Riverbreeze: Part 1 (17 page)

Robert laid a comforting hand on Warren’s
arm, saying, “If you need anything…” he paused, then lowered his
voice and changed his words. “If you need any help, just let me
know.”

Warren nodded, acknowledging Robert’s meaning
and with a serious look on his face said just as quietly, “I will.
Thank you.”

Robert returned the nod, squeezed Warren’s
arm and then made his voice louder as he said, “’Twas good to see
you again, Tom. And again, my condolences.”

And Robert left the room.

Once out in the hall, Roger put his arm
around Robert’s shoulder and pulled him close, startling him a
little. Robert hadn’t realized Roger was waiting for him. “You’ve
made an enemy today.” Roger said, low into Robert’s ear. “That was
foolish of you.”

Robert bristled. “What the hell was I
supposed to do?” He hissed at Roger, not wanting to draw
attention.

“You should have allowed Jamie to handle the
situation. He’s not the immature child you
and
that oaf in there think he is.”

Just at that moment Jamie emerged from the
kitchen. He was drinking long and deeply from a Boarderware
drinking jug. When he finished he let out a sigh and wiped his
mouth on his sleeve. “God, I was thirsty!” He said emphatically.
The small beer he was drinking was a watered down brew for everyday
use, water really with just enough beer in it to kill the
bacteria.

Robert looked at his brother. Could he have
handled the situation? Well, he would never know now and he had
possibly made a very dangerous enemy. Not his brother, but he could
see that Jamie was none too pleased with him either.

Jamie took two strides which brought him
directly in front of Robert. “Why couldn’t you have stayed out of
that?” He demanded, anger and hurt in his voice. “I swear, Rob, you
would keep me in petticoats if you could.”

“I’m sorry, Jamie.” Robert said, completely
sincere. “But when he grabbed you like that…you know how much I
want to protect you.”

Jamie rolled his eyes, catching sight of
Roger’s amused smile. “I’ll never be free, will I?” He addressed
Roger with a little smile.

Roger chuckled. “No, I’m afraid not. Forever
in petticoats.” He said, squeezing Jamie’s shoulder in mock
sympathy.

Then quite unexpectedly, they heard singing
coming from the withdrawing room. Robert listened in awe. A clear,
beautiful soprano voice that he had never heard before held him
spellbound. The voice was like an angel’s.

“Who is that?” He asked reverently.

“Go look.” Roger said with a smug smile.

Robert peered at Roger for a moment wondering
what that look meant, but Roger was closemouthed. With an annoyed
snort Robert joined his brother who had already moved to stand in
the doorway.

Ah, what a beautiful sight! Robert didn’t
even know his mouth was hanging open until he felt Roger’s
forefinger applying an upward pressure under his chin. He snapped
his mouth shut in embarrassment as he threw Roger an indignant
look.

Roger grinned at him. “Amazing, isn’t she?”
He said in a knowing whisper.

“Who is she?” Robert asked in a hoarse
whisper, staring at the girl as she stood straight and confident,
calmly singing to the group of ladies who were watching her in
wonder and admiration. “I’ve never seen her before.”

“I haven’t either.” Jamie whispered, just as
entranced.

“She is one of Francis’ nieces….”

“Elizabeth.” Robert breathed, remembering the
blue gown. Maureen had told him that the twins were amazing and
beautiful and now that he saw Elizabeth for himself, he had to
agree. She was very lovely with her heart-shaped face, creamy
complexion, and hair the color of a ginger cat tumbling down her
back. Her hair was not done in the style of the day, just pulled
back to hang down her back in cascading waves. It made her look
like a twelve-year-old girl even though he knew she was a
seventeen-year-old young lady. He watched her rose-petal lips as
she sang and when she opened her eyes, since she had been singing
with them closed at first, he saw that they were a striking emerald
green.
I shall give her the emerald ring to go
with her eyes,
he thought. Now where had that thought come
from?

“Yes.” Roger said, looking surprised that
Robert would know. “How did you know?”

Robert just waved his hand, not wanting to
explain it right now.

Roger continued, “See the other one sitting
beside her?”

He waited while they looked and nearly
laughed out loud at their expressions. It was a shock for anyone
who had never seen identical twins before. Roger had, back in
England, cousins of his, years ago, so he wasn’t as stupefied.

“Oh my God!” Robert exclaimed in a low
gasp.

“Holy Christ!” Jamie whispered, his eyes
nearly popping out of his head.

“Have fun, boys.” Roger said with a grin.

Chapter Five: Getting to know you

The applause was thunderous and the
compliments were even more ebullient. Elizabeth accepted them with
grace and humility. The women and girls were clustered around her,
praising her singing with wide smiles and words of delight, and a
few of the older ladies even had tears in their eyes.

After hearing the commotion upstairs and
worrying over who had done what and then being told by a random
gentleman that there was nothing to worry about, Evelyn had
suggested to Elizabeth that it might be soothing to the ladies if
she sang for them. Elizabeth had agreed that that was a wonderful
idea and had chosen a few, popular songs that she knew would please
everyone.

It was a success; the ladies had forgotten
all about the noisy disturbance upstairs. And it had been a nice
change for the twins as well. Their cheek muscles had begun to ache
from all the forced smiling and they were tired of all the small
talk. Their gracious hosts, Phillip and Maureen Archer, had
introduced them to every man, woman and child in the entire colony,
it seemed, and that was quite a number of people! No one appeared
to notice the absence of Francis Tyler; they were all too
fascinated by these two identical, lovely young women. Elizabeth
and Evelyn had been welcomed with warm smiles and polite words, but
they had also been stared at in amazement, ogled and fawned over by
a dozen or more bachelors and widowers, and scrutinized and studied
behind spread fans and cupped hands.

