Captive Surrender (19 page)

“
What do we
do with him? He looks very uncomfortable,” Georgiana whispered,
eyeing the way that Stephen’s legs hung awkwardly off the edge of
the chaise.

“
Well, do you
want to wake him?” Robbie whispered. “He has a scowl on his face
even in his sleep.”

The young boy’s solemn
whisper made Stephen want to laugh and he had to struggle to keep
the smile off his face. He briefly contemplated launching himself
upright and shouting ‘boo’, but considered that everyone had been
more than a little unnerved enough recently as it was. Instead, he
made a show of waking up slowly but, by the time he opened his
eyes, he was alone in the room.

He lay still and listened
to the hustle and bustle of the house. Maggie and someone else was
upstairs talking to Agatha, while someone else was in the kitchen.
The clatter of pots and pans accompanied the delicious aroma of
cooked apples. The wonderful smell was enough to make his stomach
rumble and he realised that he had not eaten for several long
hours. He wondered if there was any ham, eggs and toast going, only
to wrinkle his nose as he entered the kitchen and saw the vegetable
pie next to a bowl of potatoes and some quince.

He was a man, and a
hungry one at that. Nobody should be expected to survive on a
strict diet of fruit, vegetables and bread. It wasn’t healthy; it
wasn’t right, and it was something that he could change very
quickly, very easily, and with very little expense.

“
What day is
it?” He mumbled as he entered the kitchen and grumbled a good
morning to Prudence and Eloisa. For some reason the scent of the
pie, which minutes ago had made him hungry, had suddenly put him in
a bad mood.

“
Wednesday,”
Prudence replied gently. He looked even more tired than he had
yesterday, but looked wonderfully fresh and alert for someone who
had been up most of the night. She jumped when Eloisa’s rueful face
appeared in the corner of her eye, and she realised that she was
blatantly staring at him.

“
Market day,”
Stephen sighed with relish.

“
Yes, Rufus
is coming by any minute now to take Eloisa and Maggie to the
market. Everyone else is going to stay here.”

“
Good. While
they are there, I need them to get a few things for me.” Stephen
disappeared out of the room and reappeared moments later with a
handful of coins, which he gave to Eloisa. He ignored her startled
gasp and gave Robbie a frown.

“
You are a
man,” he informed the boy darkly. Robbie looked a little scared for
a moment, as though he knew that Stephen was going to ask him to do
something manly. “I think that we have to make a stance in this
house full of women.”

Robbie merely looked a
little awestruck.

“
I think
that, as men, we have to make it clear that we must have meat, and
plenty of it.” He ignored Prudence’s sudden intake of breath and
didn’t take his eyes off Robbie. “I think that money should be just
about enough to cover what I need. There will be enough room in
Rufus’ curricle to accommodate several large cuts of beef, ham and
more than a couple of chickens. I don’t care how much you get, but
I insist that you don’t come back until you get them and several
large cheeses, oh, and some bread. Any money that is left over can
be put to one side to cover the food next week.” Stephen knew that
there was more than enough to cover the cost of the meat for the
next several weeks, but made a mental note to add to the coinage
anyway. He could only hope that Rufus would stick to his word and
ensure that the plants were purchased from market at the same
time.

“
You want me
to buy meat?” Robbie asked weakly, as though he couldn’t quite
believe such good fortune could be his.

“
I want you
to sit down and make a list of all of the things that you need,
including the items that I have just told you about, and make sure
that your sister’s know what they should not return without,” he
declared firmly.

He glanced at Prudence,
saw the objection in her eyes, and immediately softened his stance.
He didn’t want to stand on her pride, but she had to set aside her
own feelings and allow him to improve the family
situation.

“
I am here,
under your room, living off your grace and favour. It is only right
that you should be recompensed for housing me. This is money from
His Majesty’s government and, as such, is your right to have. I do
have a few dietary requirements given that most of my work is on
foot, out in the cold, in the middle of the night.” He sighed
almost dramatically, and was reassured that he had captured the
ladies’ imagination from the avid way they stared at him and voiced
no objection. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back and tried
not to smile. “I love vegetables as much as the next man, don’t get
me wrong, but the work I do takes a lot of time and effort and I
need a full stomach to do it properly. The only thing I ask is for
meat and cheese, and lots of it, along with the vegetables of
course. However, I don’t expect you to pay for it.”

He saw Prudence’s eyes
widen at the money Eloisa placed on the table. It was most probably
more than they had ever seen in all of their lives. He felt more
than a little uncomfortable at just how difficult their lives had
been, but was fairly confident that the temptation of being able to
eat the foodstuffs that they hadn’t been able to afford before
would stave off any objection Prudence could come up with. He
suspicions were right and he stood back to watch Robbie carefully
scratch a list of all of the things he had been instructed to
purchase.

Prudence wasn’t sure what
to make of it. She saw the long list of items and knew that Stephen
would never manage to plough his way through it all, even if he was
ravenously hungry all the time. Could she sit back and allow him to
pay for food for the family? If she objected though, the joy and
excitement on Robbie’s face would be quashed. It would be hideously
unfair on him to cook foods like that for Stephen and not give some
to Robbie. However, she couldn’t exactly refuse to purchase the
things that Stephen wanted without seeming churlish and pious, and
she couldn’t do that. Wracked with indecision yet unsure what to
say, Prudence remained quiet.

“
We will of
course prepare you anything you want us to. If you have any
preference; meat pies, or chicken pies, then all you need to do is
ask,” she murmured quietly once Robbie had raced off to put his
boots on.

“
Stew and
dumplings,” Robbie piped up. “I had that once at Christmas time.
Can we have that again, Prudence? Pleeeaassee?”

