His Blessed Epiphany (A Regency Holiday Romance Book 9) Page 15

  “It has been a lovely New Year’s Eve,” Fanny gushed.

  “Aye, and so uneventful,” Felix remarked, studying his cards. He was used to excitement, and this sedate pace of life was something he would have to adjust to.

  Miss Duffy sat playing cards with them. She was partnered with the Colonel, and she had been conspicuously silent for the entire night. It was rather nice, and yet, he wished she would say something. Her silence was starting to unnerve him.

  “Well, Miss, Duffy,” the Colonel said, placing his cards face down on the table. “I think Felix and Fanny have us beat, and I think we should slip outside and watch the fireworks go off to herald in the New Year. The servants have already brought your cloaks. Come along then, you too, Fanny.”

  He stood up and so did the rest of them. They reached for their coats and cloaks, and walked out to wait for the servants in charge of the fireworks to set them off. Colonel Blessing checked his pocket watch. “It’s one minute to midnight.”

  He started the countdown, and Felix watched as one of the servants looked at his watch, and counting down as well. They were all ready to light the fireworks.

  He pulled Fanny close as the first firework went off.

  “Happy New Year,” the Colonel said loudly.

  They all echoed his sentiments, and Fanny started to sing Auld Lang Syne, and they all joined in.

  Champagne was brought round by the footmen, and he and Fanny took a coupe. They watched with wonder, as the sky lit up in a myriad of colours. The sound of the fireworks popping off deafened anything else they had to say. He had to admit the Colonel knew how to put on a dazzling display. But then, the Colonel never did anything in half measures.

  It started to rain, and Fanny shivered. The fireworks were all spent. They retreated back into the warmth of the house, and waited for the first guest of the New Year.

  Before they had drifted back into the house, Felix could have sworn he heard Wassailers. He supposed Fanny had been right. Their first footer was coming with the carolers.

  The Colonel rubbed his hand together briskly. “It sounds as if our first footer has arrived.” The butler opened the door, and admitted the man. He looked like he was from the nearby village. All smiles, he stepped into the house, while the rest of the Wassailers waited outside. The Colonel greeted him, with the rhyming welcome, and the man gave the Colonel a fruit cake, and some coal. Back where he was from they would hand out a coin, some coal for his fire, shortbread, whisky, salt and black bun.

  He was about to follow the Colonel, Fanny and Miss Duffy into the Library, and stopped at the sound of a familiar voice.

  “I need to see Felix!”

  “My lord, I…”

  Felix turned around to look at the man who had just entered the house, and looked about ready to argue with the butler.

  “Cass,” he exclaimed, walking toward him. “Come in, and Happy New Year, mate. I still cannot believe we are now in the Year of Our Lord, 1824. I have to say I’m a little surprised to see you tonight of all nights. Shouldn’t you be in London or at your own Country Estate, or partying it up with Clarence? He and Lady Evesham were holding a ball tonight.”

  “I know, and I should be there,” he admitted ruefully. “But clearly, I am not. I do not mean to sound brusque but I am at my wits end, Felix. I have just come from Evesham Hall. I…Clarence told me I would find a safe haven here. He said you would give me shelter from the storm, and he said that no one would even suspect that I had come here. I have my doubts.”

  “Felix, what is it?” Fanny asked, breaking off from her father and Miss Duffy to rejoin him.

  “Cass, this is my wife, Lady Spaulding, and Fanny, this is Cassius Fane, Earl of Chorley.”

  “Lady Spaulding,” Cass said, removing his hat and bowing elegantly to her. She bobbed into a curtsy and smiled.

  “It seems we have one more guest for the holidays. Happy New Year to you, Lord Chorley. With your dark hair, you would have worked as our first footer.” She took Felix’s arm. “Papa will like it. He is used to having more people around him than I am.”

  “Cass, you need to explain yourself. Why would you need to seek safe haven here?”

  “I…I am on the run.”

  “What did you do?” Felix asked, dread forming in the pit of his stomach.

