How to Handle a Scandal (27 page)

Well
, Tommy thought.
How about that.

“Come,” he said. “I’ll help you fix it. We’ll have breakfast and then get to work.”

The boy looked up, his eyes clear, and nodded soberly. “Thank you, sir,” he said, and for the first time, there was not the barest hint of mockery in his words.

It took the whole day to fix the cart and fence, and everyone came out at one point or another to watch the work for a few minutes. Will and Anna stopped by on their way out for a walk and marveled at the progress Tommy and Rex had made after only an hour. Louie sauntered by next and complimented Rex’s hammer strokes, drawing a pleased smile from the boy. When Louie offered Tommy some advice on his efforts to measure a new beam for the fence, Tommy gave him a look that promised doom, and Louie walked off laughing.

The children stopped by on their way to the treasure dig, clearly wondering if they could in good conscience continue digging without Rex, but he manfully told them to get to work since there were only a few days left before the house party would break up. Visibly relieved, the rest of the children headed for the part of the wilds where they’d last been digging.

Eliza came out with sandwiches and lemonade at lunchtime and made an impromptu picnic for them, eating and chatting with them in the grass by the fence. Tommy itched to get her alone so he could make her see that she didn’t need to abandon the hope of a baby—and that the idea of them keeping their hands off each other once her courses were finished was ridiculous—but it wasn’t possible. Anyway, she directed most of her conversation to Rex.

It was dusk by the time they finished. Their work done, Tommy and Rex paused to admire the repaired fence and the cart, which was now stable again.

“The work looks good,” Tommy said.

“It does,” Rex said, sounding pleased. “I’ve never built anything before.”

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Tommy said, looking at the boy. He felt differently now about what he owed Rex, and he was surprised to find that he didn’t mind.

Rex nodded, his silent response saying more than words could have done.

They put away their tools and Tommy made for his bedchamber, where he bathed and dressed hastily, intending to find Eliza before dinner. But she seemed determined to avoid him, and with a house full of guests, it was easy to do. Before he knew it, they were all gathered for dinner, and he and Eliza could hardly speak privately there.

He finally cornered her in the drawing room afterward while Susanna was performing a seemingly endless series of tunes on the pianoforte for her captive audience. Eliza had stepped outside the room to speak with Mrs. Hatch, and when she reappeared, Tommy grabbed her hand and discreetly tugged her toward the doors to the terrace at the back of the room.

“What are you doing?” she hissed, a smile on her face for the benefit of anyone who glanced their way as Susanna played on.

“Talking with my wife. What did Mrs. Hatch want?”

“The cabbages seem to have spoiled. They were meant to be part of tomorrow’s lunch.”

“Oh. Even though I don’t like cabbage, I suppose they would have been tasty, because all the meals you’ve arranged have been delicious.”

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

“Was I not being nice to you before?”

“You’ve been considerate, but now you’re being extra nice.”

“I like you and you’re my wife—why shouldn’t I be nice?”

She frowned a little. “I need to get back to our guests.”

“Wait.” He felt unaccountably awkward, even though they’d been so easy with each other until she’d announced she wanted to abandon the baby plan. “I’ve been thinking about Rex.”

That got her attention. “Oh?”

“I’ve begun to feel that this roaming aunt may not be the best thing for him. That he might benefit from a more stable situation.”

Her eyes lit up. “I agree. What did you have in mind?”

“Well, it would affect you the most at first, while I’m in India. And he’ll be away at school a good bit, but when he isn’t, I thought he could come stay with you, if you agree.”

She smiled. “Of course I agree. I’m more than happy to help. So I assume this means you plan to remain his guardian?”

“Yes.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “And Will and Louie will be around to help guide him.”

Tommy didn’t like the idea that she was so ready to think of his brother and cousin as substitutes for him. “Actually, I was thinking I could delay going back to India for another few months and stay here.” He leaned closer, his body drinking in her soft warmth. “With you.”

Her expression was not enthusiastic. “I don’t think you should do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because going back to India is what you want, and it’s what you should do.”

Now she wanted him to leave? “Dammit, Eliza, I like being with you. We enjoy each other’s company and we’re married. You want a family, and I’m offering you that.”

