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Chapter Eleven
Felicity was nearly shaking with all the pent up feelings conflicting with each other within her chest. Why did he have to be so very appealing? He was her employer. And a duke, besides. She had already put herself beyond the pale. She couldn’t become infatuated with the man on top of every other mistake she had already made, she admonished herself as she hurried to join Adelina.
It had been rash to offer to leave her position, but what else was she supposed to do? Even with her own wild ideas, she knew full well a noblewoman could not go travelling the world with only her companion in tow, especially not a duke’s daughter. But the idea was seductive and beckoned her. Perhaps eventually, if Adelina held to her interests, the duke might allow them to do a little travelling. Felicity pushed the idea from her mind. She ought not to cultivate such an idea in either of their minds. As Rathnelly had said, the girl would probably forget about it shortly. And Felicity needed to allow that to happen.
“Where shall we go next, my lady?” she called out, belying her very reasonable thoughts.
“I think we ought to go to the sea, at the very least,” Adelina declared with a grin, holding up a map that didn’t seem to have a sea in sight.
Felicity laughed.
“Excellent idea. I could do with some fresh fish to eat, couldn’t you?”
Adelina groaned and held her midsection. “Do not even mention food to me. I ate far more than I ought to in all my excitement at luncheon. Was it not exciting that Father chose to eat with us?”
“Very.” Felicity hoped she sounded appropriately enthused, but she actually wished the duke would stay far, far away. “Did you not spend much time with your father before this?” Felicity didn’t mean to pry, but she did wonder why it seemed to be a novelty.
Adelina shrugged. “Not particularly. For one thing, we were all sent away to school after Mama died, you know. I haven’t seen my brothers since then. Gardner was already in school, of course, so he came home for the funeral. When he went back, he took Easton with him. And then Father found a school for me and took me there soon after.”
Felicity’s heart broke for the children. She could see that the duke hadn’t known what to do with his grieving children, but sending them away had clearly been a mistake. She wondered what sort of state the brothers were in. Probably a bit better than Adelina, since they had been together.
But Felicity couldn’t allow the girl to dwell on her problems, nor did she wish to cultivate any ill will toward the duke.
“It will be lovely to be together as a family for the summer, in that case, won’t it?” Felicity declared as cheerfully as possible.
“I expect so,” Adelina replied, but her tone expressed she was a bit dubious on the subject.
“Come now, what has changed? You were most excited when you heard that your brothers were to come home. Are you not still happy to see them?”
“Of course I am, Jonesy,” the girl rallied. “But it has been so long. What if they won’t like me? We haven’t been a family in a very long time.”
Felicity couldn’t believe how old and bewildered the youngster sounded. It threatened to break her heart. She couldn’t allow it.
“Perhaps so, but there is no reason to think your brothers won’t love you to pieces. You are lovely and if they have brains in their heads, they will see that. And it doesn’t matter how long it has been. Today is a new day, and a new chapter is about to be written. You must go into it with a positive spirit, and all will be well. You’ll see. If it isn’t, we’ll make it so.”
“What if Father doesn’t want us to stay, though? He sent us all away before. What if he does it again?”
Felicity felt the burn of tears deep in her throat and behind her eyelids, but she managed to blink them back and stave off most of the emotion that clogged her in that moment. She pulled the girl into her side for a quick hug. She wanted to offer all the comfort she possibly could, but she was well aware that she had to tread lightly on the sensitive subject.
“I cannot imagine how tough that must have been for you to go off to school just after your poor mother had passed. But I’m quite certain your father thought it was for the best for you and your brothers. Now that you are old enough to tell him how you feel, if he has the same idea again, you can tell him clearly that you would rather stay at home.” She paused for a moment, letting that sink in before pointing out, “You’ve done it already, you know? That’s why I’m even here. You told your father clearly that you did not wish to attend school, and he did as you asked.”
Adelina brightened considerably with that reminder.
“He did listen to me, didn’t he?” Her gleeful tone made Felicity hesitate. She didn’t want the child to think her father would do everything she requested. While the duke seemed genial enough, he didn’t strike her as the truly permissive type.
“Now come, we don’t have a terribly long time remaining before dinner. Why don’t we put our maps and things away, and we’ll go up to our rooms and play dress up while we decide what would be the best thing to wear for the evening meal.”
Adelina laughed. “That won’t take you very long, since you only have three gowns.”
“No, but you have more than enough to make up for my lack. We’ll be hours just sorting through your wardrobes.”
~~~
They laughed and joked their way through gathering the papers they had been using, never noticing that the duke had overheard their conversation.
Gilbert watched them climb the stairs, feeling like he was even more involved in espionage than he usually felt. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling by any means. He didn’t enjoy feeling secretive, but it wasn’t usually an active feeling, as he had very little contact with anyone but his servants and employees. And his circumstances were truly only a secret from those of his own class. It would never do for thetonto discover that the Duke of Rathnelly was involved in commerce. Apparently, genteel poverty was far preferable to the wellborn. But Gil hadn’t been able to stomach the thought of his children actually going hungry. Or his ancestral pile of stones tumbling down around their ears.
So, he had learned all he could and put his late wife’s generous dowry to work, grateful that his father hadn’t had time to squander it all before his death. She had, of course, been livid. And appalled and embarrassed and had refused to acknowledge him once she had discovered what he was up to. Gil often wondered if she had any idea how limited her dowry was for an estate the size of theirs. She had already hated Rathnelly. She had despised it further when she had learned what the duke was doing. It had been a singular lesson to Gilbert Barrington. He had been careful to never let it happen again. To that day no one had ever found out just how close to ruin the Rathnelly fortunes had come. Nor had they learned that his wife’s small fortune wasn’t what had saved them.
Despite his deepening pockets, Gil kept his spending as under control as was possible while running a dukedom. Whenever he did venture to Town, he was far from showy in his lifestyle. But keeping up so many properties required very deep pockets if they weren’t profitable. His now were, of course. But it had taken ingenuity and other investments to get them there. It was ridiculous that this was something to be ashamed of rather than applauded.
But now he had something else to be ashamed of.
His daughter thought he didn’t want her at home.
Of course, he wanted all his children at home. But he had thought it was in their best interests at the time. They were grieving. He had thought their teachers and minders at their schools would be in a better position to deal with their feelings than he was. He hadn’t been sad over his loss. He was sad for his children to be motherless. But when his wife had broken her neck taking a reckless jump on a wild horse, relief was what had flooded him more than anything. And he never wanted the children to know. So he had sent them away, hoping they’d be distracted from the problem. Apparently, that had been a mistake. But he hadn’t the first clue how to rectify it.
Suddenly, he hoped that perhaps Felicity could help them figure it out together. He resolved to pay closer attention to their interactions at dinner. He knew she could be relied upon to keep the children engaged, even if he didn’t know how.
