Ghost of Christmas Past (16 page)

He had
nearly died from the bullet wound and had lain for days waiting for
her to arrive, not even knowing himself if he would live to mention
his regrets to her. He just wished Rupert could be there to talk
with them about it because he felt fairly certain that the man
needed to hear what was being said.

“
I didn’t know what I was going to do to be honest with you
uncle.” Thea sighed and tried not to think too carefully about that
fateful carriage ride. “I sent you the note in case I found myself
walking up the aisle and unable to say the words I needed to say
when I was in front of the vicar. I was pressured and horrified,
and knew Rupert wanted to be with someone else. Unfortunately, by
refusing to marry him, I would have incurred the wrath of Frances
and Isaiah, and would have left myself wide open to being cast of
Weatherby, or most probably forced into marriage to someone else.
You know what their financial situation was at the time; they
needed funds and were quite prepared to trade me so they could live
their profligate lifestyle. They would not have taken my refusal to
marry well. I sent you the note because I had nowhere else to go if
I couldn’t go through with it. I would have needed your help to get
out of the church.”

John
sighed and stared at the ceiling. “I would have done everything
possible to protect you as much as I could, even from your own
father, Thea, you should know that. It is my fault that you were
forced into marriage in the first place.”

“
What do you mean?”

John
dropped his gaze to hers and patted the back of her hand. He took a
deep breath and knew that what he was about to say in the next few
minutes would either make or break their relationship.

“
I mean that my relationship with your father had always been
strained to say the least, you know that.”

Thea
nodded. “Father was always griping about you because he was jealous
of your success.”

“
Well, after the last major confrontation with your father, I
went my own way and made my fortune. Unfortunately, your father
inherited Weatherby and the estates. Well, I don’t need to tell you
about your parents’ penchant for living beyond their means and
doing everything they could to social climb. They would stop at
nothing to entertain with the finest foods and wines just to show
that they could, in spite of the fact that they couldn’t afford it.
The estates were plundered basically. Gnawed down to the bare
bones, and yet Isaiah and Frances still wanted more. Your father
mortgaged the property to the point that the banks were threatening
to foreclose. At first he came to me for a loan, but I refused. He
had been less than hospitable toward me over the years and I could
see no reason why I should accommodate his thirst for status far
beyond his means. He was a laughing stock in London, purely because
of his bad investments and debts he was struggling to repay. I do
not need to tell you that Frances’ social climbing only alienated
her to the upper echelons of the
Ton.”

“
I think it is safe to say that they were endured,” Thea
sighed sadly.

“
It never spilled over to you. Everyone knew how atrocious
your parents were but you were different. You were more like me,”
John argued. “I was happy to let your father sink Weatherby into
the ground. I planned to eventually buy the place off him at a
ridiculously low price, throw him out on his heels and turn the
estate into a profitable business again just to show him that I
could. That was my plan at any rate. However, Isaiah began to make
noises around Whites that he was looking for a husband for you,
only it had to be a husband of repute, not some dissolute wastrel,
and there was a contract in it for anyone who came
forward.”

Thea
felt physically sick at the thought of her own father touting her
around the clubs of London, and fought to keep the tears at bay
while John spoke. They began to trickle down her cheeks anyway as
horror swept through her at just how close her future had been to
complete ruination.

“
God, I am sorry, Thea.”

Thea
gave him a shaky smile and swiped at her cheeks. “No, it is
alright. I have to hear this.”

John
knew she was right. A movement at the door caught his attention and
his gaze landed on the shadowy figure visible through the small gap
between the door and the frame. He knew that it was Rupert, and
briefly contemplated asking him to come in and join them but
suspected that Thea would be less likely to keep talking if she
knew that he was there.

“
I knew Rupert’s father from my childhood. Our parents had
hunting lodges near to each other when I was growing up and we used
to spend a lot of the hunting seasons together. Rochester and I
were at White’s when your father mentioned he wanted to marry you
off to a reputable suitor and that contracts were on offer if
anyone came forward. I told Rochester that I couldn’t stand the
thought of you marrying any disreputable old sod your father
summoned up and some of the people he mentioned you to were three
times your age, and then some.” He mentally winced when Thea went
pale.

“
God, I never realised just how low they would stoop,” she
whispered.

“
I know. He was unstoppable and wouldn’t listen to reason when
I told him that he was merely embarrassing himself. He ignored me
of course and seemed completely ignorant of the reasons why nobody
came forward to snap up his generous offer.”

“
It was because of you.”

“
I had enough clout with most people to warn them off. At the
time, Rupert’s father, Rochester was worried about Rupert’s
affections being engaged by that awful Penbury woman. She was just
as bad as your parents; everyone loathed her and she was as much a
social climber as your mother. Unfortunately, Rupert didn’t seem to
see it, or didn’t mind the fact that she had latched on to him.
Whatever the circumstance, nobody in polite society liked her but
she always seemed to turn up anyway. When rumours started that he
was going to offer for her,” John sighed and gave Thea a pointed
look. “I have no proof about that by the way. However, when the
rumours started that he was going to offer for her, Rochester began
to fret that the wretched woman would become part of the Samuels
family.”

Thea
actually felt the penny drop. “You got together,” Thea replied
softly with no hint of rancour. “You, match makers that you are,
sought to solve both of your problems by bringing us
together.”

John
nodded. “I hated to see how Frances and Isaiah treated you. The
things they said about you were so unfair, so unlike the Thea I
knew and adored that when Isaiah started bandying you around town
like a piece of meat, I had to step in. I put it to Rochester that
we could resolve both of our problems if we got ourselves involved.
He approached Isaiah and sorted out a contract whereby the
Weatherby estate would become your husband’s property on your
marriage, and in exchange Isaiah and Frances would have use of the
Dower House and a large stipend each month. The marriage would
align their branch of the Weatherby family with the Samuels family
and elevate them socially, which fed Frances’ thirst to be better
than she really was.”