Her eyes held a mysterious light that twisted something in him. “I’m very glad about your plans regarding Rex. But I’m not getting back into bed with you.”

His brows slammed together. She turned to go back to the party, but they weren’t finished talking. Something had changed with her—she was keeping something from him—and he needed to know what was going on.

With one hand he pushed open one of the doors behind him and with the other he caught her hand and pulled her, spluttering, onto the dark terrace. He closed the door behind them.

“What on earth are you doing?” she demanded, crossing her arms tightly over the shimmering wine-colored gown she was wearing. “It’s freezing out here.”

“We need to talk.”

Her face was shadowed, though he could see her eyes in the glow coming through the drawing room windows. “You just want to change my mind, but I won’t be swayed.”

“I want to know why you want to give up the baby plan. Don’t you think you owe me an explanation, after all that’s passed between us?”

“That’s rich, coming from you.”

“You see, that’s just the kind of cryptic thing I mean. You’re keeping things from me.”

She didn’t say anything for a several moments, and then she said bluntly, “I’m not going to sleep with you again because I’ve fallen in love with you, Tommy.”

All the breath seemed to rush out of him.

She was in love with him?

She certainly didn’t seem happy about it.

Love… He didn’t believe in it. Love was a gamble, a fairy tale, insubstantial and indefinable. He knew about action and decisions, but love was an idea, a feeling. He couldn’t buy it or touch it or slash it. He didn’t trust it.

“I don’t know what to say.”

She smiled, a small, sad smile that made his jaw clench. “You don’t need to say anything at all. Now we both understand where we are. And now you know why it’s better that we go our separate ways.”

Why was she acting as though she knew exactly what he was thinking—especially when he didn’t even know himself?

She turned to go inside, but he grabbed her arm. “You can’t just say something like that and go.”

“Of course I can.” She tugged her arm out of his grasp. “It’s my own business, and I’m not asking for anything from you.”

The door to the drawing room opened then, startling them, and Meg poked her head outside. “Oh, there you are, Eliza. Can you come do your hostess magic and get Susanna to stop playing? I think Heck will riot if he has to sit listening to any more, and Louie and Will are looking pained as well.”

Eliza went back inside without a backward glance.

Tommy felt like punching the stone wall of the manor, but he just followed her inside with his teeth clenched, wishing they didn’t have a house full of guests.

At least Rex was glad when Tommy took him aside a little later to let him know that, once Aunt Diana was found, Tommy intended to insist that Rex stay under his care—if Rex would like that.

“Like it?” The boy’s gaze dropped and a little color came into his cheeks. “I know I’ve behaved badly since I came, but I don’t want to be like that anymore, and I should consider myself exceedingly lucky, sir, if I could stay.”

“Then it shall be so,” Tommy said, laying a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Rex looked up, a dreamy expression coming over his face. “And to think I’ll be staying with Lady Halifax while you’re in India. She’s amazing, and not like any lady I ever met.”

“She’ll be like a mother to you,” Tommy pointed out sternly.

“But ever so much more fun.”

Tommy didn’t want to think about Rex and Eliza and all the good times they might have without him, so he clapped the boy on the back and went in search of a brandy.

* * *

Eliza arose early on the last day of the house party. After her conversation with Tommy, she’d had trouble falling asleep. Her jumbled emotions tormented her, but she didn’t regret telling him the truth, because now they both knew where they stood.

Knowing that the party would be ending made her feel bittersweet, though at least Tommy seemed to have accepted Rex. She was happy about that for the boy’s sake and her own; she would enjoy getting to know him better.

She decided that they should have a bonfire that night to celebrate the end of the house party—and also to fill the time so there wouldn’t be a chance for any awkwardness with Tommy. And when everyone left tomorrow morning, she would leave as well.

Her time with Tommy had opened her eyes to all the ways she’d been untrue to herself, and now she felt ready to think about the future with new hope. She was going to try again to make a place to help orphaned, forgotten girls, and she’d already talked to Meg about her plan. They agreed that they’d been thinking too small before, and that Truehart Manor—with its location in a community of wealthy neighbors concerned about appearances—was the wrong place for girls who’d known lives that had been so different and hard.