  “Oh, nothing of the criminal nature, I assure you. It’s nothing as serious as that, even though I feel as if my whole life is in shambles. My dear Mama has taken it upon herself to arrange my marriage to a woman I cannot abide. This woman had Clarence in her sights once, and had her hopes dashed when he married his beloved Ann, and she was terribly vexed. She is determined to at least land herself an earl. She went above her station in trying for Clarence, I believe, but she is devilishly determined to have me. I fear she shan’t let me go, and my Mama…my Mama has done something terribly foolish in arranging the match. I cannot fathom what she was thinking. Of all of the ladies on the marriage mart, why would she pick her? She is the worst out of the whole lot.”

  “Lady Doris,” Felix sighed, and shuddered. “Forgive me for saying this, Cass, but Lady Chorley has windmills in her cockloft, if she thinks she can marry you to that horrid thing.” Disgust crept through him, as his skin started to crawl. He had seen plenty of women that were undesirable but none had left such a bad taste in his mouth. He pitied the man that got saddled with her as his wife. “That creature is most foul. Why would your mother want to align your noble house with hers? Your children…why they would have no chin, and I cannot imagine what other afflictions they would be born with. Why don’t they try to match her with someone who is looking to add a bit of cachet to their name? There are several well to do men out there looking for wives who are daughters of dukes, marquesses and earls. You cannot be the man she marries. It would be a fate worse than death. I cannot imagine having to lie with that.”

  “I know,” Cass shuddered. “I agree. The thought of sharing a bed with that creature frightens me badly. She only bathes once a year. She told a friend of hers once that she just gets her maid to give her a good rub down with a flannel, and that does the job nicely. Any smell she has on her, she covers with the scent of that cloying perfume she wears. I confess, I always have the urge to retch whenever she is around, and now I know why. Clarence fancied that maybe you would know what to do—or at least, he thought you could keep me safe from Lady Doris.”

  “What does my husband look like? A lady dragon slayer? He will do nothing of the kind,” Fanny said. It looked as if her Irish was showing. Warmth settled over him. She was becoming indignant on his behalf. Oh, how he adored her.

  “You mustn’t be so vexed on my account, Fanny, though I delight in seeing it. I do have a certain charm when it comes to the ladies, love. Look at how I affected Miss Duffy. I could probably repel Lady Doris if I had to.”

  “Did someone say my name?” Miss Duffy asked softly. She strode timidly toward them.

  “Miss Duffy, allow me to introduce you to Lord Chorley,” Felix said graciously.

  “Miss Duffy,” Cass said, nodding to her.

  “Come, let us all gather around the nice warm fire in the Library, and we can discuss what we should do about Lord Chorley’s problems. Do you think your mama will follow you here?”

  Lord Chorley shrugged his shoulders. “I pray she won’t. I don’t think she knows about this place, and I can trust Lord Evesham not to tell her should she come calling on him at Evesham Hall.”

  “Why not just tell your mama you won’t do it?” Felix asked.

  “I could…but then, I would have to listen to her prattle on. And she does so in such an annoying manner. I shan’t have a moment of peace. She will follow me about like a second shadow. She won’t give up until I give in.”

  “That’s rather farfetched, isn’t it?” Felix asked.

  “No,” Lord Chorley said. “You do not know my mother. Why do you think I spent so much time at Evesham House when Clarence was still in London? I find I cannot abide my ow
n mother. If only we had a separate house for her. I do not think I can live with her under one roof for much longer. I have debated the cost of buying or renting another townhouse in London during the Season. The problem is, my mother likes to remain in London as long as possible. She likes to take in the Little Season as well. She has spent the entire year in Town as well. If I didn’t like Town life as well as I do, I could leave my mama at Chorley House in London and take myself to the Country—thus giving me the distance I need from her, but deuce it all, I do like Town life. I do have the money, for such an undertaking, I just do not know if I can part with it. I am rather tight. It would probably be a better idea to purchase another house, possibly on a less fashionable street, and when she decides to repair to the Country I could rent it out and make a little bit of money on it, couldn’t I?”

