Chapter 44
Forty-four
Kate
Thrilled at Arthur’s unexpected visit, delighted by Fletch’s impromptu party, Kate forgot these past days of terror in the joy of the present. If this past week had taught her anything, it was to appreciate special moments when they happened. She could return to fretting tomorrow.
Arthur was beyond pleased when Damien and Fletch treated him like a man and bought him a half pint to go with one of Rafe’s famed steak-and-kidney pies.
He dug in as if he’d been half starved at school, but swigged the dark ale as if he’d been brought up to it instead of watered cider. He was growing beyond her limitations.
Happy to have her brother home and delighted with any excuse not to do homework, Lynly played with the inn’s cat and wolfhound, adorning them with ribbons from Kate’s sewing basket.
Rob seemed satisfied to be with the men and food, but this was his thirteenth birthday. This moment needed to be about him. Kate wished she had more to offer.
When Fletch disappeared, she tried not to fret. He knew she’d left Rob’s birthday gift at home, not having expected this party. Surely, he wouldn’t take the trouble to ride. . .
He returned before she could finish that thought, carrying his soldier automaton.
Kate thought Rob might expire with rapture when Fletch set the rare toy in front of him.
“Did you ask him to do that?” Brydie asked in a tone of hushed awe, watching the gentlemen, as well as the children, rushing to examine the mechanical drummer.
Kate shook her head. “I’d meant to, but I couldn’t pay him, and I didn’t want him to feel obligated. I fear those figurines mean a lot to him.”
As the party exclaimed excitedly over the exotic mechanism, Kate experienced a wave of love and happiness she’d probably not known since she’d held her babes in her arms for the first time. Fletch had planned this, just to make Rob happy. And maybe to please her, just a little.
Fletch glanced up at her then. The joy she found in his dark eyes nearly made her giddy. If she were to steer her own future, she needed to start here, with that no-longer-wounded look.
While the others played with the marching, drumming toy soldier, she caught Fletch’s good arm, and led him into the empty lobby.
“Thank you,” she whispered, before standing on her toes and pressing a kiss to his bristly cheek.
He smelled slightly of the bay soap she’d left by his washbasin, but his underlying scent was all masculine.
As she’d hoped and feared, he caught her waist with his unbandaged right arm and bent to kiss her far more thoroughly than she’d ever been kissed.
She had thought she’d be afraid when his masculine size and strength pressed her close, but this was Fletch.
He’d never made her feel less than safe.
And this loving embrace—she lacked words.
Was this how Fletch felt when he couldn’t speak? Overwhelmed?
“I want more than gratitude,” he warned, when he reluctantly set her back.
“So do I,” she admitted. “But I lack the experience you expect.”
He held her tightly against him and rested his chin on her head, so she couldn’t read his expression. “I’ve not had expectations in a very long time. I just know I need you, in any way available. I’ll follow your lead, if you’ll have me.”
He was far more man than she’d ever known. She really should be terrified, but she happily smuggled into his embrace as if she belonged there.
Before she could respond—his lack of words must be contagious—Lavender sailed in through the lobby’s front door. “Let’s open the shop this evening!” she cried. “Arnaud has painted the signs!”
“The signs?” Kate asked dazedly, dragged from heaven back to earth.
A contingent of footmen and stable boys followed her in, carrying signs of all sizes.
Releasing Kate, Fletch snorted. “Rafe had better name this place before all the world believes the inn is Lady Lavender’s Dressmakers.”
Kate laughed. “Lord Russell’s Inn and Pub? If she can call herself lady—”
“Major Ferguson’s Public Accommodations,” he suggested, taking one of the signs Lavender handed him.
Emerging from the pub to assess the situation, Damien caught on quickly. “I want the town charter to include a more positive name for the village. Bravesyde Inn?”
“Bravesyde!” They all shouted in laughter.
Henri entered carrying signs for his own shop. Hearing the discussion, he set them down. “This was a monastery town, you will remember. The original name was most likely religious, like The Angel or St. Peters Gate.”
“If one of the earls built it, it was more likely The Royal Oak or some such nonsense.” Stepping from his pub to see what was happening in his lobby, Rafe added his own knowledge of pubs.
“I doubt any royalty stopped anywhere near here, though, so not the King’s Arms. What heraldry did the Wycliffes have? Any lions, horses, or dragons?”
“A knight, I believe.” Kate frowned, trying to recall what she’d seen. “Perhaps a red knight? And there was a feather involved, probably referring to the first earl, the pirate. You should probably ask Miss Talbott.”
“The Red Knight Inn,” Rafe declared and returned to his bar.
Given Rafe’s vividly orange hair, that almost worked.
“Signs!” Lavender called from down the hall. “I’d like one hanging in the lobby, so ladies can see it when they glance this way.”
Kate laughed and dragged Fletch down the hall to obey Lady Lavender’s orders. Lavender resented the illegitimacy that didn’t allow her to even be an honorable had her father lived.
Leaving the men to discuss the order of sign hanging, Kate joined her employer in straightening and dusting the shop after the past days of chaos. “Have you heard what they mean to do about Miss Vivien?”
Lavender propped her hands on her slender hips and studied the window display. “The captain has no evidence against her, so she stays. Raising those children ought to be punishment enough for any wrongs she may have done. She is a good designer, once she’s dissuaded from her French airs.”
“I suppose, with time, she’ll develop the patience to sew a fine hand.” Kate wrinkled her nose at the notion of dealing with her. “But that cottage isn’t really habitable, she has no garden, and feeding children requires more than you can pay.”
Lavender adjusted the hat shelf—now missing the large bonnet she’d been wearing the day of her kidnapping—and sighed.
“I know. I talked to Clare and she’s to talk to Lady Elsa and Mrs. Upton.
They might find chores for the children after school and feed them with staff.
Clare is insistent that they continue with their education.
We may need to have Henri start searching for more children’s clothes in the second-hand shops when he goes into town. ”
“That would make a nice side business,” Kate concluded.
“Now that the chamber next to this one has aired out, the worst of the pipe smoke stench is almost gone. We can scrub and whitewash to remove the rest. Once Rafe and Fletch repair the window, Henri could set up shelves for gently used children’s garments.
They outgrow their clothes so fast! And then our shop can remake them, as needed.
Until now, we’ve not had many young ones in the village, but the numbers are growing. ”
“Excellent thought!” Lavender lit up with excitement. “Women might come in for their children and then think of something they need for themselves!”
She darted into the lobby to discuss the idea with Henri, which attracted the attention of people leaving the pub and others crowding in after a sudden cloudburst.
The discussion of the pub’s name returned. By this time, Arnaud and Miss Talbott had joined Henri in discussing the new shop for gentleman’s used attire. The argument over the earl’s heraldry continued, while Damien cornered a few of the locals to discuss a new village name for the charter.
Watching the inn fill with villagers, manor folk, and even some of the actors, Kate experienced a new elation—they had a community again.
“We’ll never be normal, will we?” Fletch murmured in Kate’s ear.
She laughed that he’d followed her thought and taken it in an entirely different direction. “Happiness is the new normal,” she declared, leaning into his encompassing embrace as if she’d always known this comfort.
“Happy Town,” Fletch threw into the melee.
“Creekside,” Rafe countered more pragmatically.
“Think big,” Henri cried. “Riverside!”
“Let’s find the children and go home before we’re painting new signs,” Kate murmured.
“I thought you’d never ask.” Fletch took her waist and hurried her through the crowded corridor. “Home is the new normal. Would you like a diamond ring?”
Kate heard the happiness in his voice and knew she was doing the right thing. This man deserved happiness.
So did she.