Chapter Twenty-Three #2
“She’ll be thrilled, Mama,” Valentina smiled. “Is it a good choice, Fiona?”
“Oh yes. The story involves a mythical kingdom, a prince and princess, magic, and an evil sorcerer.”
“Perfect for Octavia.” Valentina laughed.
Lady Amelia bent to give Fiona a lilac-scented hug. “People could speak of little else than your engagement. How are you, my dear?”
“Quite well, Lady Amelia…I was thanking Lord Richard for his very generous gift.”
A smile played about his lips. “A day of milestones, indeed.”
Lady Amelia noticed the leather case sitting on the piano bench. “Richard, did you visit Rundell and Bridge?”
“Do let us see it, Fiona,” Valentina begged.
Richard lifted the ruby necklace and stood behind her to fasten the clasp. Fiona shivered a bit at the contact of his warm fingers and the cool metal settling about her neck. Stepping back, he withdrew the matching eardrops from the pocket of his breeches.
“Remember.” His lips curved in a smile as he slipped them onto her earlobes. “This is no different from giving you a pair of gloves.” His fingers drifted down the sensitive column of her neck, and she shivered in response.
Lady Amelia sighed. “Stunning, my dear. I have something for your betrothal as well. Valentina, will you go upstairs and fetch my enamel jewelry box?”
When she returned and handed the box to her mother, Lady Amelia lifted the lid and withdrew a ring. She offered it to Richard, who looked at her in surprise.
“Mother? Are you certain?”
“Of course. I always intended that you should have it for your bride. This is my wedding ring, Fiona, passed on from Richard’s great-grandmother.” It was a very large emerald-cut diamond, embellished with tiny lustrous pearls and set in white gold.
Fiona drew an audible breath. “How lovely.”
Richard bent to one knee and extended his hand, and her heart hammered in her chest.
“Fiona, would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
She looked down at his hand with its long, well-manicured fingers. Things between them had progressed too far to back out now. Did she even want to? A second or two ticked by.
Her throat was dry as a desert. “Yes, I will marry you, Richard.” She laid her left hand on his, but he laced her fingers with his own, brushing a kiss across her knuckles. The light touch gave her goosebumps. What was it about this man?
“You make me very happy. But I fear we will need the ring sized before you can wear it.”
“My hands aren’t very delicate, I fear, but I couldn’t play as well if they were.”
Richard rose, turning them over and kissing each palm lightly. “It is one of my greatest pleasures to hear you play, so I’m grateful these are a musician’s hands.” He slipped the ring in his pocket. “I will send Hansen tomorrow.”
The footman entered with a letter on a silver tray. “For you, my lord.”
“It’s rather late for a communication. I hope nothing is amiss.” Lady Amelia dismissed the servant with a nod.
Richard took the envelope and broke the seal. Unfolding the paper within, he scanned it rapidly, his expression grim. When he finished reading, he rose and walked to the fireplace, staring into the flames with a troubled air. “I need to think for a moment.”
“Should we leave?” Valentina asked with concern.
Richard shook his head. “It is nothing that concerns the family, but a private matter. Valentina, I’m afraid that I must cancel our plans for Newmarket.
You and Fiona have my apologies, but I am leaving for Wembley first thing in the morning.
I’ll answer any questions when I return.
” He made a cursory bow. “Excuse me, but there are immediate preparations to be made.”
And with that, he turned on his heel and left the room.
Valentina stared at her mother. “Wembley? Do we know anyone there?”
“Seldon House isn’t far from Wembley, but I can’t imagine who this might concern. I suggest we all retire for the night and let Richard resolve the situation. We shall find out more when he returns.”
Fiona slowly followed the others upstairs, thinking of the emerald-and-diamond engagement ring. The Countess of Seldon. What would her new life be like? It was as much of a mystery as the man himself.
The following day was consumed by the last fitting of her dresses at Mme. Brigitte’s in the morning, and an afternoon filled with preparations for the ball and the wedding. In between, she wondered about Richard and his sudden departure.
