Chapter Thirty-Seven
The Pack had trekked to Penfield for a spot of Christmas Eve pugilism while the Huntresses were turning the morning’s collected greenery into kissing boughs and garlands and other decorations.
Charlie and Duke were sparring inside the chalk circle they’d drawn.
“All I ask is that you avoid socking me in the mouth,” Charlie said. “My Artie’s making a kissing bough, and I’m planning to show my undying support for the endeavor.”
“But a well-placed jab would shut you up for a bit, which would earn me the undying support of everyone here at Penfield.”
A chorus of laughter and good-natured ragging followed. Charlie seemed to be the most amused of anyone. Being his friend was a never-ending delight. He was never dismissive of the Pack’s struggles or dreams or hopes. He supported them in every imaginable way while also managing to make them smile and laugh regularly.
“Don’t let Duke fool you,” Colm said, lounging at his leisure on the sofa. “Everyone knows he plans to make ample use of the kissing boughs himself.”
Seated beside him, Tobias said, “Kissing himself . How will he manage that?”
“It will be an awe-inspiring Christmas miracle,” Colm answered.
“What was that?” Fennel stepped over to the sofa, managing to look confused. “A nausea-inspiring Christmas miracle?”
Duke looked back at Charlie. “I think you’ve been a bad influence on our youngest Pack member.”
“Poppy doesn’t need a bad influence.” Charlie grinned.
From the hanging bag of hay, which Scott had been pummeling while Newton braced it and Toss looked on, Scott said, “The very mature, married component over here would like to point out that the lot of you are shockingly juvenile.”
“ I am part of the married component of the Pack,” Charlie said, pretending to be hurt by the oversight.
“Scott specified the mature part of the married section of the Pack,” Newton said.
With a dramatic sigh, Toss stepped away. “That removes me from membership.”
Duke couldn’t imagine his life without this group of friends. “Will there be any room in that ‘mature’ group for someone who isn’t married?” he asked. “I’ll be in London, after all, along with Newton and Toss.”
“I thought Toss just disqualified himself from the mature section.” Colm made a show of being confused.
“What is your evaluation, Tobias?” Charlie asked. “Toss is your brother-in-law, after all.”
“That is a trap I am not about to fall into.” Tobias shook his head. “Daria and Toss are the only members of my family I don’t mind spending time with.”
“A glowing recommendation,” Duke said dryly.
And again, the gentlemen laughed and teased.
To the room as a whole, Fennel asked, “Will all of us be in London this Season?”
While almost everyone nodded, Scott did not. “We’ll have to be absent this coming year. But retrenching significantly during 1820 will, we hope, mean that from 1821 onward, we’ll be breathing quite a bit easier.”
Then, perhaps this wouldn’t be the last time they were all together.
The door to Penfield opened, revealing Uncle Niles standing on the threshold. “Your ladies are beginning to ask a lot of questions about where the lot of you have disappeared to. Best hop back over to Fairfield before they form a Christmas Eve hunting party.”
Charlie sighed. “We really should have forged this close connection with a group of thickheaded ladies instead of clever ones. We’d get away with a lot more.”
“But what fun would that be?” Toss gave Charlie a shove as he walked past.
Within a few minutes, they were all dressed once more, coats pulled on, and out the door.
Uncle Niles had brought a wagon. “Hop in,” he instructed, climbing onto the driver’s bench. “I’ll have all of you back to Fairfield before the Huntresses can say, ‘I suspect the Pack have been involved in clandestine boxing.’”
In the end, not a single one of the Huntresses offered up any guesses as to the Pack’s activities when they arrived in the Fairfield drawing room. The ladies motioned grandly to the adornments they had created and used to decorate the space.
Duke, without having to even ponder a destination, made his way directly to Eve’s side. She took his hand without hesitation.
“It’s very festive in here,” he said. “The Huntresses have been hard at work.”
“We enjoyed it,” Eve said.
Artemis eyed everyone triumphantly. “The Pack are welcome to offer us both a hearty congratulations and your unending gratitude.”
“For what this time?” Scott asked.
“We decided amongst ourselves which team won the greenery gathering competition this morning,” Artemis said. “And I am deeply disappointed to say that it was not my team.”
“Which one?” Duke asked.
“The Greenberrys’ team,” Lisette said.
That inspired whoops of excitement from Colm, Tobias, and Toss, and a grin from Daria.
Duke lowered his voice and leaned toward Eve. “Nia’s not here for the celebration.”
“She’s sleeping. This morning’s excursion depleted what strength she had.”
“Is Dr. Wilstead worried?”
Eve shook her head. “He said her heart still sounds very strong.” Her next breath shook a little, but she looked more relieved than concerned. “And setbacks like this are to be expected. Dr. Wilstead said, so long as Nia rests, she’ll regain her strength.”
He raised Eve’s hand to his lips and kissed her fingers. “That’s good to hear.”
From among the group, Daria said, “We’ve been so curious, Charlie, what prize you decided on for the winners.”
“Only the most brilliant of prizes.” Charlie looked absolutely giddy, which usually meant a bit of absurdity was about to be unleashed on them all. “Each of us on the losing teams will draw a portrait of someone from the winning team.”
It was, as predicted, absolutely absurd. And everyone looked as entertained as Duke was by the idea. Indeed, mere moments passed before they were all provided with parchment and lead pencils as they planned their works of art.
Duke hadn’t the first idea if anyone in the group had the least artistic ability. But quality was not the point of the undertaking, and he was absolutely certain the Greenberrys’ team would be surprised if any of the offerings they received from their defeated opponents were at all impressive.
