The Hired Wife (9 page)

Mary was half
way through a plate of ham when the front door was opened to the
deafening words, “Is Lady Raynham awake? Well where is she? I don’t
know where you’re pointing. Speak into my ear man. She’s eating?
Good, bring the boxes into the dining room.” Mary licked her lips
as her heart beat faster. Her knife and fork slid about in her wet
hands as the seconds ticked by in agonising slowness before the
heavy foot falls stopped in the doorway and she was located by
piercing blue eyes. “Good evening Wife, did you sleep well?” The
words rattled the window panes and her resolve to be calm. Nodding
her head in affirmation, she blushed at his slow knowing smile.
“Put the boxes on the table Man, why would I want them on the
floor?”

The footman
leaned towards Marshall’s ear, “It takes hours to polish the
table…”

“I don’t pay
you to polish your teeth. Put them on the table and go do something
useful.” Marshall’s attention swung back to his wife, “I bought you
some ceramics. Come tell me what you think.” A lump of paper was
unwrapped to reveal a white glazed Staffordshire pew group of Adam
and Eve. Marshall set it carefully on the table and smiled at his
wife’s wide eyes. “It took me several minutes to figure out which
one was Eve; the short one with flat breasts or the tall one with
large breasts. There’s no need to blush Wife, they’re perfectly
respectable. My grandmother used to have something similar on her
desk. She was so respectable no one dared even whisper about her
young lover.” Mary rose from her chair and walked around the table
conscious of admiring eyes and picked up the glazed couple. “Do you
like them?”

“They’re
perfect. You’re right; Eve does appear rather large for poor
Adam.”

“He would have
thought woman was supposed to tower over man.” Mary’s eyes hovered
near his shoulder held captive by living sapphires. “At least I got
to choose my wife whose looking much revived after her sleepless
night pondering my kisses.” Mary bit her lip, but her red cheeks
silently admitted again that she had. “Wait till you see the
plate.” The round wad of paper fell away to reveal delftware
crudely painted with Adam and Eve au natural. “I’d like to know
what they ate to make them so fat. I assure you I look nothing like
that naked. You on the other hand may well be fat after a few
squalling Godfrey brats…if you stay.” With a light finger Marshall
tipped Mary’s head back, “Though I probably won’t live long if you
do. I fear you’re hazardous to my health. Due to uncontrollable
reminiscence of your kisses I was nearly run over by three
galloping horses, a flock of sheep and an old woman with a stuffed
pigeon on her hat. “I like it when I make you smile; it does
something to me…like when I kiss you.” Marshall’s light salute was
returned. “I’m sure your lips are enchanted. What else can explain
the fact I bought you a matching pair of shepherds dressed in pink
and six sets of pink and gold candlesticks two of which are
encrusted with sickly cupids?”

“You’re a
secret romantic?”

“If I’m one
then so are you…” Marshall took possession of Mary’s hand and
kissed it before holding it up, “Shall we dance for joy Mrs
Godfrey?”

“I would be my
pleasure Mr Godfrey.”

“I propose we
celebrate each joyous loop around the table with a kiss.”

Mary’s bashful
eyes fell to his waistcoat, “Yes, a short rest after such exertion
would be beneficial my Lord.”

“Merry wife,
you’ll be my undoing and I look forward to it.” Mary curtseyed to
his formal bow and allowed herself to be twirled around the room in
a makeshift dance between kisses that started at her fingertips and
ended up warming her lips.

…

Hearing their
brother singing his own rendition of a waltz the twins looked at
each other in amusement and tiptoed to the door of the dining room
followed by Buckingham and the Marquis of Morley who lifted his
eyeglass, “Good Gad…Marshall’s been enchanted by some vile
ceramics.” Mary jerked to a stop, her smile fading at the sight of
the sneering Morley, ending the dance around the table.

Marshall
scowled at the small audience, “Oh, you’re back…”

Alyce Godfrey
whispered into Morley’s ear, “I’ll wager you a guinea he was hoping
to kiss her a few more times before we came home.”

Morley dropped
his voice, “And I’ll wager you a hundred guineas he was hoping to
make her so dizzy she’d have to rest on the table so he could have
his evil way.”

