Carla Kelly (20 page)

She finished the
crepes. “Tell me, what of Lord Byford? Is he about yet?”

“
Oh,
long since. He took Hugh with him into the garden and they walked
about for some time and talked. And then Lord Byford walked into
Byford by himself. I do not know what it is about. I teased and
teased Hugh, but he would not tell me.”

Omega sipped her
tea. So now Hugh Owen is acquainted with the whole sad story. She
sighed. It is better so, she thought, even as she colored faintly
with embarrassment for Matthew.

Jamie came into
her room dressed in his new clothes. He said hello politely and
paused only long enough to claim Angela. “She has promised to teach
me to trap rabbits, Omega. Besides,” he added, looking darts at
Angela, “didn’t Uncle Matthew make us both take an oath not to
disturb Miss Chartley?”

“
I was
merely telling her the news,” answered Angela with great dignity.
She collected Omega’s tray and suffered Jamie to tow her toward the
door. “Boys have no sense about anything.”

When they were
gone, Omega pulled back the bedcovers and swung her legs over the
edge of the bed. Her ankle was still puffy and angry-looking, but
she could tell that much of the swelling had subsided.
I wonder
if I could stand on it?
she thought, even as she grabbed the
bedstead and pulled herself to her feet. She was reaching for the
chair, with her eyes on the dressing table across the room, when
Tildy came in, shrieked, and hurried to her side.

“
Miss
Chartley! Oh, should you be doing this?”

“
Yes,”
said Miss Chartley through gritted teeth. “Help me to the dressing
table. Be a good girl, Tildy.”

Tildy shook her
head in vast disapproval, but took Omega by the elbow and steered
her to the dressing table. Omega surveyed herself in the mirror.
“Do you know,” she said in shocked surprise, “I really
do
look green when I am pale.”

Her hair was wild
about her head, reminding her of Medusa, but it was nothing
compared to her pallor. “Tildy, Miss Haversham, the headmistress at
my last school, used to tell the pupils that fragile women were
‘interesting.’ That is a great hum. It’s hard to believe that I
could go downhill so rapidly.”

“
Now,
Miss Chartley,” said Tildy, “let me brush your hair for a minute. A
bath would do you wonders too. And then, when you are done, you can
sit in the chair by the window and look ‘interesting.’
 
” Tildy giggled and reached
for the hairbrush.

Tildy’s
recommendations were all accomplished by noon. Her hair neatly
composed under another lace cap, and wearing a fresh nightgown and
robe, Omega sat by the window, her foot propped on a stool. She
seldom sat without something to do, but it was pleasant to feel the
warmth of the noonday sun on her face, with no thought of a task
that needed to be done.
I could grow used to such indolence
,
she thought. Tildy had turned down the covers on the bed and
fluffed the pillows, “for when you feel like a nap, Miss
Chartley.”

Miss Chartley
felt like looking out the window, listening to the birds and the
faint sounds of cow bells in distant fields. Until she was
surrounded by the peace of Byford, she hadn’t been aware of
Plymouth’s noise. For eight years she had accepted the racket of
the busy seaport, listening with resignation to the sounds from the
docks, the screechings of the fishmongers as they exhorted their
customers block by block, the gruff talk of sailors, and over all,
the deep sounds of harbor bells.

There was none of
that here in Byford, only a blissful sort of quiet that was more
restful than a hundred naps. She hoped that Durham would prove like
this, even as her heart told her that it could never be as special
as Byford, and her head reminded her that she was leaving as soon
as she could.

Omega was dozing
in the chair when she heard voices in the hall. Tildy was talking
to Matthew. Omega answered, “Come in, Matthew,” to the firm knock
on the door.

He stuck his head
in. “Ha! I told you she would see me!”

Tildy pursed her
lips and stepped aside. “My lord, she needs her rest.”

