to make the decision for you?” he asked, more relieved than he”d ever been in his lifetime when she nodded slowly up and down.
He sighed into hands that cupped his face. Then, as he slid the ring onto her finger, he looked into eyes that were shining with tears of happiness. ”Miss Heath, you are going to be my wife, and we are going to be excruciatingly happy.”
With that, she seemed to come alive, sliding forward to practically sit in his lap, putting her arms tentatively around him as she whispered, ”I would very much like that, sir.”
As he drew her into a gentle but passionate kiss, they could hear the dowager clapping ecstatically in the background.
The End