They ignored it all they were so attuned to
it.

After the formal introductions, they had been
seated in the withdrawing room and had been served full plates of
delicious food and a goblet of fine French wine. They had answered
scores of questions about their lives in London and about London in
general—people were always hungry for any information or news from
their homeland—and were getting so tired, they didn’t think they
would be able to wait for the arrival of their cousins.

But then the racket had started, startling
them out of their boredom and giving them a second wind.

The applause and compliments died down and
Evelyn was just about to rise and excuse herself when both sisters
caught movement in the doorway. The plump and matronly Mrs. Jenkin,
who had mothered them for most of the morning, now greeted two
young men, who stood side by side and could pass for twins
themselves.

“Robert and James!” She said, quite loudly.
“How wonderful to see you!”

Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open and her gaze
automatically went to her sister, who also had a look of shock on
her face, but growing excitement. Evelyn’s hand grasped Elizabeth’s
arm.

“’Tis them!” Evelyn whispered, squeezing her
sister’s arm. “Our cousins.”

“Mon Dieu
, Evie…”
Elizabeth whispered back. “’Tis him!”

“What do you mean? The one in your dream?”
Evelyn continued to whisper to her sister, holding her elaborately
painted silk and ivory fan spread open in front of her mouth.

“Yes.”

“Which one?”

“The taller one.”

“Oh my! Are you sure?” asked Evelyn, eyes
wide.

“Yes.” Elizabeth said somewhat reluctantly.
Despite the bruised face and swollen eye, she could see that this
man was definitely the man in her dream.

She almost couldn’t believe what she was
seeing: two young men who she knew to be brothers, (that was so
obvious, one would have to be blind not to see it,) and knew to be
the adopted sons of her uncle, looking like ruffians, or at least
the one who had been in the fight looked like a ruffian. And he was
to be her husband? She was both horrified and fascinated.

He had a nasty cut on his cheek, his eye was
swollen and he was not even respectably dressed. He was merely
wearing his shirt, fawn-colored breeches, stockings and boots. His
shirt, she could see that it had been clean at one time and was
made of a good quality linen, had been torn and spotted with blood
stains now dried to a rusty brown.

The other brother was dressed more
appropriately. He was wearing breeches and a doublet in a sage
green camlet, quite pretty actually, with slashed sleeves and
braiding down the buttoned front. His soft leather boots had been
folded down to show the ribbons at the knees of his breeches and
the lace-edged boot hose. His face was in better shape, only his
nose was swollen.

The girls, sitting next to each other in
proper chairs by the fireplace, watched as the two brothers looked
through the crowd of women directly at them. The rougher one nodded
at them and looked like he was going to come greet them, but Mrs.
Jenkin stepped in his way.

“It has been so long since we’ve seen you,
Robert. How have you been?” She asked. The parchment-like skin
around her eyes and mouth crinkled as she smiled up at him,
indicating her advanced years. Her teeth were not good and her hair
was streaked with silvery strands, but her gray eyes were lively
and full of love for this favorite young man.

Manners intact, Robert smiled warmly at the
older woman and greeted her with an affectionate hug and kiss.
Afterwards, Jamie responded in kind.

“They saw us.” Evelyn whispered,
unnecessarily, behind her fan. She watched intently as the
greetings took place and Elizabeth matched her interest.

“I know.” Elizabeth whispered back, quite
intrigued. The one who had nodded hadn’t taken a double take or
stared or acted like anything was unusual. And
that
was unusual.

“They look rather…rough, wouldn’t you say?”
Evelyn said.

“Hmm hmm.” Elizabeth murmured, not taking her
eyes off the taller brother.

By this time the mass of women in the room
had deserted Elizabeth and Evelyn and had surrounded the two
brothers and Mrs. Jenkin, but it was Mrs. Jenkin alone who had
gained the coveted position between the brothers, threading her
arms through theirs, her lace-veiled head barely reaching their
shoulders.

Well, they were certainly popular, Elizabeth
noted. The women practically threw themselves at them. She
remembered Maureen telling them that Robert and Jamie were quite
popular with all the women of the colony whether they were single
or married. Their good looks were obvious, all blond and blue-eyed
and tanned, with charming smiles and friendly visages. They had
established themselves as kind and charming gentlemen and with
their small plantation they would make any woman a fine
husband.

Of course, Elizabeth understood that now that
she was seeing them in the flesh. They were quite handsome, even
the one with the bruised face, and they were wonderfully tall and
finely-made. She could also see, but with some difficulty through
the mass of women, that they were bracing themselves for the
outflow of motherly and adoring attention. It was quite amusing to
watch them put on their best polite smiles as they tried not to
offend any of the solicitous ladies.

“Oh my poor boy.” Mrs. Jenkin was saying,
looking up at Robert with grave concern. She skimmed a gnarled
finger over his cheek and jaw. “Look at you, Robert, you poor, poor
lad. Of course, we all heard the noise of the struggle
upstairs.”

“Yes, it must have been awful for you…” said
another grandmotherly type with graying hair.

“Oh that beastly Phillip Archer…” said a
fiery red-head with worshipful green eyes. She was unfortunately
married to a man ten years her senior and quite unsatisfied. That
was one piece of gossip Elizabeth had preferred not to hear, but it
seemed the woman didn’t care if the whole colony knew about her
disappointing intimate life.

“I do not know what…..” began her companion,
but was interrupted.

“Ladies, please, I am perfectly fine.” Robert
said quickly with a charming smile. He was smart not to offend them
or to allow any slanderous talk to continue. “Really, I am.”

From the back of the crowd two young, teenage
girls, standing with their heads close together giggled behind
their glazed paper fans. “He is so perfect.” The mousy-hair one
whispered, but loud enough for Elizabeth and Evelyn to hear.