A Season Beyond a Kiss (47 page)

Raelynn heaved a glum sigh. “Since we’ve been married, it seems as if I’ve brought him nothing but trouble. I’m ever reminded that all of this started because of me, because I couldn’t bear to become Mr. Fridrich’s little doxy.”

“Nonsense, my dear. Trouble began brewing when Nell slipped into Jeffrey’s bed, and that was long before you ever put in an appearance.”

Raelynn searched the beautiful face of her sister-in-law and felt led to question her about the incident. “Did Jeffrey ever explain how that came about?”

“He explained nothing.”

“Then how . . . ?”

Heather smiled. “Cora confides in me quite often, dear. She grew up at Harthaven. Jeffrey needed a housekeeper whom he could trust and who could take charge in his absence, and of course, we had Hatti, reliable as the salt of the earth. As for that particular night when Nell forced her attentions upon Jeffrey, it seems that nearly all the servants were awakened in one fashion or another after he hauled the girl out of his room with nothing more than a blanket draped about her. Kingston was promptly sent out to fetch Cora, who was given the task of finding clothes for the girl and packing her valise. From what I understand, Jeffrey issued a series of orders and returned to his room, from that point leaving his servants to deal with Nell. Kingston helped her into the waiting carriage, and from there, Thaddeus drove her into Charleston where he secured a room for her at an inn with funds Jeff had graciously supplied.”

“Nell’s babe favors Jeffrey to some extent,” Raelynn murmured softly.

“Oh, Raelynn, dear, it’s got to be a coincidence,” Heather argued. “Jeffrey would never have put on such a performance merely for the sake of his servants. Cora swore she had never seen him more outraged by an incident. She said that when she got to the house, Jeffrey was ranting something about ‘that little slip of a girl should still be playing with dolls instead of men.’ The story is that Nell woke him up out of a sound sleep, so there’s no telling what she actually did to provoke his rage after she slipped into his bed, but I rather suspect that she didn’t limit herself to just kissing him.”

Raelynn couldn’t bring herself to even entertain the possibility that Cora had lied to Heather. Indeed, the housekeeper had probably reported the incident just as it happened. Then there was Kingston, whom Raelynn had heard harshly chiding Nell for what she had done close to a year before. The butler had laid the blame solely at the girl’s feet, not Jeffrey’s.

Raelynn also imagined that when a man was as handsome and looked as enticing in clothes as her husband did, a girl like Nell, who had obviously nurtured a deepening obsession for him, might have proven herself quite brazen after launching her seduction. Since it was Jeffrey’s habit to wear no clothes to bed, Nell might have liberally indulged her fantasies, at least until that moment he woke.

Of a sudden, Raelynn felt a sizable measure of regret that she had ever allowed Nell to alienate her from her husband. “I’m ashamed to admit it, Heather, but I haven’t been a very trusting wife. I allowed the girl’s accusations to come between Jeffrey and me, just as I allowed myself to believe he could be a murderer. Now that I’ve had some weeks to reflect back upon that bloody scene in the stables, I realize I never gave Jeffrey a chance to explain anything before I took off. He has a perfect right to feel offended by my lack of trust.”

Heather laid a gently consoling hand upon the other’s. “At one time, I thought I hated my husband. I definitely feared him for a while.”

Raelynn looked up in shock. She had presumed the couple’s marriage had been idyllic from the beginning. When the two seemed so much in love now, it was impossible to entertain any notion that they might have once been dissatisfied with each other. “I had no idea.”

“Even after marrying him, I thought Brandon was no less than a tyrant,” Heather acknowledged, a distant smile curving her soft lips. “But by the time we had sailed from England to Charleston, I was wont to think he was the most magnificent man the world had ever created. Though I was hopelessly in love with him by then, pride continued to hinder us. In fact, it wasn’t until almost a full year after Beau had actually been conceived that we finally let down our barriers. Now, you and Jeffrey are having problems just as serious as we once had. I really hope that this kind of thing doesn’t become a family tradition.” She drummed her fingers lightly upon her distended belly. “If it does, I pity the ones who’ll follow in our wake.”

