A Family Affair (31 page)

Her father harrumphed, and Fanny was afraid he’d finally caught his wife’s game. “But you do visit the farmers, don’t you? It is your obligation as a landowner, my dear, to take care of the families in your charge.”

Fanny sighed. She was really not up for this, not yet anyway, but there was no way out of it. They would continue to ask her their probing questions, and they would not stop until they had all the answers. What was the point of trying to hide her standing in the household? They were only a couple of questions away from the truth.

“Useless,” she muttered.

“Excuse me?” Rake hadn’t really heard what she’d said under her breath.

Fanny turned and glared at her uncle. “I am useless, that’s what I am. Completely useless.”

George frowned at his daughter’s distressed tone of voice. She knew his loving heart had a really hard time dealing with her when she was troubled. It was more her mother’s part of parenthood. He much preferred and enjoyed the cuddling and playing games part.

Thankfully, Caroline knew her part of parenthood too, and she took her daughter’s hand and led her to a small sofa.

“Why do you think you are useless?”

“Mama, I have nothing to do, and it drives me crazy. Everything is perfect here—the castle, the servants, Devlin. Everything. I don’t fit in, because I’m not as perfect. And I just can’t stand going around doing nothing all day.”

“Have you told Devlin about this?”

“I have tried, but he never listens enough for me to make him see what I see. He doesn’t understand my point of view about how his servants are so well trained they attend to everything perfectly well without me.”

She sobbed, and fell into Caroline’s waiting arms.

“Why don’t you go out for visits?” Rake asked. “There must be lots of suitable friends for you in the county.”

“Because Devlin thinks I need time to get used to my life here before I start socializing with the locals,” Fanny said with tears in her eyes. “And I don’t want to go against his wish, at least not yet. I went out and visited one lady, who came here to greet me at my arrival, but she is such an awful person, I really can’t stand her. And since I haven’t met anybody else yet…”

“You won’t go against him
yet
?”

Fanny looked up from her mother’s embrace, and met Rake’s twinkling eyes. “Yes, I’m currently leaving him alone. I want the happiest of marriages, and so I’m trying very hard to compromise.”

“As I see it, it takes two persons to make a proper compromise. From what you tell us, it seems only you are doing the compromising here.”

Fanny shrugged. “I can wait. And while I wait, I will try to make life as smooth for my husband as possible.”

Rake grinned. “The kitten is hiding her claws.”

“I would prefer the angel is hiding her horns. But yes, I’m biding my time.”

“I must confess, it feels so strange to see you this emotional,” Caroline said, thereby closing the subject of compromising.

“I know,” Fanny sighed, getting all teary-eyed again. “I don’t know what’s the matter with me. I’m not this sensitive normally, as you are well aware. But it’s like moving away from you all has transformed me into an unstable wreck, and I can’t find my way out of it.”

“Oh, dear,” her mother breathed, her green eyes piercing.

“What?” George asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

“George, why don’t you and Rake go to see if you can find Devlin and let him know we are here.”

Fanny saw her father open his mouth, but her mother moved her piercing look to him, and seconds later the door closed behind the escaping men.

Caroline let go of her daughter’s hands, folding her own neatly in her lap. Fanny couldn’t stop a wave of nervousness. Her mother was up to something, and she had not a clue what it was. And not knowing scared her the most.

“Fanny, can I ask you something?”

“Anything.” Fanny swallowed, and hoped her panic wasn’t visible.

“It’s just something I need to know…”

“Yes?”

“Could there be a possibility that… that…”

“That what?”

“That you could, possibly…be…you know…”

“What?”

To Fanny’s surprise, her mother did something she hardly ever did—she blushed. Something was definitely wrong, something that caused Caroline the hardest time getting the words out.

“What?” Fanny repeated impatiently, and Caroline took a shaky breath, as if she tried to find strength.

“Could you be pregnant?” she finally burst out, surprising her daughter with the insight.

“You think?” Fanny gasped, feeling dizzy over the possibility of carrying Devlin’s child.

“Yes, I do,” Caroline answered slowly. “Well, at least if you were…”

Fanny waited for her mother to continue, while her heart almost burst out of happiness.

