Chapter Seventeen
London in early September was pleasant by day, but as the last overheated remnants of August slipped away, chilly breezes claimed the night. Rose wrapped her new fur stole more tightly around her as she entered the quiet but elegant Brown Hotel that evening. It was little more than a row of townhouses, but it was welcoming and made Rose feel grand.
“I will have supper sent to your rooms straight away, sir,” Walters said as he met them in the warm, smoky hall. “Madam, Jane is already upstairs, laying out anything you might need for the evening.”
“Thank you, Walters,” Edmund kept his hand on her arm, and Rose could feel him shudder as he tried to hold in a yawn.
They’d had a long day of traveling and a short afternoon of sightseeing and taking tea in a fashionable eatery, sending Jane and Walters ahead to the hotel. Tomorrow, they would tour Kew Gardens. On Wednesday, they would meet Dr. Owens. For tonight, all Rose wanted to do was sleep, curled up in Edmund’s lean but surprisingly strong arms.
As they mounted the stairs, Rose felt some of her sleepiness wearing off. The hotel was a new experience for her, something a bit exotic and exciting, paired with the excitement of travel, and the anticipation of what the fortnight in the city would bring.
In London, we are the same as we ever were, quiet people who share a love of our own pursuits and the quiet freedom to enjoy them. Edmund works in his study, or in the library, and I hide away in my “laboratory” and the gardens. All very pleasant. I could not imagine a better life.
Mama even remarked that I am “coming into my own” since I have become a wife. I suppose that it is because she is not always harrying and scolding.
Rose risked a look at her husband, sliding her eyes to his handsome profile without turning her head. It could be her imagination or the effects of fondness upon one’s sight, but she believed Edmund was growing more handsome by the day. Happiness and home seemed to have helped his mood and his overall health, if not his leg.
There are things a wife does that I still haven’t mastered...
Rose cursed herself for her momentary discontent.
It is not Edmund’s fault that I am feeling a twinge of longing. Although, in a way, I suppose it is. He should have anticipated what would happen when he let me have my head in matters of science and study. My curiosity about the unknown has never been greater.
“Are you tired, dearest?” Edmund murmured when she pressed closer to him upon the landing.
“Not at all.”
“Good. I have a surprise for you.”
Her stomach seemed to pull in a delightful way, rising like a silk balloon until it crowded her heart. “I love all of your surprises. Anything you would like to do while we are in London, I am eager to attempt.”
“Oh, you won’t have to leave our room for this little matter.” Edmund smiled and led her through the door where Walters was waiting.
“Even better,” Rose whispered, throat too tight to reach full volume.
But when she saw what was in the room, she gasped and rushed in with a loud cry of, “Wardian cases!”
“Indeed, the very same that James Hooker used to transport seeds and plants from the Falklands! You will see many at Kew Gardens, and I have arranged for three more to be sent to Cadfael House. You will be able to send your specimens to other botanists and horticulturalists throughout Europe, and they shall be able to send specimens to you.”
“Oh, Edmund!”
EDMUND MOTIONED WALTERSand Jane to depart their rooms immediately. Rose had leapt into his arms and pressed her lips to his in a way that ignited a fire in him. A fire that was perfectly appropriate for a married man to experience.
Later.
A dark, difficult voice in his subconscious blotted out his desire. She loves you in the same way as Catherine, Edmund. Haven’t you realized it yet, you old fool? Catherine loved you for what you could provide—a title. Land. Respectability that mere money could not yield.
Rose loves you in that same way, and this is the proof. She loves you for the solace of the grounds you give her, the conservatory you’re building for her, and now for the glazed Wardian cases you’ve procured. If you were a penniless man—
Edmund pulled away, a hand to his head.
“My dear?” Rose followed him to a chair.
“A headache.” The thoughts surely did hurt his head. He didn’t believe them—not rationally.
“It has been a long and fatiguing day. I will lay out the supper as soon as it arrives, and we will head to bed directly after. No need to trouble Walters and Jane further.” She bent to kiss a soft line across his brow. “I will look after you.”
“You are too good to me.”
“You are too good to me!” Rose laughed and stood back, looking at him the way an artist admires their masterwork. “God has been so good to me in granting me such a husband. I don’t know what I could ever do to deserve it.” Her hand lingered on his arm, rubbing in gentle circles. “I wish that I could do more.”
Edmund bit his lower lip and hid a grunt while reaching for the jug of water left on the small side table by the chair. “You do more than enough.”
The dark voice receded. A woman who is only after you for what she can get does not keep offering more in exchange.
“Rose?” he called as she retreated, removing her stole and hat.
“Yes?”
“I... I am so very happy with you as my wife as well. I show it in little ways, and even in some larger ones. But if my fortunes ever changed, I sometimes fear that you would lose the warmth you have for me.”
Rose turned, a frown on her face. “Whatever gave you that idea? I lived in far more modest circumstances before we wed, Edmund, and even if we were so poor as to only farm a plot of land attached to Cadfael House—or the acreage my father promised in my dowry, we would manage. I would help you to rebuild your fortunes and certainly not take more of them.” Her eyes swept over the Wardian case. “Oh, my. Were they very expensive? Perhaps there is time to prevent the other three from being delivered?”
“No, no. My fortunes have never looked better. It is only a foolish fear.”
“It is the prospect of change,” Rose said with a firm nod of her head. “This visit to Dr. Owens could make things very painful and difficult for a time, I know that. But I will be by your side. And if it is the expense of treatment, I would not fear. Dr. Owens has said he charges according to materials and means, so don’t let that concern you.”
What could he say? Every time he had a fear, she relieved it. If only he could do the same for her!
Isn’t that what we have given each other? She reassures me and aids me. I give her things, yes, but not to keep her unwillingly by my side. To keep her happily being the woman she is.
The woman I am in love with.
“You are every definition of a help-meet, Rose. My head is much better now.”