Fourteen
Rose’s parents arrived at Yerndon two hours after her note had been dispatched to them, which was still quite early. She was sitting in the front parlor making a list of tasks to do when their carriage pulled up. Gavin had gone out to ride the bounds of the estate. Each of them was beginning to put their mark on the place, Rose thought. They would change things together. Her lips still tingled from his farewell kiss.
She got up when she saw the carriage and went to the front door to greet her family, watching them step down like wary scouts entering enemy territory. When her mother saw her standing in the doorway, she rushed forward to envelop Rose in a tight embrace. “Oh, my darling, what have you done?” she cried. Then she stepped back, still holding Rose’s shoulders, and shook her a little.
Her father, coming up behind, waved a sheet of paper. “What is this ridiculous tarradiddle?”
Rose assumed he was holding her note. It could be nothing else. She moved away from her mother. “I explained things clearly.”
“Clearly! There is nothing clear about this.”
“What don’t you understand? I am now the owner…”
“How do we know you haven’t been duped?”
“Because I am not a fool?” responded Rose. But quietly. Because she didn’t want to have a shouting match with her father. She found she was not inclined to ask them to come into the parlor and sit down, which was a lowering reflection.
“This may be a conspiracy to ruin you,” said her father.
Here was an accusation she hadn’t anticipated. And she thought she had imagined them all. “How?”
“With a false marriage ceremony, a playacting parson.”
He could make a conspiracy out of anything. “The duke and duchess were there and witnessed the wedding, Papa.”
“I must speak to them immediately.”
“They have gone back to London.”
“Gone? After creating this havoc? How dare they? And how do we know those people weren’t imposters?”
“Papa.”
“I want to see marriage lines.”
“Of course you may do so. And go and speak to the clergyman who presided as well, if you wish. In his perfectly legitimate church in Leeds.” Her tone was acerbic, her fists closed. Rose gritted her teeth. She had been lured into defending herself over something silly. Again. She wished this conversation could be over. “You may see the document that signed Yerndon over to me too.”
“To your husband.” Her father spit the final word. “Wives don’t own property.”
Rose glanced at her mother to see how she took his apparent contempt for the word wives. Mamma didn’t appear to notice. “They can when it is set forth and guaranteed,” Rose said. “It is a joint ownership, not to be taken away. The legal gentleman explained it to us.”
“And who is he?” muttered her father. “Some charlatan.”
“You cannot actually think that.”
“Why did you sneak off and keep all this secret if it is not a fraud?”
“Because I didn’t want to argue!”
Rose’s parents blinked and stepped back. Had she never shouted at them before? Perhaps she hadn’t. Rose groped for the rags of her composure. “Mama. Papa.” She waited until they both seemed to be paying attention. “You got what you’ve wanted all these years. Don’t you realize that? A Denholme owns Yerndon. You should be happy now.”
“We didn’t mean you should sacrifice yourself to Gavin Keighley,” cried her mother.
“I did not sacrifice myself.” This was not the time to explain her feelings. They’d never believe her.
“Where is the fellow?” her father demanded. “I have a deal to say to him.”
At least she was spared that, Rose thought. “He is out looking over the fields.”
“To think of you yoked to that evil man,” her mother moaned.
“He is not evil!”
“He is known all over the neighborhood for his dreadful temper,” her father said. “Just like his virago of a mother.”
“He has often been goaded into losing it,” Rose replied. “By us.”
“You have gone over to the side of our enemies?” Her father looked more distressed than angry now.
Rose was sorry for that. “There are not two sides any…”
“What are we going to do?” Her mother wrung her hands.
“I don’t see that there is anything for you to do. Except give up your suspicions and accusations.”
Her father bridled.
She tried once more for calm reason. “You sent me on this visit to win Yerndon, and I have achieved what you wanted.” It was true, Rose thought. Perhaps not as they’d planned, if they’d actually had a plan. But it was true. “Can’t you be pleased with me now?
“We did not know you would lose your mind!” replied her father.
“Could you ever be pleased with me, I wonder?”
“Of course we are pleased with you,” said her mother. “It is just that you…”
“Always do things wrong,” Rose finished.
“I did not say that.” But Mama’s expression admitted it.
“We thought that you would…”
“What?” Rose asked when her father’s voice trailed off. They’d had no specific ideas. They’d flung her into an absurd situation, left her to it, and now they didn’t like the result. And here she was, arguing again. Rose bent her head briefly. This feud was like one of those maelstroms that captured ships and dragged them to the bottom of the sea. It grabbed every phrase, every gesture, and pulled them into the dispute. “We are all one family now. The Denholmes and the Keighleys.”
