Love Inspired Historical June 2014 Bundle: Lone Star Heiress\The Lawman's Oklahoma Sweetheart\The Gentleman's Bride Search\Family on the Range (56 page)

His voice trailed off, his throat as tightly choked as the doors of that burning mill. Instead of fresh country air, he smelled a sulfurous inferno. His eyes stung and began to water as if from the thick smoke and shimmering waves of heat consuming everything in their path.

“Your parents?” Evangeline Fairfax murmured as her footsteps slowed. “Your sister?”

Jasper could only shake his head and fight to maintain his composure.

Miss Fairfax helped by continuing to talk. “Now I see why you did not want your children to overhear us. I am sorry to have brought it all back to you. I should not have pried into your past.”

“No!” The denial burst out of Jasper. “You deserve to know after what you told me about yours. I cannot pretend I enjoyed reliving those memories, but it is a relief in a way—like opening an engine valve to reduce the pressure building up inside it.”

“I shall have to take your word for that.” Miss Fairfax attempted to lighten the mood, for which Jasper was grateful. “I am woefully ignorant about anything to do with machinery. But I understand what you mean about a sense of relief. I have felt it, too, since I spoke to you. Perhaps putting the very worst things into words gives us a little power over them. It reminds us that we have survived and been strengthened in the process.”

“Perhaps.” Her explanation sounded as reasonable as anything.

By unspoken agreement they turned and headed back to the house. The children were likely awake and curious about the absence of their governess and their father.

“What became of you after the fire?” The concern in Miss Fairfax's voice was unmistakable. She knew what could befall an orphan child. No doubt she also realized that her experience, as difficult as it had been, was not the worst that could happen. Did she picture Matthew or Alfie in that situation?

Jasper wanted to put her mind at rest. “I was fortunate. Parson Ward took me in temporarily. When he discovered I had no other family, he adopted me and educated me with Norton Brookes and several other boys our age. Some might say the deaths of my parents brought me a better life and a brighter future than they could have given me if they'd lived. But I would give anything to have been able to prevent that fire.”

“Of course you would.” Evangeline Fairfax seemed to understand in a way few others could.

Jasper wished he had talked all this over with her long ago. “When I finished my schooling, I went to work for Mr. Thorpe. I joined the philosophical and literary society and a committee on the board of health. That is where I met Robert Owen and others who were eager to promote improvements in safety and working conditions in the cotton industry. I felt I owed it to my family to do my best to change things.”

He marked the way Miss Fairfax nodded. It conveyed more than simple agreement. It assured him of her sympathy with his ideals. Not since his friend Robert Owen had gone away to Scotland had Jasper felt such kinship with another person regarding this important aspect of his life.

“You should tell your children,” Evangeline Fairfax suggested. “Not about the fire, of course, but about New Hope Mills—why you operate it the way you do and why it is such important work.”

With anyone else Jasper would have disagreed strenuously. But with Evangeline Fairfax, he could not, for he knew she believed in his work and loved his children.

“Why do you say that?” he asked. “You and I learned at too young an age what a harsh place the world can be. I want to protect my children from that knowledge for as long as I can. That is the other goal I have worked hard to accomplish.”

“I know.” She sounded apologetic yet determined to persuade him. “It is not only the noise and crowding and smoke of Manchester you want to shield them from. It is the way so many people are obliged to live. But your children must learn someday. If they understand what you are trying to do and why, they may not mind so much that you must spend so much time away from home.”

Jasper could not deny the truth in what Miss Fairfax had said and it troubled him. “Do my children think I do not care for them, that I want to be away from them so often?”

Their governess knew his children better than anyone. She had shown herself willing to speak her mind, especially where their welfare was concerned. Jasper trusted she would tell him the truth no matter how hard it might be for him to hear.

“They know you love them.” Miss Fairfax soothed one of his greatest fears. “No one who sees you with them can doubt that. But there are times when I fear they blame themselves or each other for your long absences. They wonder if they were better behaved or more entertaining company you might be inclined to spend more time at home.”