  “You could,” Felix agreed.

  “You could always marry someone else. Stay away long enough from her and find another woman to marry. Someone who suits you better than Lady Doris,” Fanny suggested. “Or, you could, as you suggest buy or rent another townhouse in London and set your mother up in it. I wager she won’t go easily. She is probably set in her ways and views Chorley House in London as her domain. Either way, she will give you grief, no matter what you decide.”

  “Does Lady Chorley like to shop, my lord?” Miss Duffy asked.

  “Why, yes, yes, she does. She likes to go out at least once a day, and once a week she always returns with something that is more than just a trifling gewgaw.”

  “There you have it, then,” Miss Duffy said. “You could cut her off financially, and tell her you shall only restore her access to your funds, if she desists in pestering you about Lady Doris. That is, as long as she doesn’t have access to her own money.”

  “Isn’t it rather frowned on to be so highhanded with one’s mother?”

  “Normally, yes, Lord Chorley, but she has put you into a corner, hasn’t she?” Fanny asked sensibly. “As long as she doesn’t have access to her own accounts, this plan should work.”

  “My mother wasn’t an heiress. My father married her for love, so that might work,” Cass mused. “The thought never crossed my mind, though. I would feel like such a loathsome little nob for even contemplating such a thing. The gossipmongers shall talk.”

  “Pah. Let them wag their tongues,” Miss Duffy said, “If you are to marry, again, you will have to set some boundaries, as your wife will take on all of the responsibilities within the house that your mother now holds. She will lose her power. You might have to have a frightful row with Lady Chorley, but you will have to remain steadfast and tell her directly that you do not wish to marry that dreadful woman. You could also banish her to the Country and tell her she can live in the Dower House there. You do have a Dower House in the Country, don’t you, sir?”

  “Oh, yes. Yes, of course. We have a Dower House. I doubt it would suit my mother. Country life is too rustic for her. She isn’t one for the bucolic way of life.”

  “Do you think you can do that, Lord Chorley? Do you think you can remain stalwart and tell her that she won’t have access to any of the family monies until she decides to let you choose your own wife? She won’t go easily, if she has a strong personality, she will believe that life for her shouldn’t change. She will still believe that you should cower down to her the way you were accustomed to doing when your father was still alive.”

  Felix looked at Fanny while Miss Duffy spoke. “Miss Duffy is quite correct,” Fanny admitted. “Your mother still thinks she has your father to fall back on. She obviously believes she holds power over you, and she does, she always will, as your mother. However, you have inherited everything that your father once had. She has forgotten that you are now the Earl, and you hold the power over the family purse strings. While I hate to admit it, being of the same fair sex, and it does feel like a bit of a betrayal, this is the way to thwart her. Hitting her where it hurts most is the way to stop her, Lord Chorley, and we are only telling you that to save you a life of unhappiness. You shouldn’t have to marry a woman like that. It is quite an unfair match. Lady Doris is horrid. She needs to stay on the shelf. There are many women out there destined for a life of spinsterhood that do not deserve their fate. She is not one of them. Her mother knows that Doris’s time is running out, and she is getting quite desperate. I remember Doris and her runny nose, and her fragrant odor…she repulses a lot of people with her bad habits, and that vacuous look she pastes on her face all of the time is quite annoying. Her mother is almost as bad, except, I wager her mother possesses a brain behind the charming shop window façade,” Fanny shuddered. “I detest the way that she refers to her daughter. She calls Lady Doris her little puss, and that has never seemed like an enviable endearment to me.”

  Cass groaned. “The gossip columns are already hinting that we have made arrangements to marry. I cannot abide it. I must put an end to it before it becomes out of hand, and I find myself leg-shackled to her. I think…I think I shall cut her off from the monies first. That will probably do the trick. Oh, I do hope it does.”

  “It sounds as if it’s already out of hand, mate. I do hope you haven’t become the object of a satirical print. There are many that do not like Lady Doris, and…” Felix cleared his throat. “I have seen a few of those prints featuring her, with her slab face accented rather comically, holding a fishing pole with faces of the fish she has tried to catch dangling from the end. They put the gent’s face on a fish’s body. Poor Clarence was featured in one once, and I hated seeing him the object of such ridicule. I do not think he knew about it, and I did not tell him.”