Her parents stared as if her words made no sense.
“There’s nothing to fight about anymore. Yerndon is ours.” Or mine, Rose thought. Not theirs. Hers. And Gavin’s of course.
Her father looked quite bewildered.
“You must come home with us,” her mother said. “You can’t stay here alone with…”
“My husband?”
“We will deny…” Again, her mother couldn’t complete her sentence.
“Sue was at the wedding. I’m certain she’s told all her friends.”
“Servants’ gossip,” snapped her father.
“Which everyone listens to,” said Rose. “And in this case, it is perfectly true.”
“What is wrong with you?” asked her mother.
Something in Rose snapped. She had tried to talk to them and gotten precisely nowhere. “You know, Mama, nothing. Nothing is wrong with me. Except that I am very busy. I’m sorry to cut your visit short, but I have a great deal to do.”
“Here?”
“In the house you wished me to acquire, yes.”
“You’ll stay, on your own?” Her mother didn’t seem able to believe it.
“I am quite capable of running a household. You’ve trained me to do it.”
“Do you wish us to wash our hands of you?” asked her father in an ominous voice.
“No, Papa, I don’t. I wish you would consider the changed situation and adjust to it.”
He stared at her, open-mouthed.
“We will invite you to dinner when…things are more settled.” And you can be more reasonable, Rose did not add aloud. She’d said her piece. She moved forward, herding them back toward their carriage. They were so flustered that they went.
She opened the vehicle’s door, handed her mother in, and waited for her father to follow. Then she nodded at the coachman. He gave her a wink as he signaled the horses to start off.
Rose’s father stuck his head out the window as the carriage moved away. “We will have more to say about this,” he declared.
She was sadly certain that he would.
As soon as the vehicle was out of sight, Rose fetched her specimen box, put on sturdy boots, and started to sneak out of the house. Then she realized that there was no need for stealth. No one could tell her not to roam the moor for as long as she wished. Yes, she needed to set her new household on order. But she could do that in her own time. She took a deep breath, and another. Her life had changed. It didn’t feel quite like freedom yet, with her family looming just over the horizon. “I’ll find it though,” she said to the air, and set off walking.
Gavin spotted his sisters near the northern border of the Yerndon property, the one that marched with Keighley land. They were riding along it, staring across as if they were patrolling soldiers planning a raid. Their backs were to him, and momentarily, he was tempted to slip away. But that only put off the meeting. It had to happen sometime. And it was better to begin with the twins. He urged his horse out of the lane and across a field. His sisters turned at the sound of hoofbeats and watched him approach, two identical pairs of accusing eyes.
“What have you done, Gavin?” Jillian asked when he drew near.
“That letter you sent. It was absolutely incomprehensible,” said Janet.
“I would have thought it rather easy to understand,” he replied.
“We thought at first it must be some idiotic joke,” said Janet.
“Not the least bit amusing,” said Jillian. “The opposite really.”
He simply looked at them with eyebrows raised.
“You have actually married Rose Denholme?” Both twins stared as if they wanted to drill through his skull and see his thoughts.
“I have.” And he wasn’t sorry. Not the least bit.
“And Tereford indeed signed Yerndon over to us?” Jillian asked.
Not “us,” Gavin thought, silently. “To me and Rose,” he answered.
“Was the marriage the duke’s price for handing it over?” wondered Janet.
Jillian looked at her twin. “Why should he insist on that? Or care?”
“It is really quite outrageous. She must have cajoled him into it.”
“But who knows by what means,” Jillian said darkly.
“Don’t be daft.” His sisters’ antiphonal nonsense could go on and on. “It was not a price. It was…” And here he was arguing a ridiculous point that had been thrown out like a lure. He’d vowed to stop that. “It was an equitable solution,” he finished.
“That’s an odd thing to call a marriage,” said Jillian.
He’d meant the ownership of Yerndon, not the match. He had not made a marriage of convenience, no matter how convenient the union was in terms of Yerndon. He’d wanted Rose. And she’d wanted him. He’d seen it in her eyes, felt it in her wholehearted kisses.
“I suppose you actually are married?” asked Janet as if she still didn’t quite believe it.
“Yes,” replied Gavin firmly.
“Well, you must come home with us and explain to Mama. She is beside herself.”
“There is nothing to explain.”
“Mama does not agree,” said Jillian.
“Not about any of it,” said Janet. “She smashed the best teapot.”