Though offered in a tone of gentle compassion, her words pierced Jasper's heart to a dangerous depth. This was worse than he had feared. He would rather his children think him a bad father, incapable of loving them as they deserved. He could not bear to have them doubt or blame themselves for his absences.

“It never occurred to me they might feel that way.” His shoulders slumped. “You are right, Miss Fairfax. I must speak to the children at once and try to make them understand. Will you help me?”

“Me?” Her step lurched slightly, as if she had caught her foot on a bit of uneven ground. “What can
I
do?”

Jasper reached out to steady her, but she avoided his hand in her independent way. She might be willing to assist him, but it was clear she had difficulty accepting help from others. Could that be a consequence of her school years, when she'd been called upon to be a source of strength and leadership for her friends?

“I expect you will think of something,” he replied. “You know my children so well. If we find a way to explain the importance of my work, perhaps it will help them understand why
you
feel obliged to leave them when the time comes.”

He had thought she would grasp his reasoning and approve the idea. He did not expect Miss Fairfax to flinch and let out a half-stifled gasp, as if he had struck her.

* * *

Jasper Chase was not a cruel man—quite the opposite, in fact. Even when Evangeline had privately questioned his commitment to fatherhood, she had never doubted his basic good nature.

Now, as they returned to the house from their early morning walk, she knew he did not mean to distress her. But when he spoke of her leaving and how it might affect the children, his words seemed to knock the air out of her.

She tried to tell herself he was wrong. Of course his children would be sorry to see her go, but they would not feel
responsible
for her decision to leave. Would they?

“Are you quite well, Miss Fairfax?” This time, when Mr. Chase put his hand out to steady her, Evangeline was too preoccupied with thoughts of the children to avoid it. “That is the second time you have lost your footing. Perhaps I should not have dragged you out for a walk before breakfast. I hope you will pardon my thoughtlessness.”

“Nonsense.” She shook her head and tried to ignore the agreeable sensation of his hand on her arm. “In the past, I have done a great deal of work first thing in the morning and never been the worse for it. I am certain you must have, too.”

She pictured him laboring on the floor of a cotton mill at the age when she had been doing chores in the damp, chilly rooms of the Pendergast School. She'd never suspected the two of them might have so much in common. For his sake, she wished they did not.

“That is true enough,” he replied in a rueful murmur. “What made you falter, then, if not hunger?”

Part of her wanted to make up some other excuse—anything but the truth, which Jasper Chase might use to persuade her to stay at Amberwood. Having exchanged such painful confidences with him recently made it difficult to be less than candid now. “If you must know, it was what you said about telling the children I will be leaving. I never considered that they might blame themselves. It came as something of a shock but I have recovered. I am capable of walking the rest of the way without assistance.”

“Of course.” Mr. Chase released her arm one finger at a time, as if doing so required some effort.

Once his hand broke contact with her arm, he let it fall to his side and started back toward the house. Hurrying to catch up, Evangeline braced for him to take advantage of her reluctant confession. To her surprise, he did not.

“We needn't mention your plans until the time draws closer. But I would like to talk to the children about my situation as soon as possible. Once we finish breakfast, we should speak to them together. I will explain about my work at New Hope Mills as best I can. Stop me whenever you think necessary to help them better understand. Can you do that for me?”

Evangeline nodded. “I am certain Matthew will interrupt you with plenty of questions, but I will do my part.”

“Thank you.” Jasper Chase caught her eye, which she had been trying to avoid. “I know I can rely on you.”

There was no more treasured compliment he could pay her. Evangeline looked away quickly but could not conceal her satisfaction.

As they approached the house, about to slip in the side entrance nearest the nursery, they met Mr. Brookes on his way out, accompanied by Verity Dawson. Both couples gave a start then pretended they had not.

“More early birds out enjoying the morning air—excellent!” The vicar's hearty tone rang hollow.

“Indeed it is,” replied Mr. Chase as if there was nothing unusual about them meeting like this. “If you are heading toward the river, keep to the path for the grass is very wet just now.”

“Then perhaps we should confine our stroll to the lane instead.” The vicar's forced smile looked anything but happy. “If that is agreeable to you, Mrs. Dawson?”