As Fiona practiced Beethoven that evening, Lady Amelia sorted through responses to the baskets of invitations that Richard’s new secretary had mailed out. “I wonder if Valentina and Octavia are having a good time at the opera. It was kind of Denys to escort them.”
Fiona hid a smile. She knew his offer secretly thrilled Valentina and hoped the evening might stir them both to be honest about their feelings. As soon as Richard returned, she intended to gauge his reaction to a possible connection between the two.
“It’s an enchanting opera. I’m surprised you didn’t go as well, Lady Amelia.”
“Oh, there is far too much to do here. And besides,” she confided, “I am always asleep by the end of the performance.”
It was after midnight when Valentina and Octavia returned, full of praise for The Magic Flute, but thoroughly exhausted and ready for bed. Fiona offered to stay and help with the guest list for the ball, but Lady Amelia waved her away.”
“Your eyes are drooping, my dear. Allow me to finish and go upstairs. I’ve no word from Richard, and who knows when he will return.”
Some hours later, Fiona put aside the copy of Sense and Sensibility she had taken to bed. Even reading hadn’t lulled her to sleep. Rising, she slipped on her dressing gown and buttoned it to the chin, hoping that if caught downstairs, she would be dressed enough to pass scrutiny.
The house was quiet, but then it was after three in the morning. She wouldn’t try to play anything on the piano, but she could review the sheet music for the difficult Haydn sonata she hoped to master. As she passed the main drawing room, she heard the murmur of voices and drew back.
There was a dim gleam of firelight from within. She heard Richard’s low tone and wondered if she should turn around or dare slip by to the music room. But something about his voice gave her pause; it was halting and uneven, very different from his everyday speech. Was he distressed?
Concerned, she was about to enter when Lady Amelia spoke in soothing tones.
Torn by curiosity, she stepped closer to the door.
Richard must have returned from his sudden errand.
She wondered what had interrupted his plans for Newmarket and told herself she could ask tomorrow and not eavesdrop when she caught Lady Amelia’s words.
“My dear boy, it breaks my heart to see you so unhappy. There was nothing you could do to save your father. I loved Creighton, but he was on a path to self-destruction.”
Richard’s voice was clearer now. “Colonel Bainbridge told me Father was wracked by guilt by his urge to gamble and drank to numb the pain…I never realized…”
Fiona’s hand went to her throat. It was a private conversation, and she shouldn’t listen, but the emotion in his voice riveted her in place. This was a side of Richard she had never seen.
“I was able to save Bainbridge from ruin…it was an easy thing to pay his debt to Fellingham. I should have stayed and found a way to help my father, but instead, I hated him for his harshness to me and for the pain he caused you. Why didn’t I see that he needed my help? I could have done something.”
“No, Richard.” Lady Amelia sounded close to tears as well. “You were eighteen. It was not your responsibility to save your father. He was a grown man, and the choices were his to make. No one can be rescued or rehabilitated without the desire to change, no matter how hard we try to help them.”
Quietly, Fiona backed away from the door. It wasn’t right to listen further. She should have left immediately, but she was glad to have overheard even a bit of the conversation.
She had hesitated to marry Richard because of his arrogance and his determination to control those around him.
Now she had an insight into why he behaved as he did.
He considered himself powerless to prevent his family’s ruin and had failed to rescue his father from disastrous behavior.
No wonder he held himself in check! Perhaps he feared he might follow in Creighton Merrick’s footsteps, or there might be another financial catastrophe if he relaxed his vigilance.
His deep affection for his family, their mutual love of music, and his belief in her talent, even the way his wry sense of humor made her laugh aloud; these were things to cherish. That was the Richard Merrick she wanted to know better, the one she was more than half in love with.
Fiona slipped back into her chamber and closed the door, leaning against the carved wood.
What had happened between the marquis and Colonel Bainbridge and why had Richard stepped in?
She vaguely recalled meeting a colonel at Almack’s, an older gentleman in uniform.
The reasons may never be clear, but she felt less apprehensive about her coming marriage.
She hung up her dressing gown and climbed into bed, pulling the coverlet to her chin, but her mind was far too active for sleep.