Raelynn almost shuddered to think what their offspring could reap if their woes were visited upon them. “Let us trust that none of those whom we hold dear will be suspected of murder as Jeffrey and Brandon have been.”

Heather murmured her agreement before moving swiftly on to a less distressing topic. “I truly wish, Raelynn, that you’d consider coming out to stay with us at Harthaven until this rift between you and Jeffrey is mended. You’d be entirely welcomed to remain as long as it takes for both of you to work out your differences.”

Touched though she was by the invitation, Raelynn shook her head. “Thank you, Heather, but I just can’t. I don’t think Jeffrey would feel comfortable visiting you while I’m there. Besides, I’m loath to involve you and Brandon in this matter.”

“But we’re family, dear. We’re already involved.”

“Of course, you are, but it just wouldn’t be right for me to put myself between Jeffrey and his family,” Raelynn argued.

Looking decidedly downcast, Heather muttered dejectedly, “Brandon said you’d refuse, but I just had to try.”

18

Raelynn rose to her feet without delay and was just turning to search out Farrell to ask for his permission to leave when she saw him striding hurriedly toward her.

“Just go!” he urged, motioning her toward the door. “Don’t worry about cleaning up your desk. Elizabeth can put everything away. Stay as long as you’re needed. If something comes up that won’t wait, we’ll know where to find you. Now go, get yourself ready. You have a long ride ahead of you.”

“I done packed a valise fo’ yo’, Miz Raelynn, jes’ in case Miz Heather’s baby takes its own sweet time gettin’ here,” Tizzy informed her. “It’s already in Mr. Brandon’s carriage. If’n ye’re o’ such a mind, ye can leave right now.”

“Thank you, Tizzy,” Raelynn said gratefully, already scurrying. She snatched her cloak from the coat tree and dragged it on as she ran.

In a moment she was slipping out the front portal which the doorman was holding open for her. The coachman had pulled alongside the boardwalk in front of the shop and, in anticipation of her arrival, was there waiting at the open door of the conveyance.

“Aftahnoon, Miz Raelynn,” he greeted, tipping his hat. “Ah hope yo’ don’t mind rushin’. Mistah Brandon was fit ta be tied, worryin’ o’er his li’l darlin’. Befo’ I left, he said ta get yo’ dere as fast as I could whip de horses inta a frenzy.”

“Thank you for coming all the way to Charleston to fetch me, James. I want to be there.” She placed a hand in his massive, gloved paw and accepted his assistance into the landau. Her slippered feet barely touched the coach steps as she made a hasty ascent. Settling back into the seat, she felt the carriage lurch as the servant climbed to his seat, and soon they were on their way.

Once they left the outskirts of the city, James displayed a definite urgency as he cracked his whip time and again above the heads of the four-in-hand. The horses’ hooves were nearly churning up the winding road, yet the servant gave no signs of relenting. Obviously he had taken his master at his word.

Twilight had settled over the land before James turned into the long lane leading to Harthaven. At the far end of the oak-lined drive, the blazing lights of the large house cast a welcoming ambience. Soon the landau was drawing to a halt before the steps, and Raelynn caught sight of Brandon hurrying across the porch to meet the approaching conveyance. When she scooted forward on the seat, he was there to swing open the door and give her a hand down.

“I’m glad you were able to come,” he murmured, obviously relieved that she had seen fit to do so. Settling a hand beneath her arm, he whisked her across the porch. “Heather said something about you two being sisters almost as much as Jeffrey and I are brothers. She got it in her head that she wanted you beside her, and there was no denying her request.” He chuckled softly, but it lacked a carefree tone. “I told James to drag you forcibly into the carriage if need be, but he only laughed and assured me that he’d bring you back without going to that extreme.”