Could it be? Could she be carrying a child?

Tears of joy ran down her cheeks, and her mother dried them tenderly away.

“This is so embarrassing for me, but I have to know.” Caroline took a deep breath. “Did you and Devlin make love before your wedding?”

“Mother!” This time it was Fanny’s turn to blush.

“Oh, dear,” her mother breathed, as if Fanny’s blush told her everything she needed to know. “You did. Have you had your bleedings lately?”

Fanny frowned. She wasn’t too comfortable with the subject, but the possibility of being pregnant somehow made the embarrassment seem less important. “No. Now when you mention it, I haven’t for a while. Not since… Well, not since before the Easton Ball.”

“Francesca Darling!” Caroline cried out, and Fanny shrank back, bewildered, not understanding what her mother’s problem was. What could make her mother stare at her with such an angry look on her face, just because she hadn’t had her bleeding?

“Oh, my God.”

“When?”

“Oh, my God!”

“Fanny, when?”

“Mother!”

Caroline’s patience was gone, and she gave Fanny her strictest if-you-don’t-tell-me-what-I-want-to-know-now-you-will-be-dead-in-ten-seconds look, and Fanny paled.

“The day of the proposal,” she whispered, knowing her words would hurt her mother.

Caroline closed her eyes and Fanny felt as if the whole world was falling apart. She had never thought her mother would have reason to look at her with such disappointment. Devastated, she didn’t know what to say or do. She had done the worst thing possible: she had let a man take her virginity before marriage.

But Caroline had yet another surprise for her daughter. When she opened her eyes again, the disappointment was long gone and a sweet, tender love remained.

“I can’t say I’m thrilled over your actions. But what’s done is done, and since you are married to the man, I will drop the subject.”

“Thank you, Mama,” Fanny whispered, and threw herself into her mother’s waiting arms.

“Can you believe I am about to become a grandmother?” Caroline shook her head with a little smile. “Such wonderful news you give me, my dearest daughter.”

For a long time, they looked deep into each other’s eyes as their relationship changed from mother and daughter to that of a grandmother and a mother.

Caroline put her hand against Fanny’s belly, and when she pushed the soft flesh, she could feel the hard swelling of the child.

“I would guess you are three to four months pregnant. You should soon feel your baby move…or have you already?”

Fanny frowned. “I don’t know. I have had a rather strange feeling in my stomach lately, like when I am nervous about something. Fluttering, you know.”

“It’s the baby, silly.” Caroline laughed. “And it is just how it is supposed to feel in the beginning. Later it will be regal punches.”

“Punches don’t sound as nice,” Fanny grumbled, and Caroline patted her daughter’s belly lightly.

“You will soon change your mind,” she said dreamily. “It is such bliss to carry a child inside of you, and to feel it move. Men will never understand this part of pregnancy, nor will they ever understand how sacred one feels when you carry a new life under your heart.”

“Devlin will be overjoyed,” Fanny breathed with a smile that told her mother exactly how hysterically happy she was. “I can hardly wait to tell him.”

She grabbed her mother’s hand. “Promise you won’t say anything to Papa or Uncle Rake. Not until I’ve had a chance to tell Devlin all about it. Promise!”

“Of course I promise.” Caroline smiled. “This is between you and your husband now, and I won’t tell anyone, not even your father.”

This was going to be the best surprise ever.

Chapter 27

Devlin sat quietly in his chair, listening with a small smile to the gossip flying over the table.

It seemed much had happened in Berkshire during the two short weeks since he and Fanny left for Herefordshire. His wife and her relatives had been chattering constantly for an hour now about everyone in their acquaintance.

The disappointment he’d felt when he first saw Rake and George had quickly disappeared when he saw the joy in Fanny’s face. She was so happy over the unannounced visit it was small-minded of him to feel the Darlings could have left them alone for a little while longer. He and Fanny hadn’t been married for such a long time, after all, and had a new life to get used to. In his mind, that included privacy and no relatives for, preferably, a couple of months.

