19. Chapter 19
A fter supper, the Cedar drawing room was overly warm as the young women surrounded Alice and Davis again to ask them a dozen questions, while Collins and Everett played a game of cards, looking on with uncertainty.
Brant read a newspaper in the corner and the chaperones listened to the young people with a sort of longing in their eyes for their younger years.
I was exhausted and wished to excuse myself to go to bed, but the night was still young, and I didn’t want to appear as if I wasn’t excited about Alice and Davis’s engagement. On the contrary, I couldn’t be more pleased.
The Welby family deserved some happiness.
“Enough about us,” Alice finally said as she put up her hands. “Let’s play a game of blindman’s bluff, shall we?”
A bolt of lightning sliced through the dark sky outside the castle, drawing all our attention to the window. Moments later, thunder reverberated through the large room and the wind rushed across the moors and slammed into the building.
Did it always rain in Yorkshire?
Brant set his newspaper aside and rose from the chair. He stood at the window for a moment before saying, “It looks like we’re in for a vicious storm.”
Sarah left the small group that had been crowding Alice and Davis and joined him as the others began to prepare for blindman’s bluff. “I love a good thunderstorm. It seems they are quite common here.”
“We have our fair share during the summer, but this year we’ve seen more than usual.”
“I love this wild, untamed land,” Sarah said, her voice wistful. “I’m not looking forward to returning to London next week, or New York after that. I will miss this place.”
“Must you return to New York?” he asked, moving his attention from the moors to her.
She played with the cuff of her sleeve, a flirtatious tone in her voice as she said, “If someone would persuade me to stay in Yorkshire, I would not have to return to New York.”
I tried not to eavesdrop on their conversation, but I could not help myself.
I had not heard Brant mention Molly’s name to anyone other than Ames since she’d left Pickering Castle, and I was not aware of him visiting her.
Had he decided to forget about her, as Ames wanted? Could Sarah persuade him to pursue her?
Brant hesitated for a moment, and I longed to know what he was contemplating.
Finally, he said, “Is a week enough time for you to be persuaded?”
My eyes widened slightly as Sarah lifted her gaze to him, her eyelashes fluttering upward. “I would not need a week. He need say the word and I would stay.”
The door to the drawing room opened and Ames appeared. Several people looked up in surprise at his arrival, myself included.
“I thought I might play the piano for dancing,” Ames said. “Would anyone like to join me?”
No one moved or spoke as we all stared at him. He’d never once offered to play the piano for dancing. That was usually Brant’s job. When we had danced, Ames was a reluctant participant.
Was it because of the rain and wind?
“I would love to dance,” Mrs. Talmadge said with an eager smile.
The strange moaning noise I often heard on nights like this suddenly echoed through the walls. It was low and quiet, and if I did not know what it was, I might not have noticed it with the wind rattling the windows. It was much quieter here than in my room.
Were the smugglers using the caves tonight?
My gaze locked on Ames, and I tried to question him with my eyes, but his facade was in place, and he made no move to answer my inquiry with a look or a shake of his head. Nothing.
“Martha,” Everett asked as he stepped forward, “may I have the first dance tonight?”
Martha glanced at Collins and then back at Everett. When Collins made no move to ask her to dance, she nodded at Everett.
The youngest Welby brother grinned as he offered Martha his arm and escorted her out of the room, just behind Ames, who led the way.
“I think I might even dance tonight,” Mrs. Danby said. “Ever since taking that elixir I acquired at the village festival, I feel like I’m fifteen years younger.”
“I’m not surprised,” Mrs. Talmadge sniffed. “I took a whiff of it and it’s mostly alcohol.”
Mrs. Danby laughed. “You’re very funny, my dear Mrs. Talmadge.”
Mrs. Talmadge lifted her eyebrow but didn’t offer any more advice as the chaperones left the drawing room, followed by the others.
“Will you please save the first dance for me?” Brant asked Sarah.
Her smile lit up the almost-empty room. “I’d be honored.”
“I will be in shortly,” he said with a nod. “I’d like to speak to Lily first.”
“Of course.”
As Sarah left the room, I gave my full attention to my brother-in-law. We were alone as the storm strengthened outside and the sky filled with more lightning.