He was not in the mood for one of his mother’s rants. It was always best to let her cool off for a while before trying reason. “She wanted the Keighleys to own Yerndon. Her wishes have been fulfilled. Perhaps you could remind her of that?” He had tried to do so in his letter.
“We don’t want to,” said the twins in unison.
“And she didn’t mean for you to marry Rose Denholme!” Jillian exclaimed.
“Couldn’t you have found a better way than being stuck with a boring wife?” asked Janet.
“Rose is not boring,” said Gavin.
“She proses on and on about plants,” said Jillian.
“Until one is ready to scream,” agreed Janet.
“When have you talked to her long enough to be bored?” Gavin asked. “You aren’t really acquainted with her. Only with the criticisms you’ve been taught. And her knowledge of what grows on the moors is fascinating.”
“Fascinating?” His sisters stared at him, then at each other.
“Surely he doesn’t…” began Jillian.
Janet waved her concern aside. “He is always going on about the moors.” She turned back to Gavin. “Mama thinks you can have the marriage set aside,” said Janet. “What is it called? Not a divorce, which would be shocking.”
“Annulment,” said Jillian.
“That’s the word. I mean, it’s hardly been any time at all.”
“We are married and will remain so,” said Gavin. His tone brooked no argument. He was tired of this conversation.
“Your whole lives?”
“Indeed.” It was a rather satisfying idea. If they could just get past this stupid feud.
“Mama won’t have it.”
“Mama has no choice in this matter,” Gavin replied.
“She doesn’t like that.” Janet looked apprehensive.
“You may tell her…”
“Not me.” Both twins raised hands in protest. “She will insist that you end this marriage.”
Their mother’s insistence was difficult to endure, Gavin thought. Yet he would do so. “Why?” he asked. “What is so terrible?”
“She’s a Denholme,” said Janet.
He shook his head. “This has to end.”
“Oh well, Rose might die in childbirth,” said Jillian as if in response to his statement.
A horrified shock ran through Gavin. “What did you say?”
Jillian blinked as if startled by her own words.
“Women do,” said Janet, automatically supporting her sister. “It is a sad thing but…”
“Is this what we have come to?” Gavin asked them. “Such a depth of venomous spite?”
“I didn’t mean I wished it to happen,” said Jillian in a smaller voice.
“Of course she did not,” said Janet.
“You will not ever say or even think such a thing again.” Gavin glared at his younger sisters.
“I shouldn’t have said it.” Jillian frowned. “I don’t know why I did.”
The twins were even more deeply enmeshed in the feud than he had been, Gavin realized. They’d been kept closer to his mother, heard more of her complaints. He should have done something about that.
“Come home with us, Gavin, and…”
“My home is at Yerndon now,” he interrupted.
“But Keighleys have lived at the manor for hundreds of years.”
“You cannot leave Mama all alone,” added Jillian. “You know she hates that.”
“We are going to Brighton in three weeks, to stay with our aunt and enter society,” said Janet.
Gavin hadn’t precisely forgotten this plan, but he’d had quite a few other things on his mind.
“We’ve started packing,” Janet said. The twins stared at him with identical anxious eyes.
“Mama will withdraw her permission now that this has happened,” Jillian whispered.
It would be good for them to get away. “I’ll see that she doesn’t,” Gavin replied, without knowing how he could fulfill that promise.
“Come and do so now,” Jillian urged.
He still wanted to give it time. This was not sheer cowardice. His mother was incapable of listening when she was in a rage. “Tell her I will call in a few days,” he said.
“Call?” repeated Janet. “As if she was a stranger?”
“Don’t be overdramatic,” said Gavin. “I am very weary of Cheltenham tragedies.”
“Is that why you married dreary old Rose?” asked Jillian.
Gavin swung around in the saddle. “Listen to me, Jillian. Janet. You are not to speak ill of my wife. Inform Mama as well. I won’t stand for it.”
“What has happened to you?” Janet asked. “Has Rose Denholme poisoned you against your own family?”
“Remarks like that are just what I mean,” Gavin answered. “They must stop. Now.”
“Mama will not be told what she can say.”
“Then I suppose she could go live with Aunt Mary,” Gavin interrupted.
“You would throw her out of her home?”
“No, I would not. Though many sons would expect her to move on the occasion of their marriage. But there is no need in this case, if she will stay friends with me.”
“Friends?” The twins looked at each other, then back at him. “She’s your mother.”
“And I will treat her with tenderness and respect. As long as she accords my wife the same. I would appreciate it if you could pass along that message. But I understand if you cannot. I will tell her myself.” It needed to be soon, Gavin realized, before his mother spread her complaints through the neighborhood. He must balance the timing carefully.