Prudence sighed. “The
meats are for Stephen, Robbie, hush now.”

“
Wait!”
Stephen’s shout drew everyone’s attention and they turned to stare
at him with more than a little fear in their eyes. He wondered just
what kind of upbringing they had been subjected to that made them
fearful of a man’s shout, and put that thought to one side to ask
Prudence about another time, when they were a bit better
acquainted. He had no idea if their parents had argued a lot prior
to their father’s abandonment, or whether their mother’s wails and
rants caused them more distress than they wanted to acknowledge.
Whatever, Stephen raised his hands in a placating gesture and
glared at them.

“
While I am
here, I do not expect anyone to segregate my food from yours. I am
purchasing the food here for us all to eat purely because I will
undoubtedly eat the most. I expect everyone to share the same
meals, so you only prepare things that everyone is going to eat.
There will be no meals for me and separate meals for you. Everyone
is eating together and that is final.”

His words held an
authoritative tone that irked Prudence a little and she debated
arguing with him for a moment. Government money or not, it didn’t
feel right for him to have to pay for meats and the foods that he
really wanted to eat, but they simply couldn’t afford the meats and
cheeses, however much they wanted to. What harm would it do to be
able to savour them while they had the opportunity?

When nobody made any
objection, Stephen turned his attention to Robbie. “Now, you go
with your sisters to market, Robbie, and make sure that they don’t
come home without everything on that list. Rufus will be here any
minute now.”

He dropped down into a
chair before the fire and began to munch the apple he swiped off
the table. He would much rather it was ham and eggs, or maybe a
slice of bacon or two, but it would have to suffice for
now.

CHAPTER
TEN

He had just thrown his
apple core into the fire beside him when an excited squeal from
Maggie broke the silence.

“
Rufus is
here,” she gasped as she flew into the kitchen and then back out
again. “Eloisa, Georgiana, come quickly. Rufus is here. He has
brought a grand carriage. It is huge. We can all go to market.
Hurry! Come and take a look.”

Prudence smiled at her
sister’s enthusiasm and followed everyone outside to watch Rufus
pull the carriage to a stop outside the front door.

“
I take it
that there are some ladies here who would like to do some
shopping?” he asked with an air of a put-upon male that was at odds
with the smile on his face.

Georgian and Madeline
began to dance around in a circle. “Is it for us?”

“
Of course it
is, my lady,” Rufus replied with a bow. “I like my ladies to travel
in style.”

“
I would
hurry up and finish getting ready because he won’t wait forever. He
turns into a pumpkin at midnight.” He shared a grin with Rufus, who
was completely unperturbed by the excited squeals of the young
ladies.

“
I thought
that because I had so much to get, the extra space would come in
handy.”

“
Good idea.
Robbie has another list of things to get; meats and the like.” He
gave Rufus a pointed look that was met with a nod of approval. “I
am sure that the carriage will be full to bursting on the return
journey.”

He was about to turn to
Prudence to ask if she was going to go, when a loud scream
shattered the excitement. Everyone froze at the sound of the loud,
rhythmic thumps that could be heard even from outside.

“
I’ll go,”
Prudence sighed.

“
Are you not
coming, Prudence?” Eloisa frowned. She had so looked forward to a
proper ride in a carriage that she almost groaned with
disappointment that she might have to stay and look after mother
instead, but it didn’t seem right that Prudence should be the one
to remain at home.

“
I will look
after mother. You go and get what we need.” Prudence sensed
Eloisa’s objection before she spoke, and pasted an overly bright
smile of reassurance on her face. “It’s fine. I don’t need anything
anyway aside from what’s on the lists. Keep an eye on Robbie now,
or he will get twice what we need and then some.”

She smiled when Eloisa
merely rolled her eyes and smiled prettily at Rufus, who was
waiting patiently to hand her into the conveyance.

“
Thank
you.”

“
Pleasure.”

Prudence waved and called
a cheery goodbye as the carriage pulled away.

“
I will go
and see what mother wants.” She hurried inside before he could
speak. Strangely, she was not disappointed at all that she wasn’t
going to market. Although it would have been nice to ride in a
carriage, she was glad to have a few moments to herself to get her
thoughts in order.

Her mother’s dark spell
was worse than she thought. It had been some time before her mother
had been this bad and Prudence knew that there was little anyone
could do except remain calm and wait until the spell had passed.
Still, it was very distressing to see Agatha, walking around in a
small circle while she clutched at her hair.

“
They are
back again. They are. They are, you know. They are back
again.”

“
I know they
are back again, mother. I am sure that they will go again soon,”
Prudence soothed.

“
They are
back again. You don’t believe me. I know it, see? I know you don’t
believe that they are back again but you will see them. You will. I
know you will.” The fervency in Agatha’s eyes was lit with
something strange and vague. It was as though she knew what was
saying, but didn’t know why she was saying it. It made Prudence’s
heart weep for the cool and unflappably calm woman their mother had
once been.

“
Come and sit
down before the fire,” she whispered. It was suddenly difficult to
speak around the lump in her throat. “You will be warmer over
here,” she tried to pick up a shawl off the bed but, in order to do
so she had to release Agatha, who immediately returned to the
window and began to walk in small circles again.

“
They come,
they go. They are back. They are. They are,” she mumbled, over and
over.

“
I know,
mother. They will go again soon though.” She was so busy trying to
coax a shawl onto her mother’s shoulders that she didn’t see
Stephen walk into the room behind her. He stood just inside the
door and watched Prudence desperately try to hang on to her
patience while she tried to coax her mother to get warm
again.