Ashton Park (21 page)

“No more tears?”

“Not in front of me.”

“Have you spoken to Victoria at all today?”

Lady Elizabeth wiped her hands with a white cloth. “No more than you. But she takes this wager about young Ben quite seriously, you know. It was quite the right thing to do. No hysterics. No shouting. None of her theatricals. I believe she is praying about the whole affair.”

Sir William smiled, dropping his watch into a pocket of his robe. “Well, that’s something, at any rate. And who knows? Who knows?”

“He is a fine young man. I just wish his last name was other than Whitecross.”

“Hmm. The Duke of York perhaps? The Prince of Wales?”

Lady Elizabeth laughed. “I do not set my sights so high. But if he were Sir Benjamin Whitecross that would be a start.”

“Such things have happened.”

She brushed her hair with long, firm strokes. “When the war finally ends, what a different world it shall be.”

Sir William put his hands behind his back and stood as if he were in uniform. “So much has changed already. Mr. Seabrooke dead. Mrs. Seabrooke incapacitated. Charlotte Squire on her way to the Isle of Man. I must tell you—Mrs. Longstaff is on her way as well.”

“On her way where? Is she leaving for Ashton Park before the rest of us?”

“She’s already gone. But not to Ashton Park. I tried to set her up with another family but she would have none of that.”

Lady Elizabeth set down her hairbrush and swung around in her chair. “What on earth are you going on about?”

Sir William moved his hands from behind his back and thrust them deep into the pockets of his robe. “You should have told me, Elizabeth. About the Baptist church. About attending worship services there with Mrs. Longstaff. Am I such an ogre you could not risk informing me about what you were up to?”

Lady Elizabeth sat up straighter in her chair. “What did you do?”

“I released Mrs. Longstaff. I can’t have her taking you to religious sects that meet in the back alleys of Liverpool behind my back.”

“You released her without consulting me? You sent her on her way without even asking for my opinion?”

“I’m sorry, my dear. This was not a decision for you to make.”

“She is my friend, not just my cook. How can you say that?”

Sir William cleared his throat. “I gave her money for her purse. She would not take it but I insisted. I am not unmindful of my duties as a Christian man. But I cannot have you or our estate or our family name associated with Methodists or Baptists or whatnot. I am a Member of Parliament, and Danforths have always been loyal to the Crown and to the Church of England. Even under persecution. Even under Bloody Mary.”

“So where is she? How did all this happen without my knowledge?”

“It has only transpired over the past hour and a half.”

“Where is she, William? Out in the dark at the side of the road?”

“Fairburn took her to the train. She’s quite safe in his hands. Apparently she has relatives in London. That’s where she was planning to go. I had a position for her at the Roxboroughs’ in Essex but she said she would only serve our family.”

“What is she going to do then? How do you expect her to make a living?”

“I don’t know.” Sir William fished out the watch and glanced at it. “Almost eleven. I must turn in. I had no wish to upset you.”

“Of course you’ve upset me. You speak about me going around behind your back. What have you just done? How have you treated our faithful servant, Mrs. Longstaff? She’s not a young woman anymore, William. Do you really think she’s in a position to fend for herself in London?”

“It was her choice. She has relations there.”

“Relations! They are gin swillers! Pickpockets! Prostitutes! How on earth can she fit in among them?”

Sir William moved toward the door. “I must turn in. There was never any question of permitting you to continue attending the religious services of a sect. You knew that. But you thought I might not find out. A maid let it slip. Thank God. I’ve been able to nip this quickly before it became a matter of public knowledge and gossip.”

The candles in the room began to waver. Light and dark ran back and forth over Sir William’s and Lady Elizabeth’s features. Her eyes were darker than the shadows.

“You should not have done it, William,” she said in a low voice. “Turning her out will not bless or protect our family. It will bring a blight upon our name. Besides, she did not coerce me to go. I willingly accepted her invitation.”

Sir William opened the door and stepped into the hall. He looked back at her, not happy, not sad, but resigned and determined. “Even under Bloody Mary, Elizabeth, when they burned a Danforth at the stake. Even then we remained loyal to our Church and our God. I will pray for Mrs. Longstaff. But I can do no more than that.”

“Tell me about your brother,” Libby asked.

“What for? You never met him.”

“That’s why I want you to tell me what he was like. Were the two of you very close? Did you do all those brotherly things together, go fishing and hunting? Fancy the same girl? Compete against one other at school?”

Libby was bathing Woodhaven’s chest and neck with a cloth dipped in warm water and soapsuds. He lay back, staring at the ceiling.

“Why would you ask me such things?”

“Because you never mention him. Yet I know you think about him all the time.”

“You can’t know what I think, Miss Danforth.”

Libby squeezed out the cloth and wiped his brow. “I can. When your eyes wander and you cease to talk you are certainly not thinking of me. Perhaps you are conjuring up memories of home. Perhaps you have a sweetheart in America. But I don’t think so. It’s Mark who’s on your mind.”

She thought he was going to keep on arguing. But he said nothing more while she washed his face and dried it with a towel.

“He wanted me to be the leader,” he said when Libby was preparing to leave. “Think of the games we’d play. Where we’d go on a Friday night. We never took out the same girl, but if I liked one he made every effort to like her sister.” Woodhaven shook his head slowly and laughed. “Even if she was as plain as a brown paper bag or had no more personality than a wood tick. Crazy kid. But yeah, that was it. Mike decides which fishing hole. Mike decides where to buy a new suit. Mike says he’s going to learn to fly, well, Mark has to fly too. Used to annoy me.” Woodhaven grew quiet. “If I could have him back again I wouldn’t give him grief about anything he did. Not a thing.”