However, this family was tightly knit. He had known it before marrying Fanny, so he should not be surprised over the visit. It just felt too soon, and now the calm and functional routine he and Fanny had begun to establish was disturbed. It would take some time to fall into those comfortable steps again.

But, on the other hand, Fanny’s laughter was like music to his ears. He did like seeing her happy, and he hadn’t for a while, not like this, not since they left the wedding.

“Are you going to sit there and sulk all day, or will you give me a sample of your best port?” Rake drawled, interrupting Devlin’s thoughts.

“I’ll give you some port, my friend, but not my best one. I’m saving my finest port for more important guests who could come to visit, like the royal Georges, for example.”

“So take out your best port, because we are also known as the Royal Family, and therefore, you shall approve of us tasting it!”

Devlin laughed; Rake had a point there. He stood up and led the men out from the dinner room. They took a glass in the library, but soon George excused himself to find his wife and daughter.

Rake, on the other hand, didn’t seem in any rush to find Fanny now he was here. Instead, he wiggled his glass encouragingly, and Devlin filled it again.

“So, how’s life in London?”

“Dull, as it is the off season.” Rake held a cigar to a flickering light. “But I have had the time of my life, as it seems there are more welcoming ladies in town than ever.”

Devlin frowned. Rake seemed almost reckless. It was as if he didn’t care anymore, and this was not something usual for his cynical yet warmhearted friend.

“What about Penelope?” he asked, to see if the problem lay there.

“What about her?” Rake almost snarled, and Devlin knew without doubt he’d nailed it. For a moment he pondered whether to continue with his probing or choose the easy way out and let the subject go. It was not hard to see Rake had no wish to speak about his niece’s friend.

“Is she still residing at Chester Park?”

“Yes.”

“Is she still in love with you?”

Rake shrugged, trying very hard to look indifferent—without succeeding. “I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to her for a while. I’ve been too busy in London, plowing any possible field, to think about her or her tender feelings.”

Devlin frowned. Rake looked ready to kill, and this was obviously not the best time to press him for further information.

“I’m surprised she didn’t join you here. I know how much Fanny misses her, and I can only assume Penelope misses her equally.”

“She was planning to come, but something got in the way and she had to stay put.”

“You knew she was coming?”

“Yes, of course I knew. That’s why I wan…” Rake broke off, but too late; Devlin already had his answer. Rake was not finished emotionally with Penelope, no matter how he tried to convince Devlin, or himself, about it.

Instead of continuing with his probing, Devlin suggested they join the others, and Rake immediately agreed, his relief visible.

They found Fanny and her parents in the front parlor, sitting closely together on a sofa. The love the threesome felt for each other was overwhelming. Devlin couldn’t stop a little prick of envy; no one had ever loved him so completely.

Fanny gave him a radiant smile that took the edge off his newfound envy. Her love washed over him, and he found himself wishing there were a spot available next to her. He was in desperate need of touching her.

“Devlin, you won’t believe what mother just told me,” Fanny crowed with a glowing smile. “Nicholas Pembroke has asked the American heiress Lucinda Bell to marry him, and—guess what?—she accepted him! Even though he has no title or vast lands, which one would think someone like Lucinda, or rather her family, would want.”

Devlin took Fanny’s cup and raised it high into the air. “To Nicholas and Lucinda. A matchmaker’s dream comes true.”

“Hear, hear,” the other men mumbled.

“Oh, come on!” Caroline exclaimed, aghast. “You can’t be serious, can you?”

“Why not, my dear?” George asked.

“Oh, George.” Caroline snorted. “Do you really think Nicholas and Lucinda make the perfect combination in matrimonial heaven? If so, I have to say you are not the man I thought you were.”

Rake, whose thoughts had been elsewhere, woke up and didn’t realize how close Caroline was to eruption. “Exactly my opinion,” he agreed eagerly. “All the crap about two people being made for each other? It’s just fairytales. Crap!”

Just as he finished his monologue, Rake caught the other men’s frantic head-shakes as they tried to stop him from putting his foot in his mouth. It was too late.

Caroline, the goddess of love and eternal happiness, stood before him, her hands on her hips, and he shrank back into the armchair, silently hoping for someone or something to save him from her wrath.