Chapter Twenty-Three
Freddie woke with a stiff crook in his neck.He was lying under a tree in the woods that abutted the Rosemount estate.Just how long he had been there he could not be certain.From the way his head protested furiously at his first attempt to sit up, it had to have been for a number of hours.
After leaving Eve alone and rejected in the stables he had gone back to the house and helped himself to a full bottle of his father’s best whisky.With coat and whisky bottle in hand, he had headed out into the night with the sole intention of drinking himself into oblivion.
In the early morning light, the full force of his elephant sized hangover weighed heavily on him.He dragged himself to his feet, brushing leaves from his coat.The rest of his clothes were damp from the early morning dew.
“Time to face the music,” he muttered.
He would have to spend the rest of the time Eve and her mother were in residence at the abbey trying to avoid them.As he trudged back across the fields, empty whisky bottle in hand, he prayed their visit would be cut short.The thought of having to see Eve’s crestfallen face once more filled him with dread.
“I am not a coward, I did what I had to,” he muttered.The words of Osmont Firebrace’s letter were his only source of comfort.
As he rounded the corner of the house, he came upon his parents, Thomas, and Cecily standing out the front.They all turned to him.
Cecily and Thomas exchanged a few words, and she walked back inside.Lady Rosemount followed closely behind.The look his mother gave him as she passed him by would have frozen the sea.
“Morning,” he said.The nonchalant air with which he attempted to deliver his words fell flat on delivery.
Thomas marched over to him and fixed him with an angry stare.“So, the fox has finally decided to come skulking out of his hole.You are a bloody disgrace,” he said.
Freddie didn’t answer, unsure as to what Eve had told his family about the events of the previous evening.He was certain she would not have mentioned their sexual activities in the stables, but he also knew it would take far less than that for his father to demand he marry Eve.
“What has she said?”he asked.His nauseous stomach was not helping the situation.If he had not encountered his family, he would be throwing up the remains of the whisky still in his stomach into a nearby bush.
“Eve didn’t say anything.She went to her room last night, and a short while later Adelaide Saunders spoke to Mama and said that they were leaving at first light.The only thing we can be certain of is you have jilted her,” replied Thomas.
“How could you do that?You obviously gave the girl all the signs you intended to offer for her and then turned coward at the end.It seems to me you have no sense of honor or decency in your body.What sort of a son have I raised, I ask you?”asked Lord Rosemount.
Freddie’s muddled mind listened to their outpour of anger, and he held the requisite contrite face.Inside, however, his mind was filled with thoughts of burning ambition.
Eve and Adelaide Saunders were gone.He wouldn’t have to face them.This was an unexpected turn for the good.A day or so of his family being angry with him would see things set to right.He would apologize to his parents, explain it away as him being not ready for the commitment of marriage, and then head back to London with all due haste to secure his seat on the Bachelor Board.
Once he had established himself among the wealthy and powerful members of the board, his family would understand.They would accept he had had to make sacrifices in order to be a success.It was just unfortunate Eve’s heart had been one of them.
In his mind he had done the honorable thing by not ruining her, and in time she would thank him.
Thomas loudly cleared his throat, rousing Freddie from his dreams of grandeur.
“Eve Saunders was a delightful breath of fresh air.She is intelligent, well-read, and would have made the perfect wife for you.But no, you had to go and make a mess of things.I tell you, if our father was not standing right here, I would knock you to the ground,” said Thomas.
Lord Rosemount sniffed in obvious agreed disgust.“Don’t let that stop you.It’s taking all my self-control not to throw the first punch.Frederick, you have caused heartbreak to that poor girl and brought shame on your family.Your mother is utterly disgusted with you.”
Thomas and Lord Rosemount both headed into the house, leaving Freddie standing alone, words of rebuke ringing in his ears.
By mid-afternoon, the situation had become intolerable.Every female member of his family he encountered constantly had tears on her face, while every male greeted him with stony silence.
The niggling thought he had treated Eve terribly sparked in his brain.As much as he tried to push the thought away, it refused to budge, and by the end of the afternoon it had taken root.He consoled his growing guilt with the unmistakable fact the damage was done.There was nothing he could do to assuage Eve’s broken heart.She was on the road back to London, his heartless words likely still ringing in her ears.
He pulled the letter from Osmont Firebrace out once more and read it.He had played the final challenge and succeeded.Victory, however, was cold and hollow.He could only pray that in the years to come power and riches would dull the pain of destroying a young woman’s heart.
“It had to be done.”
He toyed with the notion of downing another of his father’s bottles of whisky or even moving on to brandy.His parched throat and dry lips convinced him otherwise.His body would not thank him for another night of sleeping rough in the cold, damp woods.
Finally deciding he was wasting his time remaining at home, he asked the head stableman to take him into Peterborough.He packed a small travel bag and left a cursory farewell note on the dining room table for his parents to discover.He then took his leave of Rosemount Abbey and once he was in Peterborough, he caught the evening coach back to London.
The coach was only half full, which enabled him to settle down in one corner and get comfortable.Fatigue and the remains of his hangover soon caught up with him and he fell asleep.
Sleep did not bring rest or comfort to his mind, and his dreams were filled with tears and black clouds.The constant memory of Eve’s look of heartbroken despair as he pushed away from her sat constantly in the middle of his nightmare.
Winning his seat on the Bachelor Board had come at a terrible price.