She intended to buy a large house outside Bath, somewhere with room for at least a dozen girls. And they would hire more staff to help, perhaps former teachers. Eliza and Meg wouldn’t need to live there. Instead, they could direct the work and, if it was successful, establish more places like it.

Leaving London would be an adjustment for most of the girls, but it would provide the break from their old way of life that they badly needed. The new place would be welcoming, with prettily painted walls, wonderful meals, and all kinds of fun to be had along with the lessons in grammar and manners. And a dog—at least one, and maybe two—and cats. Children needed pets.

She’d already come up with a name for the place that Meg loved: they were going to call it Redstocking House. Women who liked to read and learn were called bluestockings, but she wanted the girls they helped to feel proud of their accomplishments and to see the creativity and potential they possessed.

She felt like a different person from the woman who’d compulsively pushed the girls in her care toward unattainable perfection. And even though she’d be going forward with a broken heart, the brokenness didn’t seem entirely a bad thing, because her heart felt so much more open and capable of love than it ever had before.

It was a relief that she didn’t see Tommy that morning. Just before luncheon, she was in the kitchen talking with Cook when Vic ran through like a town crier, announcing that the treasure of Hellfire Hall had been found.

Eliza hurried out to the wilds, where Tommy was already standing with Louie, Will, Anna, and Ruby. Eliza sidled up next to Meg, and they all watched as Marcus and Rex worked to free the small chest that Will and Tommy had buried.

“What did you put in the treasure chest, Tommy?” Ruby asked. “Skulls?”

“You’ll see,” he said.

Once the box was finally raised from its hole and placed on the ground, Susanna theatrically brushed the dirt off it. Rex slammed a shovel at the lock, knocking it off to shouts of encouragement from all present. Marcus leaned forward and opened the box.

There was a heavy pause. “
Hats?
” he finally said. “We dug like fiends for hats?”

But Heck and Vic were already rushing forward with glee. “Pirate hats!” Heck shouted, grabbing a stiff, black hat of the kind Admiral Nelson would have worn. He put it on, and it sank below his eyes. Vic giggled and put on one with an enormous white feather that curled from the peak all the way down to her mouth.

Rex pulled out a chunky necklace made of shells.

“Shell jewelry?” Marcus said in a disgusted voice, his opinion of Flaming Beard clearly falling by the moment.

“And coins!” Heck said, scooping up a small pile of shining disks. “One for each of us.”

Louie leaned close to Tommy. “Where did you find this stuff?”

“Where else but the dungeon?”

“Those coins might be worth something,” Ruby pointed out.

“Perhaps, but they’re small,” Tommy said. “And they did deserve something for their trouble.”

Marcus and Rex upended the chest and began to attack it, poking at various parts of it.

“What are you doing?” Heck called from underneath his hat.

“Looking for the rest of the treasure. What kind of pirate would have made a map for a bunch of hats and shells?”

Heck sniffed. “
I
would have, if I’d been a pirate.”

Rex gave a shout of triumph. “There’s a false bottom!”

Heck and Vic collapsed in giggles, undone by “false bottom.” Susanna and Marcus hastened to join Rex, poking inside the chest.

“What else did you put in there?” Will asked Tommy.

“Nothing,” Tommy said, clearly puzzled. “There must be a secret compartment, which makes sense now that I think of it, because the chest is much heavier than it looks.”

With a shout of triumph, Rex held up a silver flask. He worked the cap loose and brought the flask to his nose. “It’s rum!” he said excitedly.

“Let me have it,” Marcus cried.

“Oh, great,” Anna said as Rex handed it to him. “That’s just what the children need—a flask of rum.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Tommy said as they watched Marcus toss back a swig and promptly turn green.

“Ugh, it’s like medicine,” Marcus said. “But still,
pirates
were drinking that. And look”—he reached into the chest—“there’s a book.” He opened it and read, “The diary of Flaming Beard, in which I detail my wondrous exploits.”

“Golly,” Rex whispered in awed tones, dropping the bottle, which released its liquid into the grass. He leaned close to look at the book.