Omega started to
rise from the chair. Matthew hurried across the room and picked her
up, depositing her on the bed. She put her hands on his chest.
“Matthew, I think I would rather be downstairs.”

“
In a
moment,” he said. “Tildy, I’ll carry her down to the parlor in a
moment, if you will arrange the pillows on the sofa.”

Matthew turned
back to Omega, looking at her ankle carefully, comparing it with
the other one, and then nodding. “The doctor was right, Omega,” he
said as he spread the blanket over her. “It looks better.” He
leaned close to her hair and sniffed. “And you smell of lavender.
As Jamie would probably say, ‘This is famous!’
 
”

She smiled and
looked at him in turn. “Your eye, Matthew. My goodness.”

He bowed. “Yes, I
have reached that dreadful green-and-yellow stage. Whereas you, my
dear, may languish and appear mysterious, I look as though I keep
low company.” He grinned. “Come to think of it, perhaps I
do.”

But that was not
what he had come to say. “Setting all this aside, I must tell you
that I have searched for Mr. Timothy Platter and he is nowhere to
be seen.”

“
This
is vexing,” she said. “Do you suppose ... could he have returned to
Lord Rotherford’s estate with his intelligence?”

“
He
could have.”

“
Where
is his estate?”

“
Somerset, near Taunton. I believe that Platter is still about,
but don’t ask me why. I just don’t think he would have left the
area, especially as we are closer to London, where Mr. Platter will
surely be repairing soon.”

“
You
don’t think he would spirit Jamie away, do you?”

“
There
is that possibility. I will set a strong watch about the house.
Still, I expect we will hear from Mr. Platter when he feels the
time is right.” Matthew rubbed his hands together. “Let us hope it
is soon.”

He carried her
down to the parlor, admonishing her to hold tight to his neck. “For
if I should stumble on the stairs, my dear, neither of us will be
fit for a midden. I am already convinced that Jamie and Angela
consider us two of the most decrepit people of their
acquaintance.”

The sofa was
ready for her, with pillows to prop her back and a basin of cool
water and epsom salt for her foot. Tildy was there with her
mending; Twinings came to bring up roses for the vase at her side
and to assure her that her time was his, should she need any
assistance. Jamie raced through with another snared rabbit (“Omega!
This is famous!
I
snared it!”), and Angela followed more
sedately, pausing to ask Omega how she did. Soon Antoine ascended
from the kitchen bearing a pot of tea and yet another French pastry
for Omega’s weakened constitution. Hugh wandered by with several
drawings of horses and a distracted look on his face.

Matthew watched
the stream of people through his parlor with a combination of
exasperation and amusement. “Before your precipitate arrival, I
could have sat here all day and never seen another living soul,” he
said. “Now, Omega, if I want a private word with you, I will have
to fill out a card and wait my turn, just like an Assembly Room
ball!”

His tone was
censorious enough, but the effect was mitigated when he grabbed
Angela around the middle as she drifted about and set her on his
lap.

“
I am
too old to sit on your lap, my lord,” she said gravely.

“
I
think not. I will release you on one condition: that you go
upstairs and see what is on your bed.”

She leapt off his
lap and ran up the stairs. The next sound was a scream of delight,
and then loud crying. “My God,” said Omega, “what have you
done?”

“
Do
you suppose that Spanish females carry on in such fashion whenever
they are overcome with emotion?” he murmured. “It’s a wonder Beau
Wellington did not wash his hands of the whole
Peninsula.”

“
And
what have you done, Matthew?” she asked again.

“
A
small thing. I also bought some muslin at the Templeton fair
yesterday, and promised one of our local seamstresses a ridiculous
stipend if she would make a dress from it by this morning. You
know, a church dress, a fancy dress.” He looked at her for a
reaction. “Do you know, Omega, I like the way your dimple shows,
even when you are trying to be stern with me. Ah, there it
is!”

“
You
are so good to Angela.”