  “Felix, I am surprised at you,” Fanny gasped.

  “I told you I wasn’t perfect, Fanny. I admit to doing a few things I shouldn’t have. I will admit to it, but I shan’t ever regret it. I don’t like to live my life with any regrets. Why do you think I married you?”

  Heat rushed to her face. “I…uh, we should sort out Lord Chorley first, sir.”

  “Oh, now, my lady, you are in trouble, speaking in such a manner, you know what it does to me,” he mused good-naturedly.

  “What should I do first?” Cass asked, completely ignorant to what was going on between Felix and Fanny. By the look on Miss Duffy’s face, she knew exactly what was going on between them, and wanted to be anywhere but where she was at the moment.

  “We rest and have a good night. Tomorrow is a big day. You can remain here with us in the Country and send a missive to those who manage your accounts to make certain that your mother is cut off from everything. Once she goes to a few shops and discovers that she can no longer put her purchases on the family accounts, she will be incensed at first, and then, she will realize what has happened. I recall your mother to be an intelligent lady,” Fanny mused. “It shan’t take her long to figure out what you have done, and why you have done it.”

  “She will hate me. I know I shouldn’t give a rap about it, but I do. She wasn’t a bad mother—she could be emotionally distant but many mothers are, aren’t they? I mean it’s the nursemaids’ jobs to raise the children, and give them their daily care. Some don’t even pay as much attention to their children as she did to me. At least she used to come in and check on me every night, and I was presented to her once a week. I heard that was how other mothers in the ton behaved…well, I suppose that the Duchess of Alton was a bit different according to Clarence…”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Fanny admitted. “My mother doted on me.”

  “So did mine,” Felix agreed. “At least in her own way. She couldn’t afford to lavish me with anything but her love.”

  “My mother didn’t dote on me. She hated me with a bloody passion, and I didn’t have to do anything to earn her ire. She hated me because I wasn’t a boy. She merely put up with the fact that I existed,” Miss Duffy muttered. “Once she could wash her hands of me, she did it without a second thought. Let your mother hate you that is what I say and be done with it. I daresay she will eventually see the error of her
ways,” Miss Duffy advised. “Just don’t let her rule over your life. She isn’t doing what is best for you, and so you don’t have to do what is best for her.”

  “Indeed,” Fanny agreed. “Tell your representatives in Town to relay this message to her. She will be able to make charges to your accounts once she allows you to chart your own destiny. And if she likes to shop as much as I think she does, she will make haste to reach out to you and make amends. She won’t like to suffer the embarrassment more than once.”

  “She doesn’t think I should be in charge of my own destiny. She believes she has the right to tell me how to live my life.”

  “And yet,” Fanny mused, “She was in charge of her own destiny. You said she married for love.”

  A pained expression slowly creased Fanny’s face. Felix could tell what she was thinking without even asking. She was feeling guilty for how their marriage had come about. He could have fought it, had he wanted to. He could have said no to her father—and he hadn’t done that for one reason only. Curiosity. He had wanted to see what Fanny was like, hoping in his heart of hearts that she would be different from other women, that she would regard him differently. That she would look at him the way she had looked at him as a young girl, and she had.

  His heart flooded with love. He had everything he had always wanted with absolutely no regrets, and he hoped that one day Fanny would realize that. He had to tell her. He had to make quite certain she knew he loved her. Sometimes, those three little words that meant more than any other words ever spoken had to be said, and he hadn’t said them to her yet, at least he hadn’t said them to her without her being asleep.

  “Felix, are you all right? You look like you have drifted away to another world,” Fanny said, squeezing his hand. “You must come back to us, Lord Chorley needs us.”

  Grinning, he smiled, and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “I was just thinking about later, and all of the wonderful things I would delight in doing to you. We shall have such a grand time, Fanny.”