Miranda, able to relax for the first time in nearly two days, sagged in her seat, tears springing to her eyes. “I don’t know how to thank you all,” she whispered. “I just don’t. I never expected so much help from everyone.” She put a hand to her heart as she had to swallow down the lump in her throat. “I’m touched by so much kindness.”
Mrs. Lockhart, no stickler for etiquette, sat down beside her and put her stout arm around her shoulders. “We’d not stand by and see you thrown out of your own home without doing our level best to help you, lass. And seeing as you can’t stay on there on account of there’s a new lord of the manor, then we’re all more than happy to make this a cosy home for you and the young ladies. Let that new fellow just try being mean to you, and he’ll have a rebellion on his hands in the house. You mark my words.”
Miranda leant against her now ex-housekeeper’s strong shoulder. “Please don’t do anything to jeopardize your own jobs on my account. I would hate to be responsible for any of you being dismissed without a reference. Promise me you’ll not do anything silly.”
For answer all she received was a disgusted snort.
Betsey set the teapot on the table along with three sturdy mugs. No delicate parlor teacups today. “Looking after our own wouldn’t be silly.” She sat down with a determined thump.
Miranda wiped her tears with her fingers and sniffed. “Yes it would be. And if he does discover what we’ve done today and get angry, I wouldn’t blame him entirely. After all, whatever we told ourselvestoday, almost everything here does now belong to him. Not me.”
Mrs. Lockhart patted her arm and held her a little more tightly. “Don’t you worry about that, my chick. He won’t never know a thing about it. None of us is likely to blab, that’s for sure.” She grunted. “We’ll soon get a feel for what this new fellow’s like. And we’ll keep you informed about everything he does. Make sure he gets the right advice about running the house and the estate. Don’t want him bringing in new ideas, now do we?”
Miranda nodded. She hadn’t meant to cry. The tears had formed against her will. Appearing weak in front of her trusted servants was not something she favored, but at least she’d maintained her façade of self-control in front of the girls.
She looked at the faces of her two dearest servants and managed a smile. “Yes, we shall manage. And tomorrow we’ll bring the horses down here and move in properly. We can’t risk leaving them in the Hall stables. The girls would never forgive me.”
She swallowed that lump again. Tonight would be her last night in the house she’d lived in for the last nineteen years, ever since she’d arrived here as a bride of eighteen. A big new step to take. She couldn’t help but wish she and the girls were going further afield than Rampton, though. Far enough away that she wouldn’t have to see her late husband’s as yet unknown cousin enjoying her home with his family. New people living in the house she’d thought she herself would live in until she died.
She wiped another tear from her eyes. No, she would not cry.