Duke, while doing his utmost to draw something that he hoped at least vaguely looked like a human being, spoke with Eve, who was bent over her own piece of parchment. “Who are you planning to draw?”
“It is a secret, Duke.” She looked up at him, her eyes dancing.
He tipped a corner of his mouth upward and allowed his gaze to turn a bit flirtatious, a bit warm. “Is there no way I could convince you to spill that secret?”
“You could certainly try.” Her whisper was undeniably bewitching.
But Charlie broke the spell when he chose that moment to pretend to be struggling not to be ill.
“You’re ruining Christmas, Charlie.” Duke gave him a pointed look that he knew was too filled with amusement to be effective.
They’d not been at their drawings for more than a few minutes when yet another disruption occurred. The butler arrived in the drawing room with a silver salver containing three sealed letters. The first he presented to Mme Fortier, the second to Artemis. The final letter, he handed to Eve.
A quick look at the written address and she said, “It is from home. Thank goodness.”
Duke didn’t even pretend that he was paying the least attention to his drawing efforts. He watched Eve for indications that the letter contained bad news or that she needed additional support while reading it. He glanced toward the other two ladies who had received letters to reveal that their husbands were watching them as closely as he was Eve, both men wearing expressions that matched what he was feeling: a desire to be helpful if help was needed and a hope that the letters they were reading contained good tidings.
Eve’s expression lightened as her eyes darted repeatedly across the page. Duke had so little experience with letters from home being anything but discouraging that he was almost more surprised than relieved.
She stood, her letter in one hand and the drawing she’d been working on in the other. “I need to go speak with Nia, assuming she’s awake.” She leaned toward Duke and kissed his cheek. “Good luck with your drawing.”
“You say that as though you don’t think I have the talent to create a masterpiece with ease.”
Her beguiling dimple appeared once more. “Read into it what you must, Duke.”
He watched her leave the room, and he smiled broadly and without feeling the least odd at the uncharacteristic outward show of delight. She was a balm to his soul. Being granted a place in her heart was a remarkable feat.
* * *
“Mother and Father shouldn’t have asked you to keep this from me.” Nia was sitting up in bed, Eve sitting beside her, having just finished explaining their family’s true financial state. “I understand why they did. They want so much for us to enjoy our time with friends. But you should not have needed to bear this burden alone.”
“I wasn’t entirely alone. Duke sorted it out shockingly quickly.”
“During our journey from Ireland, I’d wager. A bond grew between you two. I was so afraid of getting in the way of that. He’s such a good person, and you’re so happy when you’re with him.”
“Is that why you didn’t tell me you were feeling poorly until you could no longer hide it?”
Nia nodded. “I probably should have told you sooner.”
“And I desperately wanted to tell you about all this sooner. Only upon receiving the letter from home granting me permission to do so did I feel I could without breaking the promise I made to our parents.”
“When do you intend to tell our parents about your new position?”
Eve had also told Nia about her arrangement with Mater. “In the letter I will send them next. I need to finish it before Mr. Greenberry leaves for London so he can frank it.”
“How strange it will be without you at Tulleyloch or with us in London.” Nia’s mouth turned down. “Of course, I may not be well enough for a Season next year. Dr. Wilstead said some people don’t recover significantly for a year or more. Some never truly do.”
Eve squeezed her hand. “He does seem optimistic that you will recover and recover well. We can accept the possibility of less ideal outcomes without believing those outcomes are inevitable.”
Nia smiled sincerely and genuinely. “I do feel optimistic; I promise I do. Being this tired and weak is not something I am at all accustomed to, and it sometimes feels as though I’ll never escape it.”
“When you are feeling equal to doing so,” Eve said, “we will take rides in the gig with a succession of different horses so you can see as many of the famous Fairfield Whites as possible. And before we leave, we will make good on that hope of yours to actually ride one of those glorious horses yourself.”
“Else the Pack will vanquish Colm on my behalf?” Nia said with a laugh. “Fortunately, I don’t think they will have to.”
“Neither do I. He is as good as gold; they all are.”
Nia leaned against her. “I don’t think we can ever thank Artemis enough for making us part of the Huntresses. She changed our lives for the better.”
“For the absolute best.”
“You’ll have to make certain to send her an invitation to the wedding.” There was mischief in Nia’s voice.
“The wedding?”
“Do not think, Aoife, that I have been so ill that I haven’t made note of the fact that Duke’s devotion to and affection for you has not merely continued since our arrival at Fairfield; it has grown and deepened.”
“There is not, at present, an understanding between us,” Eve pointed out.
“Trust me, everyone understands what is happening between the two of you.”
That was undoubtedly true. “Duke’s parents are terrible.”
“Also something everyone understands,” Nia said dryly.
“He doesn’t yet know how they will respond to his change in residence and his new role as political secretary for, as they so caringly put it, ‘the enemy.’ He’s afraid they’ll still manage to make him and everyone around him wretchedly unhappy.”
“Would their unkindness actually convince you to walk away from him?” Nia asked.
“No,” she said, smiling inwardly. “But he needs to know that I chose a life with him with full understanding of what that means. And I’ve patience enough to make certain he has that reassurance.”
Tears shimmered in Nia’s eyes. “You really do love him.”
“So much.”
Her sister smiled at her. “Then, in a year or two or however long is needed, I will be very happy for him to be my brother.”
“Not nearly as happy as I will be.”
“Will the wait be worth it?” Nia asked.
Eve closed her eyes and smiled. “Absolutely worth it.”