“Perfectly.” The lady's reply was barely audible. Her shifting glance made her look as guilty as if she and Mr. Brookes had been caught committing highway robbery.

“Enjoy your walk.” Mr. Chase ushered Evangeline inside. Clearly he was as eager as his friend to end their awkward meeting. “I will see you at breakfast.”

As the other two hurried away, Evangeline doubted any of them would mention their early morning encounter over breakfast. She and Mr. Chase spoke no more on their way to the nursery. But when they passed a looking glass in the hallway, she was dismayed to glimpse a furtive look on her face, identical to Verity Dawson's.

She had no reason to be ashamed, her conscience protested. She was only discussing her pupils with their father. No doubt Mrs. Dawson and Mr. Brookes had an equally innocent reason for taking an early stroll together. Yet their reaction suggested they might have something to hide.

Did the vicar and Verity Dawson suspect the same of her and Mr. Chase?

Chapter Nine

“W
here have you been?” Matthew demanded when his father and governess returned to the nursery.

The children were clustered around the table eating breakfast. All five looked up with expressions that echoed Matthew's question.

“Jane wouldn't tell us where you went,” said Alfie.

“I didn't know, myself,” the nursery maid protested.

“We were worried.” Emma's quiet reproach hit Jasper hard.

“There was no need for that.” Miss Fairfax rested her hands on Emma's shoulders in a gesture of reassurance. “We couldn't get into any trouble around Amberwood...at least not without some assistance from Alfie.”

The children laughed at that, Alfie loudest of all. The tension Jasper had sensed in the room eased.

“Your father and I had some matters to discuss,” Miss Fairfax explained. “We did not want to be interrupted or wake you, so we went outside. I hope you haven't eaten all the porridge. Our walk has given me an appetite and I expect your father is hungry, too.”

“Now that you mention it, I am rather.” Jasper tried to infuse his voice with the gratitude he felt. Her calm, caring manner seemed to have relieved his children's fears.

He sank onto a chair between Alfie and Rosie while Miss Fairfax took a seat between Matthew and Owen. She ladled a generous helping of porridge into a bowl and passed it to him.

“What are we going to do today?” asked Matthew.

Jasper shook his head. “I hadn't thought. The weather looks fine, so something outdoors perhaps. Do you have any suggestions?”

The words were scarcely out of his mouth before his son replied, “Could we go for a boat ride down the river like we did last summer?”

Matthew's brothers and sisters were quick to approve the idea.

Jasper considered his son's suggestion. “That will take a bit of planning to accommodate all our guests. But as soon as I can arrange it, we will go.”

The children seemed satisfied with that.

“The parish fair is on Saturday,” said Emma. “Can we go?”

“Please, Papa!” Rosie turned her most appealing look upon him. “It's such fun.”

Jasper smiled at his daughters. “That sounds like a fine idea.”

The children cheered.

By now they had all finished their breakfast. Jasper hurried to clean his bowl. “Before we do anything else, there is something I would like to talk to you about.”

“What is it, Papa?” For once Rosie beat Matthew to the question.

Jasper hesitated. Fatherly instinct urged him to shield his youngest daughter, like the delicate blossom for which she was named, from the blight of harsh reality. He glanced at Evangeline Fairfax, whose vivid features radiated encouragement.

“Why don't you go to the chair, sir.” She nodded toward a large upholstered armchair beside the nursery hearth where she often sat to read to her pupils. “The children can gather round you.”

“That is an excellent idea.” Jasper scooped Rosie into his arms and carried her to the chair. He sat down with his little daughter on his knee.

The others followed. Matthew and Emma stood on either side of the chair, while Alfie and Owen sat on a footstool in front of it. They all gazed at him expectantly.

“It's about my mill.” He searched for the right words. “
Our
mill, I should say. Miss Fairfax thought you should know more about it. You see, it is run rather differently than other cotton mills in Manchester.”

He repeated some of what he had told their governess about the dangers and hardships faced by textile workers, including many children their age.

