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Chapter 18
The sun was shining high over the horizon, the birds were chirping in the sky, and the light breeze beat against Sam’s face, bringing the scent of fresh grass with it as she rode among the fields. She knew John wouldn’t like it that she was out alone again, but she didn’t care. She wagered with herself that he wouldn’t even find out.
It’s been a fortnight since their wedding, and she’d barely seen her husband. She woke up every day to find him gone and fell asleep before he returned. Sam was puzzled over John’s behavior. She hadn’t expected him to avoid her, but she suspected this was exactly what he was doing.
Perhaps she hadn’t satisfied him in bed, and he didn’t want to repeat the experience. The thought depressed her. As much as she hadn’t enjoyed the act herself, she didn’t want John to be disappointed in her. Or perhaps he hadn’t cared for her attitude the other day when she’d visited the tenants. What did he expect her to do? Blindly follow his orders? She wrinkled her nose. That was exactly what he expected her to do. He had been a soldier, an officer, for most of his adult life, and he was not used to people disobeying him. Well, she wasn’t one of his inferior officers, and he wasn’t at war anymore. She was his wife, and she was not to be ordered about.
The worst part was she had no one she could talk to about this. She was used to settling questions by talking the issues out. Since her husband avoided her and her siblings were far away, there was no one she could vent her frustrations to. She’d even contemplated broaching the subject to the housekeeper once but quickly squashed the idea. Their household wasn’t large, but she wasn’t certain whether the woman would keep her confidence or if the entire village would know about her issues the next day.
Instead of fretting over her husband’s strange behavior, she spent her days making plans for the manor renovations, reading books, and visiting the tenants. The house required a lot of work, and she’d even traveled to nearby auctions and fairs a couple of times to order some new furniture. She enjoyed this part of being a mistress, setting everything up to her liking, spending days shopping or sketching designs for the chambers. She was the most excited to create the library of her dreams. John’s library was spacious and would be able to hold as many books as her heart desired.
John didn’t seem to notice the changes around the house. Not that she’d had a chance to ask him about it. Perhaps he truly didn’t care. Not about her, nor the state of the manor. Sam was resolved to make him notice both, even if she didn’t know how yet.
She smiled as she rode through the field, feeling happy and free, when she saw a small form moving amidst the grass. Next, she heard a scream from somewhere ahead and slowed the horse to a trot. A tiny figure kept creeping up closer to her as she peered at it. It was probably a small animal, except it was moving erratically, as if with no goal in mind.
“Carrie!” A scream pierced the air again and Sam pulled her mount to a stop. At that moment, she saw a small child emerging from the grass, pitch-black hair waving about in the air, her gown tangled about her legs. Sam dismounted and caught the child by the shoulders. The girl halted with a yelp.
She looked at Sam with wide brown eyes, then tried to wiggle out of her grasp. Sam held fast. A child that small shouldn’t have been wandering alone in the field. At that moment, the shouting grew louder, and she saw a woman running toward them. The woman picked her skirt up to her knees as she ran, stumbling on her way to the child.
“Carrie! You come back this second!” She stumbled again but managed to catch herself before hitting the ground. “Thank you so very much for stopping for her,” she said with a thick country accent as she reached Sam’s side.
She then knelt and scooped up the child. The woman was wearing an old bedraggled dark brown gown and a white, dirt-smudged apron around her waist. Her hair, just as dark as her daughter’s, was collected in a tight bun at the nape of her neck, although several curly locks had tumbled out, probably during her dash for the child. Her eyes were dark, and her face was shadowed either with worry or weariness.
“Carrie is very inquisitive. I can’t look away for a moment or she is gone.”
“She looks like a lovely child,” Sam observed with a smile.
“She is,” the woman said, and then added begrudgingly, “when she’s sleeping.”
Sam laughed at that. The young woman was looking at the girl as if she were the center of the universe.
“Do you live here?” Sam asked. She hadn’t seen either the woman or the child when she’d visited the village before; she hadn’t known there were any children in the village at all.
“We’ve just moved here. Oh, where are my manner?” She puffed a hair out of her face. “Linda Anderson, and this is my daughter, Carrie.”
“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Anderson,” Sam said with a smile, then turned to the child dangling from her mother’s arms. “Miss Anderson. I am Lady Ashbury. But you can call me Sam.”
“Oh.” Mrs. Anderson’s eyes grew wide. “You’re the baroness. I should have realized, I suppose. There aren’t many pretty young ladies in the village. My brain must have got scrambled from running after Carrie.” She was shaking her head and straightening her clothing, all the while still holding the squirming child. “Am I supposed to curtsy? Of course, I am—”
“It’s all right. No formalities are necessary. We are neighbors after all.” Sam smiled warmly. “Do you mind if I walk with you to your home? I was out for a ride, but I’d much prefer company. There aren’t many women my age in the village, as you must have noticed.”
“No, there aren’t.” Mrs. Anderson grinned at her. “I shall be honored if you join me! My Christopher will not believe I just ran into you this way. Well, Carrie ran into you.” Her face became shadowed for a moment. “Perhaps better not to tell him that part. He worries for little Carrie very much.”
Something warm unruffled in Sam’s heart. This little girl’s father must love her very much if he was so protective of her. Would John act the same way if they ever had children? He’d said he wouldn’t be involved with them, but surely his protective instinct would be greater than that?
“She is very active, and I am not always able to look after her with all the house chores I have to do.” Mrs. Anderson grew quiet. Worry lines deepened in her face.
“It’s quite understandable, children aren’t easy,” Sam said with a confidence she didn’t possess. She had absolutely no experience with small babes.
“I suppose,” her companion said. “Carrie, be still!” The girl wiggled in her mother’s arms, turning this way and that, peering at Sam’s horse.
“Where did you move from?” Sam asked.
“Essex. I am from here originally. Lived here with my gran, Anne. But I’ve stayed in Essex with my in-laws since the marriage.” Mrs. Anderson gave Sam a crooked smile and her face took on a wistful expression. “I was visiting a cousin in London when I met my Christopher. He was in the Depot then, just for a few weeks before he left for the war. After we married, I moved in with his elderly mother in Essex. He thought it best, so she could help look after Carrie.”
She paused to let her daughter down but didn’t release her hand. Carrie frowned at her mother and kept tugging at her arm.
“You stay with me, Carrie. I am not letting you run wild again.”
