Chapter Six #2
‘So that is where we stand,’ Hypatia sighed, staring down into her cup of tea whilst Thorn sipped his; not the worst he’d ever had, by far.
‘Perhaps thirty acres of land left, the buildings, three horses, a cart, an old carriage which barely survived the journey here, and three staff whom we can trust. Two beds, one dining table, four good chairs, assorted old bits such as the screen currently in my room, some cracked water jugs, a near-empty larder, two sets of linens, and however many pigs have survived that hellscape.’
‘You forgot to mention the near-complete tea-set, and bits of crockery,’ Thorn said wryly, managing to extract a weak smile from Hypatia.
‘I am sorry, I had no idea…it was this bad. Everything the solicitors gave me, the reports, the rest of it… I knew even the old earl inherited debts, and that he’d had to make hard choices to remain some manner of afloat, and then there was his passion for pigs, and his illness.
I knew it was grim, however not quite so grim. ’
‘Warren probably made a friend of whoever came here to tally and evaluate it all. And the rest… Your predecessor did what he could, as you say, and it wouldn’t have perhaps been so grim without that vermin stealing and swindling for—as far as I could tell—the three years he’s been here.
The poor earl, he had no idea, he just…’
‘I know,’ Thorn said gently, feeling a tug in his own heart for the previous earl, who’d suffered a long illness in mind and body by all accounts, and been apparently fodder for a swindler. ‘He will get his comeuppance, I am sure.’
‘We would be surer of that, and know he’d never harm another soul if I had kept my wits about me—’
‘Hypatia,’ Thorn stopped her, softly, but with enough force and seriousness she couldn’t but heed him, truly.
‘Seeing what had been done, I would not have kept my wits about me either. You did well. What Warren did was… The law will not let it stand. We will see to it. But neither could you be certain he hadn’t made a friend of the magistrate.
You prevented more harm being done, and so we must trust that the law will find a way.
If it doesn’t, in time, when we have more funds, we can hire an investigator.
Most of what he took is likely gone, the damage done, but I promise, we will not let his misdeeds go unpunished. ’
Hesitating for a long moment, Hypatia wrestled with his words, finding some peace or sense of it; best she could. Balance, justice, rightness, in an untidy outcome.
‘We’ll have rent from any tenants who wish to remain on the land that pathetic excuse for a human didn’t sell,’ she said finally, half changing the subject, and half not.
Still not fully accepting of her own choices, yet moving forward nonetheless.
‘Though I’ve a feeling we’ve more surprises to come.
There was so much which didn’t add up in the papers, and I’ve not had time to untangle it all. ’
Thorn suspected as much as well—men such as Warren rarely satisfied themselves with one or two schemes when they had such a victim in their grasp—and from what Hypatia had told him, if he was content selling off land and livestock, pocketing the profits, taking all but shillings of the tenants’ rents for himself, he was content getting up to much more repugnant mischief.
But that was neither here nor there right now, though a more responsible man would’ve disagreed. What was important right now was that Hypatia know…
‘I am in awe of all you’ve done thus far, Hypatia,’ he said most seriously, and yet again she looked up at him as though he’d grown hundreds more heads, like a creature of old.
‘I have been trying to think of what I was expecting, but I can tell you in all honesty, it wasn’t to return here and find you’d taken charge of everything. ’
‘But you’re not angry.’
‘Why should I be? If anyone should be angry, it is you. I sent you here… Knowing the place was in disrepair, but even had it been the most glorious estate in the kingdom, I should’ve been with you.
And when I said you were to do what you would with the house…
Idiot that I was, I meant make it your own, put up some curtains or…
something. Not clamber on roofs to fix them. ’
Thorn said this with a smile, but Hypatia coloured deeply, mistaking his words as rebuke.
‘You’re right, I shouldn’t have,’ she said, almost shamefully. ‘Waited, as I used to, only I thought I could do it, and it felt like an adventure, and I’ve never—’
‘Hypatia,’ he said, as gently as he could, placing his hand on hers, forcing her to look at him again.
When she did, he saw many things, understood much more of her than he had but moments ago.
‘Do not misunderstand me. I am not angry, nor displeased. I am astonished, and impressed. I am likely the only earl to boast a roof-climbing countess. I should be angry,’ he noted, with a very clear reassuring smile.