The moaning noise eased, but the wind continued to blow. I wanted to ask Ames if the smugglers were using the caves, or if the wind made that noise a different way, but I wasn’t sure if I would get the opportunity.
“Have you heard from Molly?” Brant asked after making sure Sarah was gone.
Frowning, I shook my head. “I haven’t—but I don’t think Ames would want us discussing her.”
Brant paced to the window and ran his hand through his dark hair. “She has not answered any of my letters.”
“You’ve written to her?”
“Of course I have.” He turned back to look at me, his shoulders drooped. “I love her, Lily. Sending her away has only increased my devotion and confirmed that I don’t want to live without her. I’m miserable.”
I let out a deep breath. “Brant, you know better than I how impossible it would be to marry Molly. If she is not responding to your letters, then it’s because she does not want to continue your relationship. You must respect her wishes.”
“She’s only ignoring me because she thinks she knows what is best for me. She’s sacrificing for all of this.” He motioned to the room around him. “I don’t want any of this if I cannot have her.”
“You say that now, but there would come a day when you would regret giving all of this up.”
“Would I?” He ran his hands over his face. “Millions of people go to America to start over. Why can’t Molly and I?”
“You would give up your title as the Earl of Bedford to move to America?”
“Collins may have it. It’s never meant anything to me.”
“Very few people who move to America become wealthy. The vast majority live in tenements in overcrowded cities, while others move west and struggle for decades to find any sort of financial stability. You have always known a privileged life. I’m afraid that moving to America would be a rude awakening for you. ”
“For the past fifteen years, we’ve lived like hermits in this castle, with the bare essentials of life,” he said to me.
“I learned how to work in the fields alongside the tenant farmers, cook my own meals, and tend to the castle’s repairs.
I would not mind pioneering a new land and making a new life for myself.
It would be better than marrying a woman I do not love to hold on to an old, drafty manor house in England that I have no allegiance to. ”
I studied him for a moment. “You would give up everything for Molly?”
“In a heartbeat.”
We stared at each other for several seconds before I said, “You are an adult, Brant. No one can force you to live a life you do not want. If you are serious about giving up your birthright and moving to America, I will not try to stop you. But you must consider every possible outcome, including the loss of your family.”
“I love my family, dearly, but it’s time we each forge our own paths. If Ames has any shred of affection for me, he will let me go.”
“He loves you.”
“He feels obligated toward me.”
“No.” I pressed my lips together for a moment. “Ames loves you. Everything he’s done is for you and your brothers.”
“Then he needs to let me live the life I want—not the life he’s chosen for me.”
I clasped my hands together as I asked, “When will you tell him?”
“I will wait until after the house party ends. We need not make things awkward while we have guests.”
“Thank you for that.” I frowned. “But why are you giving Sarah false hope? I heard you speaking to her about staying.”
He shifted his feet and looked at the ground. “It’s easier to lead her and Ames to believe I’m taking her into consideration than to be outright rude.”
I took a step toward Brant and laid my hand on his arm. “Perhaps in the short term—but in the long term, you will do much more damage if you lead her on. For her sake, please do not give her the wrong impression.”
He swallowed and nodded. “Perhaps you’re right. Will you give my regrets to her this evening? I think I’ll go to bed early tonight.”
After I agreed, Brant left the drawing room. I should have felt some sense of relief that Brant had found a way forward, but I had no peace where he and Molly were concerned.
Ames would not be happy.
The storm continued to rage, but the dancers didn’t seem to notice.
Here, with Ames playing the piano, it was almost impossible to hear the moaning noises echoing through the walls.
The additional sounds of foot stomping, laughter, and conversation muted anything unpleasant.
Collins, Everett, and Davis asked me to dance, but I was too exhausted to agree.
Instead, I sat in a chair with a perfect view of the dancers and of Ames, who gave himself fully to the songs he played.
Brant had not joined us, to the dismay of all the young women, including Mrs. Talmadge, who loved dancing with him best of all.
Collins and Everett didn’t seem to mind that their older brother was absent.
They had their hands full with Martha, Ruth, and Sarah, who were all eager to spin around the floor.
Davis took turns with the other women, but he returned to Alice every opportunity he could.
It was late when Stephens entered the music room, his face filled with concern as he bent low to speak to Ames.