Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
"Now," he took her hand and led her to a small settee at the side of the room, inviting her to sit, which she did.
"Ye've been kind enough to tell me about yourself, my dear.
It's only fair - and I think we are both great ones for fairness - that I tell ye something as well.
Is there anything in particular that you want to know?
I ken ye've asked a few things about me. "
"I hope you don't mind," Alexandra said softly, looking up at him and making him conscious immediately how much he was looming over her. He crouched so that they were almost eye to eye, meeting her gaze head-on. "I know it was very curious of me to -"
"Daenae be daft!" he said briskly, not wanting to hear her twist her reasonable actions into an apology crafted clearly for an unreasonable-tempered man who wouldn't understand her, no matter how she tried to explain herself.
"What, are ye not meant to wonder what kind of a man ye've tied yourself to?
Are ye meant to just trust to fate and time about it?
Nay, I am nae offended, wife. Ye did the best thing ye could for yerself and that is exactly what ye should have done. "
She smiled a little, her eyes lighting up the way that they did when he encouraged her instead of scolding her.
"Very well. You asked me yourself how I knew that you were being defrauded, but it is quite unusual for a gentleman to be used to such things as household ledgers.
I imagine your stepmother herself managed them until you moved in.
How were you able to unearth the fraudulent transactions yourself? "
"Ah," he said, smiling a little and sinking back on his haunches to consider the question. "I think it is because I have always been the one in charge of meself. There's never been anyone between me and the dealin's of life, if ye ken what I mean?"
"Oh." She thought about it, her nose wrinkling a little adorably. "So - you had done your own accounts before so you were more familiar with the process?"
"I imagine many a bachelor who doesnae have servants to manage for him has to do so," Hector said drolly.
"But also since I was wee - a lad of fifteen - when me ma passed, I was on me own.
I had to manage me salary and me expenses meself, had to make sure that every pence did as much work as it could.
We werenae well off. We dinnae live in complete poverty, she had a job for her family's shop until she got sick, and I picked up jobs meself from young.
But we never had plenty. We ate enough meals, but the meals were bread and a bit of cheese.
We were warm in the winter, but the warmth was a half shovel of coal at night and a great many blankets.
It was a hard life, a lot of work. When she died, I found we had a lot of debts, and the house went.
I was on me own. Me wages barely covered me rent and the shoes I needed for me new job.
I knew the price of everythin' on the market, made a little extra sortin' out good deals for men around the factory, and even helpin' out the foreman some.
I could get a fine piece of fish for their misses for less than they were payin' for it, or a half-pound of oranges that they couldnae get themselves.
I made connections and met people, and I was good at it.
So ye ken, once I glanced at these accounts, I could see what she was doing immediately. "
"Why are you not stopping her?" Alexandra burst out, her face flushing a little in strong feeling. "She's robbing you, husband! She is taking money from you wherever she can!"
"Ach," Hector shrugged his shoulders. "When I first came here, I pitied the lady.
She thought she was married to me faither, and she thought she was the true Duchess and mother to the heir.
To suddenly lose all her certainty in her life must have been hard for her.
Far as I'm concerned, it's nay more than my faither's estate owes her for years of bigamy. "
Alexandra spluttered a little, clearly a great deal more bothered than he had ever been. The expenses barely made a dent in the fortune that rolled into the estate quarterly on the investments that the Murray family had made over the years. "Why does she do it?"
"That's a harder question." He rolled his eyes a little at the thought of the sharp-tongued, too-proud woman who constantly talked to him as though he were a bootboy.
"I daenae ken why she is how she is. It is clear she had nay affection for her husband, but she dotes on me half-brother.
She maybe felt it gave her some small amount of power or maybe she couldnae make do with her pin money and felt she couldnae talk to my faither about it. "
"She gets an allowance now, doesn't she?"
"She has her own fortune, but aye I gave her a generous allowance and covered the basic expenses as well up until recently.
That's what all this -" he gestured at the letters in their fine, feminine hand and bitter, cruel words.
"has been about. I told her and her son that if he dinnae do right by ye, I would cut them from me purse.
Seems they thought I wouldnae go through with it. "
Alexandra realized, seeing Hector grin a little as he looked at the letters, that these missives that had filled her with such outrage were amusing him. He found them funny.
"Are you not concerned by her threats?"
"Me? Nay, of course, I am nae. She'd have to admit a fair few things herself to tell the story and she is never gonna do that.
She's far too attached to her own image.
I know they were hopin' my reputation would be damaged by Benedict leaving you at the altar and then again hopin' I'd be too embarrassed to quarrel with them.
" He paused, grinned at her merrily like a schoolboy who had just performed a truly masterful prank.
"I like to count the different ways she plays the victim in the letters.