Alyce
snickered, “Wicked man…you shouldn’t say such things to me;
Marshall would pummel you.”

“Only if he
knew, but he’s a trifle distracted. You’ll have to do the honour…”
He held out his hand to be tapped with her fan as he ogled her
charms.

Emily ignored
her laughing sister and dragged Buckingham by the arm to her
brother, “Bucky has invited us to the country for a house party and
I’ll die if you won’t let us go…Aunt Bea agreed to chaperone, but
you may come if you wish. Morley’s going to be there. Bucky wants
to show me his world. Say we can go?”

Buckingham
twitched his lips over his front teeth and sighed loudly as he
returned Emily’s gaze, “I want to show her where my parents had tea
parties with the fairies and the stone circle where my father
taught me about the stars and you won’t have seen anything as
romantic as the castle ruins on the island in the lake where King
Arthur married Guinevere. You might even meet the lady in the
lake.”

Marshall
coughed over his amusement, “I suppose the lady in the lake is a
relative?”

“No of course
not, she was there when an ancestor was granted the lake and
surrounding land by King John. The Lady is quite pleasant company,
but she can’t bear people crying into her lake. The only way to
disperse the grief is to grant the weeper a wish. She must have
been beautiful when she was young, almost as beautiful as Lady
Emily.”

“Oh Bucky,
there are thousands of women more beautiful than me…”

“You’re the
most beautiful woman in the whole world and if you don’t marry me
I’ll cry buckets of tears into the lake until its Lady turns me
into a pair of glass slippers that fit only you. If I have my way
you shall wear me for eternity.”

Buckingham
kissed Emily’s hand while Marshall pursed his lips, “It’s a little
soon to speak of marriage. You’ve only met three times, what if you
find you get up each other’s noses?”

Buckingham’s
nose twitched in visible agony at the thought of waiting six months
to claim his bride as Emily arched an eyebrow at her scowling
brother. “How long did you know Mary, three minutes?”

“That was
different.”

“I know Bucky a
thousand times better than you knew Mary and you both seem
perfectly happy.”

Marshall sighed
as the two lovers ogled each other with blind adoration, “We’ll all
go to Bucky’s house, but only if you promise to spend every moment
outside your bedchambers together. If you still wish to marry at
the end of it you may run away with my blessing and take Alyce with
you.”

Buckingham made
an elegant bow, “I accept your challenge.”

“Oh Marshall,
you’re the best brother…come Bucky let’s go out in the garden and
practice spending time together. I want to hear more stories about
the lake.”

“My heart is
spinning with delight…may I tell you…feel such delight…this
day…honour to be…my heart’s…”

Mary
unconsciously stepped behind her husband as the Marquis of Morley
laughed at the enraptured lovers on their way out the room and
leaned towards Marshall’s ear, “That was an ingenious ploy old man.
Poor Emily will be half mad by the end of Bucktooth’s house party.
If she still finds his money attractive after two weeks, allowing
the match will be kinder than locking her in the attic.”

Marshall folded
his arms and eyed his old friend with distaste, “You’re too cynical
Henry. If Emily finds Buckingham amusing and enjoys looking at
those teeth then it proves her heart sees something we do not.
Beauty isn’t a required condition for love.”

“So it would
seem…” Morley cast a glance at the plain woman hiding behind
Marshall’s sleeve. “…Alyce is feeling slighted at losing
Bucktooth’s fortune. I shall call at four and take her driving in
the park tomorrow and point out the wealthy sons.” The man kissed
Alyce’s hand and whispered something that made her laugh before
taking his leave and carrying away his poisonous tongue.

Marshall eyed
his sister with concern. “Alyce, I don’t want you spending time
alone with Henry. His reputation as a rakehell is well documented
by a river of tears shed by gullible young ladies who thought he
meant to put a ring on their finger. He isn’t husband material, do
I make myself clear?”

“As clear as
holy water…may I go to my room or do you wish to lecture me on the
moral fibre of your friends?”

“Don’t be
impertinent.”

Alyce skipped
up to her brother and kissed him on the cheek, her eyes glimmering
with mischief, “I wouldn’t be so stupid as to share Morley’s bed
without a ring on my finger.”