“Heather is not in any danger, is she?” Raelynn queried anxiously, glancing up at her brother-in-law as he opened the front door for her. Perhaps it was only because she had been away from Jeffrey for more than three weeks, but at the moment she was struck with a keen awareness of just how tall her brother-in-law really was. But then, she reminded herself, he was no taller than Jeffrey.

“Hatti says everything is going along as it should be,” Brandon informed her, but in the brief pause that followed, he released a wavering sigh. “Since that could mean a whole plethora of things, her statement is hardly very soothing.”

Heather was in the grip of a painful contraction when they arrived at the master bedroom. Even so, she managed an anguished grin for the new arrival. When she finally could relax, she dropped her head back upon the pillow and, regulating her breathing again, rested a moment before reclaiming a genuine smile. In spite of the crispness of the weather, her hair was damp and a tiny dappling of sweat shone on her face. Yet she seemed oblivious to that and the pain she had just endured as she stretched forth a slender hand, inviting Raelynn to come near. “I’m sorry I couldn’t greet you properly just now, but this baby has a way of demanding my full attention. My labor started some hours ago, so I don’t imagine that it will be too long now before I give birth.”

Raelynn clutched the woman’s thin hand fondly within her own and managed a wobbly smile. “James made sure I got here as soon as I could,” she replied and, in spite of her concern, tried to sound amused by it all as she added, “I don’t believe I’ve ever experienced a swifter ride.”

Heather groaned in mock chagrin. “I didn’t mean for him to scare you to death, dear. I would’ve been content to wait another half hour if need be.”

“Our offspring might not have waited that long,” her husband interjected, moving around to the opposite side of the bed. Lifting a knee upon the mattress, he settled beside his wife and gathered her free hand within his much larger one. “You were having hard contractions when I sent James to Charleston to fetch Raelynn, and now they’re coming with greater frequency. Frankly, madam, I don’t know how much more of this I can stand.”

Heather and Raelynn smiled at his dry wit before his wife reached up to run a hand lovingly along his upper arm. “You’ll do fine.”

“Doesn’t help knowing I promised to stay with you until the end,” Brandon confessed. “My knees are already feeling a little weak at the idea.”

“That was your suggestion, not mine,” Heather accused sweetly. “I can manage without you.”

Brandon laid a gentle hand over the sheet that covered her distended belly. “Who’s responsible for this baby?”

“We both are,” she acknowledged with a smile.

“Then we’ll both be here when she’s born,” he assured her, his green eyes gazing into hers. He brought her hand to his lips for a doting kiss. “Now tell me, my sweet, how are you feeling now?”

“I’m doing fine,” she assured him, threading her fingers through his. She lifted sapphire orbs and perused his face with wifely concern. “How about you?”

Briefly Brandon held out his free hand before her as he boasted, “You see? Steady as a rock.”

“Aye, and I’m my mother’s uncle,” Heather replied, chuckling as she caught the large extremity within her grasp.

Barely a half hour later, a servant softly rapped on the door and, when Brandon went to open it, a young black woman announced in soft tones, “Mistah Jeffrey’s downstairs, suh. He jes’ arrived.”

“Thank you, Melody. Tell him that I’ll be down directly.”

Brandon closed the door as the servant left, and when he turned, he found himself meeting Raelynn’s gaze. It seemed to him that she looked suddenly unsure of herself, but he had no idea how to put her at ease. He lifted his shoulders in a lame shrug. “Farrell must have sent word over to him.”

“All the way to Oakley?”

“Probably at Jeff’s townhouse in Charles . . .” Brandon broke off abruptly, realizing he had just betrayed his brother’s confidence. Seeing Raelynn’s deepening confusion, he offered an excuse that was no real exaggeration of the truth. “Jeff has had a lot to do lately at his shipping company. He didn’t want to have to ride in every day, so he let a townhouse from a friend.”