As he spoke, they responded in different ways according to their temperaments. Matthew began to fidget. Alfie's eyes flashed. Emma and Owen stared at him in thoughtful silence. Rosie began to suck her thumb. She looked puzzled, as if Manchester was a very strange place she could not understand. Yet in other respects his children were in complete agreement—their sympathy for the workers and their outrage at the injustice. It echoed Jasper's feelings and stirred his heart. Never had he felt quite so close to his children. He sensed a bond linking them to the family he had lost so long ago.

“That's not right!” Alfie burst out at last, as if the indignation brewing in his warm little heart could no longer be contained. “Those children ought to be playing and learning like we do, not working all the time.”

As gently as he could, Jasper explained how many families needed their children's small wages in order to get by. He told them some attended Sabbath schools, as he had done.

Miss Fairfax had helped Jane clear the breakfast table, but now she rejoined the family. She sank onto the floor beside the footstool and put her arm around Alfie. “Tell them about New Hope Mills, sir, and all you have done to improve the lives of the people who work for you. I'm sure they will be very interested and very proud.”

The children nodded and murmured their agreement. All fixed him with looks of admiration and affection.

Jasper told them how he had abolished payment with shop tokens and built better housing for his workers. The children seemed most interested in hearing about the recreational activities he provided, from sporting events to concerts to a small lending library.

Rosie removed her thumb from her mouth. “I'd like to go to a concert. Will you take me to Manchester the next time they have one, Papa?”

Before he could answer her question, the rest were clamoring to go, as well.

Jasper shot their governess a look that appealed for her assistance.

She did not fail him. “You will not need to go all the way to Manchester to see a concert, Rosie. Miss Webster is very fond of music and your father has asked her to organize a concert here at Amberwood. I hope you will all take part in it.”

“I will!” Rosie bounced excitedly on Jasper's knee. “I want to sing that song about the little bird.”

The boys were quick to suggest pieces they could perform and soon they were all talking about the concert. The notion of visiting Manchester seemed to have been forgotten, for which Jasper was deeply grateful.

When the children let her get a word in, Miss Fairfax suggested they go down to the music room and practice while their father joined his guests for their breakfast.

“Before you go,” said Jasper, remembering the purpose of this talk, “there is one more thing I would like to say.”

They quieted and gave him their full attention once again.

Jasper looked into each beloved young face, trying to impress his point upon them. “It is not an easy task running New Hope Mills the way I do while still making money from it. But I believe it is important work that needs doing.”

Alfie gave an emphatic nod while the others murmured their agreement.

“That is why I must spend so much time in Manchester,” Jasper continued, “when it would be a great deal more enjoyable to be here with you.”

The children seemed to accept his explanation, disappointed by what it meant for them but understanding the necessity. Jasper congratulated himself.

Then Owen spoke up. “I think we should go live with you in Manchester, Papa. Then you will be able to see us as much as you like and we can help you with your work.”

Matthew and Alfie were quick to agree, as was Rosie. Emma looked torn by the choice between leaving her beloved home and seeing more of her father.

“That is a very kind offer, son.” Once again, Jasper silently appealed to Miss Fairfax to rescue him. “But Manchester is not nearly as pleasant a place as the Vale of Eden. And besides...what would your grandmother do without you?”

“She could come and visit us,” said Alfie.

“And we could all come to Amberwood for Christmas and the summer,” Matthew added.

“I suppose...but...” Desperation seized Jasper by the throat. “Perhaps when you are older. Miss Fairfax, tell the children why it is better for them to stay here at Amberwood.”

He waited confidently for her to assist him.

Instead, she patted his youngest son on the shoulder. “I think it is a wonderful idea. Well done, Owen!”

Her response struck Jasper like a knife between the shoulder blades. After years of respectful tolerance, he thought the two of them had finally become allies. How could Evangeline Fairfax have picked this critical moment to betray him?

* * *

“What possessed you to encourage that mad idea of my children moving to Manchester?” Jasper Chase glared at Evangeline from behind his writing table a few hours later.

She had sensed her employer was not happy with her after their talk with his children, but they'd had no opportunity to discuss the encounter until he summoned her from the music room to his study. His face had a livid cast and every feature was clenched so tight, it looked as though something might snap.