‘That you would endanger yourself so. But if it was an adventure, and you wished to do it, and you enjoyed yourself, well, I am glad. Still, the fault is mine, at sending you here to deal with a mess that is not yours. You have in but a few short days, saved me more work than I’d ever know how to do, and as we’re on the topic of my shortcomings, Langton said something about you bringing funds? ’
‘I had some savings,’ she told him, taking back her hand, downing her tea, and pretending her admission signified nothing. ‘Ten pounds. Now we have three.’
‘You shouldn’t have. I should’ve thought, given you funds for the journey, and this place, before sending you off. I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to use your own money.’
‘How could I keep it and what should I keep it for when this place needs so much? Though I did keep two pounds. Do not take this ill, however, I need something in the event you decide to be rid of me. Or worse.’
Thorn thought briefly of promising he would never do anything of the sort, yet he knew very well how cheap promises could be, and if it made Hypatia feel safer, more comfortable, he cared not one whit.
In fact, he’d much rather she’d have kept her ten pounds, and perhaps taken his fortune too—if he’d had one—just to be certain.
I would pay any price for her freedom to always be hers. I will.
For now, however, he had to keep focused on the task, and important matters at hand.
‘I will pay you back.’
‘We are married, Thorn. You’ll see me taken care of in time, but for now, our resources must go to saving this place so we may live, and those loyal to this house may live. Unless you wish to take it all from here, in which case I understand.’
‘I… I don’t,’ he said quietly, feeling as though someone had come and hit the back of his head—and perhaps heart too—with a mighty rock.
He couldn’t quite comprehend all she said, and the simplicity with which she continuously proclaimed it, and perhaps that was his own past coming to play—be it in feeding his general distrust of people’s words and promises, or making him question why anyone would want to live such a life of drudgery as this if they had a choice—or perhaps it wasn’t.
Trust. Marriage. We. Not alone.
Perhaps it was simply that since the beginning of this ordeal, adventure, fever dream—whatever his new life was to be called—there had always been one certainty in Thorn’s mind.
That he would be alone. The debts, the crumbling earldom, they were his to right, though they never should’ve been his to right.
It was that same inexplicable sense of duty, to a stranger, to an old man who’d been alone, that had seen him do all he had until now, and he might’ve done it gladly, except now he saw he did not have to do it alone, and he was…
Grateful. Beyond measure or words, to this woman who sits by me now.
To boot, in the light of the afternoon sun, streaming through the diamond-pane windows, reflecting off the blanket of ivy outside, and the wood inside, Hypatia seemed to him then the most stunning creature he’d ever seen.
He was finding her more fascinating, more beautiful by the minute, and something told him he should be wary of that, lest he mistake an offer of aid, partnership, their contract, for something else neither had any need nor desire for, because at the end of all this, they might be married, husband and wife, but they would never be husband and wife.
Working towards a common goal now—a liveable home and income—did not negate their initial deal; which promised both of their freedoms.
All that notwithstanding, Thorn reasoned that he could very well allow himself to be fascinated by the glint of her freckles, and the lightness of the tips of her eyelashes, and the way the shadows around her throat moved when she breathed, and he—
‘I don’t want to do this alone, Hypatia, if you are willing to help,’ he said finally, clearing his throat, and downing his own tea. ‘It is only that I never expected anything but to be alone. When you agreed to marry me, I thought you’d want your own life.’
‘We agreed to be business partners,’ she said, a slight frown between her brows, and he swore he heard the tiniest little clink inside his mind; a cog setting itself into place, as he understood the mechanism of Hypatia just a little bit better.
He breathed a little easier too, knowing they were in agreement still; of the same mind.
‘Perhaps some day I shall find a better occupation, something I wish to do with my life, however, for now, if this place should fall, we shall be destitute. And though I believe you would see me taken care of, if I can help, I will. This is my home now. So we shall make a plan, and be the best pig farmers this country has ever seen.’
‘Mayhaps we settle for the county in the first instance,’ he grinned, that notion of we, of partnership, of being less alone, ever more tantalising and foreign with every mention.
‘The county today,’ Hypatia agreed with a smile. ‘The country tomorrow.’
‘Very well then, my lady. As you bid it, so it shall be.’
And as they sat there, and began making plans, together, Thorn had the queerest sensation that whatever Hypatia were to bid him, he would see it done.
Rather than that being a terrifying prospect as it might be for some, he found it incredibly invigorating and reassuring.