Libby had been standing when he started. Now she sat back down. She had missed a patch of soap under his ear and she flicked it away with her finger.

“So you flew before the war, Captain?”

“Long before. There was a flying club we joined when I was eighteen and he was seventeen. Pop paid for the lessons. A Jenny where you sit up front and the instructor sits behind you with the controls. Until it’s time to sit in the backseat and handle everything yourself. It took Mark a while to catch on. I thought he was going to blow it for the first time in his life and get left behind. But he put his head down and dug in and pulled it off. I was sure he wouldn’t make the cut for the United States Army Air Service last fall. We called it the Aviation Section of the US Signal Corps then. But he got in. Pop pulled some strings to make sure we wound up in the same squadron. I thought he’d dog my heels everywhere for the rest of my life. But he got to be his own man.” He looked away from the ceiling at her. “He was starting to cut his own path. Know what I mean?”

“Of course.”

“I was relieved and proud and worried about him messing up all at the same time.” Woodhaven grinned. “What are you smiling at?”

“You, Captain. Your smile. You use it so little I thought the US Army hadn’t assigned you one along with your wings and white flying scarf.”

He glanced back at the ceiling. “You have any brothers and sisters?”

“There are four sisters altogether. And three brothers.”

He looked back at her, smiling again. “No kidding. That’s a full house. You all get along all the time?”

Libby smiled and shook her head. “I’m afraid not. More like a tale from Dickens actually.”

“Which means what?”

“Always a lot going on. Some of it fun. Some of it wicked.”

“Where did you fit in?”

“I didn’t. Not much. Everyone was kind enough. I just liked to wander off and be by myself. It seemed more interesting.”

“And no one tagged along like Mark did with me?”

“Oh. Vic did. Victoria. Funnily enough she was a loner herself. But if she wanted company or a partner in crime, she chose me.” She patted his arm and got up. “I’ve got to run now and fetch your dinner. You will eat for me, won’t you? You won’t spoil our new record?”

“And what’s that?”

“Seventeen meals in a row.”

Woodhaven stared at her. “I haven’t.”

“You have.”

“I’ll get fat.”

“You’ll get healthy.” She headed for the door. “Don’t lose your smile, Captain. Hang on with both hands. I want to see it when I come back.”

“Whatever you say.”

Libby bit her lip as she walked quickly along the corridor to the kitchen. His eyes had been warm and deep and dark. His hair a rich, thick brown after she had washed and combed it. Woodhaven’s rugged looks appealed to her. His rudeness had obscured them, but now that his rudeness was gone the brown of his eyes and hair and skin emerged along with the whiteness of his teeth and the smoothness of his voice. It made her feel strange. Part of her wished they hadn’t talked so much. Part of her wanted to just do her job and never talk to him again, not because he was a monster anymore, but because he was too pleasant. She found it unnerving.

Picking up his warm plate she returned to his room. There was a part of her that wanted the talk and teasing to continue. Not to stop. Why was that? The loner in her wanted to drop the plate and run. But this other part of her she did not understand or recognize wanted to make him smile, wanted to feed him, wanted to think of an excuse to wash his hair again today and run her fingers through the warm water and soapsuds and the softness. It made no sense to her. But she carried on to his room just the same.

“Ah, the smile is still there,” she greeted him as she opened the door.

He shrugged, the smile growing larger. “I couldn’t disappoint you. Could I?”

September and October 1918

The stars became brighter and brighter as the sky fell into night. Norah Cole smiled and closed her eyes. Taking off her maid’s cap she turned her face upward to the starlight as if it held the heat and light of the sun. She loved going to Dover Sky but she loved returning to Ashton Park even more. The crisp northern weather and brisk winds suited her more than the milder temperatures of the south.

“Casting a spell, are you, Miss Cole?”

Norah whipped her head around. It was Harrison in his fedora and corduroy jacket, holding his walking staff. She laughed a small laugh.

“You startled me, Mister Harrison. You shouldn’t creep up on a person like that.”

“Why, Miss Cole, isn’t that what you do to the Danforth family?”

“What…what do you mean?”

“Nicking my letters and giving them to Lady Elizabeth so she could read all about Charlotte Squire and Edward. Telling Sir William about Mrs. Longstaff taking his missus to the Baptist church in Liverpool. Seeing to it Miss Victoria’s letters to young Ben came to the awareness of her mother. Now Miss Squire’s in exile on the Isle of Man. Sir William and Lady Elizabeth are scarcely on speaking terms since he let Mrs. Longstaff go. Miss Victoria’s fretting that she’ll not see Ben again or that he’ll not make the grade with her parents—the Lord alone knows what reckless thing young Ben will do in France to try and win over Sir William and Lady Elizabeth. Miss Victoria knows it was you that told her mum about Ben. She’ll never speak to you about it. But she told me she knew and that she could never trust you again. All this trouble in the family on account of your tongue, Miss Cole. Your tongue and your devilish ways.”

She could see Harrison’s face more clearly as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She tilted her chin. “I did what I believed was right before God. Everything I told Sir William and Lady Elizabeth was true.”