9 Settling In #2
But then Cal came into the room and any thought of gooseberries or Rhenish creams flew out of Cora’s head.
He paused on the threshold, looked around the room, smiled and she melted instantly.
Did she smile back at him? Yes, she did.
Did her daughters see that smile? Almost certainly.
Did she care? Not in the slightest, for Cal was there, making his way steadily across the room towards her and nothing else mattered.
“I’ve had the most extraordinary experience,” he said, pulling up a chair and sitting beside her, his grin almost splitting his face. “I must say, I like your duke. He’s a most amiable fellow.”
“He is hardly my duke,” she murmured, only vaguely aware of the disapproving expressions of her daughters as they drifted away.
“I like your son, as well, and you will not deny your association with him, I trust.”
She laughed. “Richard has his good points, I will agree. What has he done to earn your favour?”
“He has made me richer than I was an hour since. Oh, does that surprise you? It shouldn’t.
Here’s how it came about. The duke was greatly displeased with Mr Garth for burning down my little cottage, and there was much talk of arson and magistrates and even the Assizes, which was perhaps a stretch too far, but Mr Garth believed it, at any rate.
I have never seen him look so pale. I said, however, that I was disinclined to press charges against him, and the duke agreed that it would not be in anyone’s interests, but he felt I should be compensated for the loss of my home and all my possessions. ”
“That is the least he could do,” Cora said indignantly.
“Perhaps. If he had been a cleverer sort of man, he would have made it look like an accident and no one would have been any the wiser, but he gloated over the fact that he had ordered the burning himself. So he was forced to agree to pay me the value of the cottage. And that was where your son stepped forward, and worked out to a nicety the precise value of it and all the contents, and the duke then doubled it, as compensation for the inconvenience. Mr Garth was forced to write a cheque for one thousand pounds to me, and you’d have thought he’d swallowed a whole lemon. ”
“So you are rich,” Cora said wonderingly.
“Richer than I was, certainly. And your duke is to draw up a contract for me, with housing and salary specified, so I’ll be secure here and not fear that he’ll turn me off at the first difference of opinion.”
Cora said all that was appropriate, and inside she gloried at the news. He would not leave! And he had a little money now, enough to give him some independence. At that moment she was very much in harmony with both the duke and Richard.
She spent the rest of the evening with Cal, and when he left to return to his new home, she went with him to drink tea, enjoy the sunset and revel in his nearness. She had never been so happy in her whole life.
***
Cal spent a week setting up his new home to his satisfaction.
This involved a full day in Brinchester, moving from shop to shop to find all the small but indispensable items that Charlotte had forgotten.
The pleasure in such purchases was enhanced by the presence of Cora, who happened to be going to Brinchester on the same day, and who willingly directed him to such establishments as she thought would provide his wants.
Then there was the delight of a small repast at the Royal Oak together before returning to Staineybank once more in one of the duke’s lesser carriages.
“Pots and pans?” she said, as the carriage swayed over the rutted road. “Nails? A scythe? All these things can be had from Staineybank.”
“I prefer to buy my own. I need to be independent, Cora, and not be beholden to the duke for every little thing. I’m glad to have the hut to live in, but eventually everything in it will be mine, whether bought or made.
I plan to put up a shed on the northern wall to store wood and game, and once that’s up, I’ll get a lathe and I can make my own furniture, and plates and bowls, too.
But I need my woodworking tools before anything else. Mine all got lost in the fire.”
She nodded, but her face was still clouded. “But the pots and pans? Why so many? You have no need to cook much, do you? A pot of soup for the winter, maybe, or porridge for your breakfast.”
“I’ll cook my own dinners, as soon as I get settled. I’m more comfortable with that than these formal dinners the duke likes.”
“But… I should never see you!” she cried. “Breakfast… I understand you will eat that at the hut, but dinner… surely you will eat your dinner with us?”
“Only on Sundays,” he said gently. “It’s all agreed with the duke. He wouldn’t let me off entirely, but we agreed on Sundays… and sometimes on Wednesdays. When he asks. Now, don’t look so miserable. There’s no reason why I can’t have a guest for dinner, is there?”
“Oh!” The way her face lit up was endearing. “Then… oh, that would be lovely!”
“Aye, it would, but…”
“But what?”
“People will talk, Cora.”
“Let them,” she said with the slightest shrug.
This conversation disquieted Cal. He was always pleased to have Cora’s company, and it was for her to determine her behaviour towards him.
How presumptuous it would be in him to tell her what to do, or even to suggest that what she was doing was wrong!
She must be the best arbiter of what was proper for a widow of her age and circumstances.