In one, she said that she was a poor widow woman destined to a life of penury. "
A laugh bubbled out of Alexandra against her will. "Penury? She has a house full of servants in a very fashionable part of London from what I have heard."
"Aye, it's as far from penury as ye can get.
" Hector chuckled, so clearly unbothered by the cruel things his stepmother had written that Alexandra herself began to see how they might be a little funny.
Not being called a harpy, of course, but some of the rest of the histrionic writings.
“Och, she does go on and on. Like she thinks if she just pesters me enough I shall change my mind. I daenae do that.”
"Thank you," Alexandra said abruptly, looking down at her lap so she wouldn't have to meet his searching blue eyes.
"For - standing up for me. I know that there would never have been a wedding in the first place if it were not for you, and then you even married me to save me. I owe you a great deal."
"Nay," he said softly, catching her chin with his thumb and forefinger and tilting it up so they were looking into each other's eyes.
Her heart gave a sudden lurch in her chest, like she might suddenly faint from how breathless she had become.
"I never need gratitude for doin' what is right.
Ye deserved protection, more than I could give to ye to start with.
I am glad indeed that ye never married my brother -"
"Me too," Alexandra burst out, her face heating and her skin tingling from where he touched her. It was confusing, sending her senses reeling, making her feel dazed and confused. "I hated that I had no choice. He - does not seem to be a gentleman."
"And neither am I," Hector said cheerfully. "But a very different kind of nae gentleman."
"Yes, you are at least honorable," Alexandra said. “I am glad, too, that I married you."
He smiled at her for a moment, a softness in his expression that she had not seen before.
He was always so sunny, so immensely cheerful that he seemed to light the room like a bonfire, so bright and energetic that she sometimes felt exhausted.
This was more like a candle, a beautiful illumination that did not blind her to look upon.
She smiled back just as gently. It is strange how quickly things can change, she thought to herself.
I never thought I would be pleased to be married.
Yet being here is so much nicer than being at home ever was, no matter how dearly I miss Penelope.
Our sisterly years have long passed with the others being wed, and so much more of home life is just the two of us and Father.
This - this is mine. Mine and Hectors. I can make something here.
"What are ye thinking of so seriously, me wife?" Hector asked, his rough burr of an accent rumbling in his low soft voice.
"Oh!" she looked up, startled, and cast around for another subject. "I was simply thinking that you need to take those dancing lessons with me soon after the last ball that we had. I shall need as much time as possible to prepare you for the next event."
He roared with laughter, standing up. "Ach, well, it's nay burden to spend time with me wife in my arms. I shall be glad to make time for it, lass. Now, why daennae ye tell me a wee bit more about yer lady sisters, hm? It's been a time since ye have seen them and ye must be missin' them dearly."
Alexandra stood as well, feeling a little rush of homesickness, not for her old house but for her sisters' presence.
Even after the weddings of her older sisters, she usually saw them each at least once a month.
This had been longer than she had ever been without visits in her life.
"You must be familiar with my older sisters through your friends," she said.
"Evelina raised us, Margaret has always been so merry and kind, and Louisa loves to read and is so good with the children, not that Evelina and Margaret are not, of course. But you may not know Penelope - oh - "
How to explain Penelope?
She glanced at him and found that like always, when she talked, Hector was looking at her with interest, all of his attention focused on what she was saying.
She never quite knew how to deal with this, this level of approval and this listening without her having to storm or scold.
It was so strange that it felt almost unnatural.
"Penelope knows her own mind," she said eventually, aiming for tactful.
"She is immediately me favorite of yer sisters," Hector said with a grin. "Go on now, tell me what that means. What terrible thing has she said to a gentleman?"
"She once told Mr. Dermot, a gentleman who lived near our estate, that if she were to marry, she would require more of her husband than sideburns and that if he wanted to take a wife, he should first consider detaching from his mother's hand."
Hector barked a surprised laugh. "She dinnae!"
"She did," Alexandra said, smiling a little. "He was in fact holding his mother's hand at the time as well!"
"Nay! Och, I must meet this lass. Ye should invite them all over for a visit, lass. I want ye to be happy and I know ye are all close."
"Oh, really?" Alexandra beamed, feeling her smile widen so hard that her cheeks started to hurt. "Truly? I know you said that we were not to be disturbed so soon after the wedding -"
"Sweetheart," Hector smiled at her. "That was for me awful family. Nae for yer loved ones. Call them to see ye and we will make a merry party."
Alexandra grabbed his hand in both her own and clasped it. "Thank you, Hector! Thank you so much! I have been longing for them so. I did not want to impose on the house but - oh I am grateful to you. I cannot even say how much."
"Next time ye want somethin', just tell me, lass," he said, his eyes gentle and kind. "I shall never let ye down."
Alexandra felt for the first time that it might be something she could believe one day.