“I do not think it is a mad idea at all.” Evangeline strove to calm Mr. Chase by speaking in an even tone. “Owen is an uncommonly sensible boy for his age. I believe it would do you and the children good to live as a family rather than occasional visitors. Since you have important work that requires your presence in Manchester, it makes sense that
they
ought to join you.”

It puzzled her why he could not understand that and why the very idea seemed to enrage him.

He took a deep breath and made an obvious effort to maintain his composure. “After our talk this morning, I thought you understood. A large industrial city is not a proper place to raise a young family. My children are better off here in the country.”

“Are they?” Though she tried to remain calm, Evangeline felt her temper rising.

She felt something else, too, which dismayed her. Since coming to Amberwood, her attitude toward Jasper Chase had been one of wary neutrality at best, though she'd worked hard to conceal it from the children. As a consequence, she'd felt free to say whatever she liked to him, regardless of whether he wanted to hear it. Yet in a perilously short time, her attitude had undergone a drastic change. She had come to admire Jasper Chase and sympathize with him. As a consequence, she
did
care that he was vexed with her. But why should he be? She only wanted what was best for him and his children...and his new wife. Surely the lady would expect to see her husband more often than the distance between Amberwood and Manchester would allow.

Somehow the image of the Chase family with Margaret Webster at its center no longer appealed to Evangeline as much as it had before.

Such confused, heightened emotions threw her off balance and made her defensive. “Are your children better off separated from their father? You heard them this morning. They care about your workers and they want to help. If you truly wish to see your work continue and spread, I believe you have far more to hope from your children than from the other mill owners. But you must act soon to get the children involved before they begin to resent your work as a rival for your attention.”

Her arguments did not sway Jasper Chase except perhaps in the opposite direction. His full, dark brows clashed together over flashing eyes. One powerful hand slashed the air, demanding her silence. “That is quite enough, Miss Fairfax! Since you are determined to abandon my children, you have forfeited the right to have a say in how I choose to raise them. From now on, I will thank you not to encourage them in thinking they should live with me in Manchester.”

His words bit into Evangeline's heart the way her teachers' switches had once bitten into her hands. She found herself vulnerable to Jasper Chase's criticism in a way she had not been before. It puzzled her why that should be. One thing she did know was that she could not abide it.

She tilted her chin and stiffened her spine, wishing she was capable of making herself physically taller. “You are a fine one to talk about me abandoning your children! I have been with them night and day for the past six years, caring for them when they were ill, comforting them when they were sad or frightened. You only came home long enough to take them on outings and play games. Your work in Manchester is important, but your children need to know you will be with them through bad times as well as good.”

“I want to spare them from bad times!” His hand crashed down upon the writing table with thunderous force. “Can you not see that? I want to protect them from squalor and ugliness and misery the way my father protected me from the smoke and flames at the cost of his own life.”

The pain of that memory seemed to drain the power from his anger, the way a fire sucked all the air from an enclosed chamber. His shoulders slumped and his eyes dimmed with a lifetime of unshed tears. “It costs me more than you know to be away from my family, Miss Fairfax. That may be why I want the time we do spend together to be as happy as possible.”

Jasper Chase's sorrow and regret affected Evangeline in a way his hostility never could. It flowed beneath her defenses, weakening the foundations until they threatened to crumble. Might she have better success reaching him if she changed her approach?

Making a conscious effort to soften her voice, she asked, “Could it be that you are driven to protect the family you have now because you could not protect the one you lost?”

She did not mean it as an accusation but rather a possible insight into his actions.

Jasper Chase did not take her question in the spirit she had intended. His head snapped back as if he'd been dealt a powerful blow. He stared at her with a deeply aggrieved look. “I will thank you not to speculate on my motives, Miss Fairfax. I have tried to do the best I can for my family while endeavoring to make a positive difference in the lives of people few others pay any regard.”

Evangeline tried to summon the words to assure him that she did not question his feelings for his children or the vital importance of his philanthropy. But the look of misery etched on his bold, handsome features paralyzed her tongue. Her words had sown the pain in his eyes and in his heart. She feared she would only make matters worse if she said anything more.