“
It is
purely selfish, Miss Chartley.” He took her hand and raised it to
his lips. “You resist taking a loan from me so you can get on your
way to Durham. I shall spoil Angela out of spite ... and also
because I have become fond of both children.” He rose and went to
the window. “Almost as if they were my own.”

She could think
of nothing to say, and was spared comment when Hugh came through
again, and Angela, red-eyed and smiling, came downstairs and threw
herself into the viscount’s arms. He hugged her. “Just tell me one
thing, Angela: are you happy?”

She nodded and
burst into tears all over again. Matthew threw back his head and
laughed. “Is she always this way, Hugh?”

Hugh grinned. “I
wouldn’t know, my lord. Up to now she has been content with one
meal a day—on a good day—and a castoff dress. You’ve probably
ruined her forever. How can we leave this place?”

Matthew rested
his arm on Angela’s shoulder. “Perhaps you will not have to, Hugh.
When this ... this issue is settled, perhaps there will be occasion
for another discussion.”

By the time
Matthew carried her upstairs that evening, Omega Chartley was ready
to go. How a healthy woman could become so tired from sitting in a
comfortable parlor and doing nothing was a thing she did not
understand. She wanted only to sleep now, to sleep and not worry
about the disturbing past, her uneasy present, and her uncertain
future. She would try to walk in the morning, try to be of some use
in the household where she was treated with such
kindness.

“
Can I
do something else for you?” Matthew asked after he blew out the
candle by the bedside and arranged the blankets on her legs
again.

You could love
me, she thought. Even if you thought you could not, you could
try.

“
No. I
am fine. Matthew, thank you again for all you are doing for us. I
know I am such an imposition. As soon ... as soon as I am able,
I’ll accept your offer of a loan and be on my way to
Durham.”

“
Suppose I should withdraw my offer?” he teased, his eyes on
her face in the dark.

“
Then
I will apply to Angela to instruct me in the art of snaring rabbits
and catching fish, and I’ll be on my way in any case,” she said
calmly, wishing that he did not look so good to her, even with his
eye decorated in moldering shades of green and his nose slightly
swollen. Did he have to wear that marvelous lemon cologne? Why did
he not wear bay rum, like other men? What a nuisance he was. How
much she would miss him.

He touched her
face. “And will you think of me occasionally when you are grading
papers and listening to recitations?”

“
I
will not, my lord,” she said firmly. “I shall concentrate fully on
my duties, and have time to wool-gather only during vacations and
holidays.”

He smiled. “Well,
spare me a thought, then. And now, good night. Call me if you need
me.”

Omega fell asleep
promptly and slept soundly all night, paying no heed to the
creakings of the old house as it settled itself, and ignoring the
cats orchestrating by the back wall of the garden.

In that period of
dawn just as the light was beginning to stream in the window, she
opened her eyes, suddenly alert. Nothing discernible woke her; it
was just a feeling, a feeling that she was sharing the room with
someone else. Her heart leapt to her throat as she opened her eyes
and slowly turned her head toward the window.

At first she
could see nothing, but she waited and watched and her vision
cleared. The curtains rustled. As she watched them, a man threw his
leg over the windowsill. She opened her eyes wider and held her
breath as the man straddled the windowsill and just sat there, as
if wondering what to do.

That he had come
recently from the flower garden was amply clear to her; his coat
was sprinkled with pollen. A pair of morning glories from the
climbing vine outside her window had caught on his pocket, a
dapper, if somewhat unlikely, buttonhole flower.

Omega raised
herself on her elbows, careful not to make a sound, and regarded
the intruder with more amazement than fear. His face was still in
shadow and she could not make out any features, but there was
something deliciously funny about her unexpected guest.
I should
name him Floribunda
, she thought,
or perhaps Glory
. She
opened her mouth to scream, mainly because it seemed like the thing
to do.

Before she could
scream, the flowery man in the shadows reared back his head
suddenly, “Ah ... ah ... choo!”