Thea groaned and shook her head. The Samuels family were
centuries old and were known as
haute
Ton.
She could just imagine Frances’
avaricious nature being fed such a prospect as to join such lofty
ranks if Thea married Rupert. No wonder she had been so determined
that the marriage go ahead.

“
By drawing up such a contract, Rochester could ensure that
Rupert married someone who was more his age, who he could have a
future with and who would provide him with children. You would be
given a loving home of your own far away from your parents.
Although your parents didn’t know it at the time, Rochester had no
intention of associating with them in polite society. His
affiliation was toward me, and I was not going to have any of it.
They may have prevented me from seeing much of you as you were
growing up, but I was going to be damned if they would stop me
seeing you as often as I wanted to once you were married. Rupert
was going to be sat down and made to listen to all of this after
the wedding. Even back then he was sufficiently averse to your
parents that he would have protected you from them, you should know
that Thea. Whether he wanted to be married to you or not is
something that you need to discuss with him but, as your husband,
it was his duty to protect you from harm, even if that meant from
your own parents.”

“
Rochester was going to help.” It wasn’t a
statement.

“
He was more than happy to. You were to be a welcome addition
to the family.”

“
So Rupert was supposed to take over Weatherby house and we
were to reside there,” Thea sighed with a frown. The thought of
living so close to her parents was something that still made her
uncomfortable even though they were no longer around.

“
Rupert would have protected you, Thea. He was your husband
and it was his duty to do so.”

“
Not if he was in London with his mistress,” Thea retorted
vehemently. “He would have been down here and I would have been up,
up, up there with those two.” She shuddered at the thought and
realised then that the marriage might have solved Rochester’s
problem and indeed John’s with regard to the Weatherby estate, but
it would have done little to benefit her or Rupert, who would have
gone back to London and his mistress.

She
didn’t know whether to be angry or cry. She knew that John didn’t
understand by the calm certainty on his face as he looked at her
and didn’t quite know what to say next.

CHAPTER TEN

“
You don’t
understand how close you came to ruining my life completely,” she
whispered. She lost the battle to stem the tears but ignored them
while she said what she needed to say. She was aware of movement
beside the bedroom door but didn’t turn around to look at him.
Somehow she knew it was Rupert. He didn’t speak, but then neither
did John.

“
The carriage accident was the best thing that happened to
me,” she whispered sadly. Her chin quivered and her tears
overflowed but she stared resolutely at the wall while the pain
washed over her.

“
How can you say that, Thea? How? You could have been married
with children by now.”

“
But at what cost? You would have secured the Weatherby estate
and saved the family name from complete ruin by that grasping duo.
Rochester would have forced his son to face up to his family duties
but what about me?” She thumped her chest and stared hard at him.
“I had parents who hated me. Parents who were prepared to sell me
so they could continue to live their spendthrift lifestyle. I was
endured, and they let me know it. I wasn’t a person and never was.
I was a commodity to be brokered. You all had something to gain,
but what about me? Even Rupert had something to gain from marriage.
He would have his father off his back and be seen to be fulfilling
his family duty; he would still have had his mistress in London and
although marriage to her would have been out of the question, the
marriage to me would have impacted little on his life.” She stood
and moved toward the window. Bitterness was such a negative emotion
but it swept through her now with such relentless speed that fury
began to bubble through her.

“
If my problems weren’t already bad enough, I was to live in a
house with the people responsible for my misery living at the
bottom of the garden!” She sucked in a breath and knew she was
shouting but couldn’t stem the tide of anger. “You made
arrangements for them to stay on the Weatherby estate. He -,” she
pointed one trembling finger at Rupert, who watched and remained
silent, “- he would have headed straight back to London to bed his
mistress as soon as the ink was dry on the wedding certificate and
I would have been left in exactly the same situation as I was
before the wedding, only humiliated by the gossips for being sold
into marriage. Everyone in polite society was talking about
us.”

“
Thea, I am sorry,” John whispered. He realised that he should
have waited until he was a little stronger. He wanted to get out of
bed and at least comfort her but he wasn’t strong enough. He threw
a pleading glance at Rupert who was studying the floor beneath his
feet, apparently lost in thought.

“
Neither Rupert nor myself would have allowed Frances or
Isaiah to harm you in any way Thea. They would not have been in any
position to threaten you. You would have been your husband’s
responsibility not theirs.”

“
How can you say that? On the morning of the wedding, Frances
threatened to destroy the marriage and I hadn’t even left the
house!”

“
How so? What did she do?” It was the first time Rupert spoke
and she glanced first at him and then at John while she steadied
herself. The anger seemed to come from a well deep within and now
that the lid had been knocked off she was completely incapable of
controlling the relentless tide of fierce fury.

The
memory of that morning came flooding back with horrifying clarity
and she stared defiantly at them while she recounted that fateful
morning.

********

“
What are you waiting for?” Francis boomed from the doorway.
Her mother was donned in a pink cloud of silk and lace that were
the epitome of fashion, but made her look like an oversized
ostrich. “You insolent young pup. The carriage, and your father,
and the whole congregation are waiting for you. You are going to go
through with this wedding, whether you like it or not, so move
yourself. You cannot expect to scrounge off you father’s good
nature forever.” Her voice rose and rose until the shutters shook,
but Thea didn’t even bother to look at her. She continued to study
herself in the mirror and wonder what Frances would say if she knew
what her daughter had been up to last night.