“You don’t want
to share his bed. The man must have every social disease ever
named. He’s lucky his nose hasn’t fallen off. I want you to tell me
if he tries to kiss you.”

“Oh really
Marshall…as if I’d tell you if a man tried to kiss me; I’d die of
embarrassment.”

“Better to die
of embarrassment than the pox!”

“Don’t you
think this lecture might do more good for Emily and Bucky? They
look like they might fall into each other’s arms any moment to
create baby bunnies.”

“That is a rude
and unladylike thing to say. You will not repeat it.”

“Then I shall
go to my room and think it without censorship.” The pretty young
woman tossed her brown curls and swished from the room in a
dramatised sulk.

Three weeks
later four carriages weighted down with trunks and cheerful
passengers bounced and creaked up a long gravelled avenue that
disappeared over the edge of a hill and sloped down around
Buckingham’s house offering an opportunity to marvel at the
contrasting view. The Classical structure protruded from the earth
in a red stone rectangle; three hundred windows reflecting blue
skies in perfect symmetry. Every inch of the sprawling work of art
rebuffed nature and conformed to man’s idea of beauty.

As the
carriages slowed to a stop, most of the party stared in awe at the
view below the house. The tamed hillside undulated down to the edge
of the infamous lake where several hundred yards from shore sat the
island preening like a swan. The crumbling castle stretched into
the lake as reflected red stones rippled over grey living water.
Mary’s mouth hung open as her mind tried to comprehend that such
beauty could be real. The hair stood up on the back of her neck as
she shivered in the stuffy carriage. There was something in the
air. She could almost believe that Buckingham had whisked them to
the land of make-believe where anything could happen. She glanced
at her husband and smiled as he caught her eye and winked, “I was
hoping you’d be asleep when we arrived so I could wake you with a
kiss.” The loud words made her blush as the three smirking maids
squeezed into the opposite seat snickered in amusement.

“Is it funny
that I enjoy kissing my wife?” The carriage steps were pulled down
and the door opened by a handsome footman in dark blue livery. The
maids shrunk back in their seats as Marshall leaned forward to
emphasise his point, “Wouldn’t you feel insulted if this footman
declared he wanted to kiss you and I laughed? What are you crying
for? Servants! Why couldn’t we send them on ahead with Henry’s
sneering valet and Buckingham’s mincing man milliner?” Marshall
helped his wife from the carriage and possessively tucked her hand
around his elbow.

“The ladies
were unable to rise that early.”

“You were
up.”

“I had to get
in line for hot water. You didn’t want to slit your throat shaving
with freezing pump water again.”

“It was a
passing remark, not a demand that you rise at five. I wasn’t going
to beat you if the maid brought me cold shaving water.”

Mary squeezed
his arm, “I had fresh bread and butter while I waited.”

“Ah, the truth
is out, you were eating. And I was beginning to think you’d fallen
for my manly charms. I can see you’re laughing Woman. I’ll pretend
you’re laughing at Aunt Bea. Where did she find that hideous hat?
Why do we have to share this two week nightmare with Aunt Bea, Lady
Morley and Henry? They hate the country. We won’t have a moment’s
peace with Aunt Bea complaining about flies and blood sucking
midges.”

“Alyce wanted
them to come. Buckingham relented when Alyce pointed out that if
she didn’t get her way she’d be spending every waking minute with
the two lovers.”

“Alyce becomes
more beastly by the hour. I hope she doesn’t marry someone kind,
she’ll break his heart after emptying his purse.” Marshall’s eyes
narrowed as five beautiful young men tumbled from their coach
laughing and slapping each other with affection. “I pity the woman
who gave birth to five Smirkes.”

“I think
they’re charming. They said their mother was a…”

“Don’t believe
anything a Smirke says. Their Uncle John could make Satan blush and
their father; Lord Adderbury is a conceited bore. He didn’t once
speak to me in three years at school. I’d shout at him to talk in
my ear, but he’d write, ‘It’s easier to write it!’ on a piece of
paper. The prig couldn’t be bothered to talk to me. Henry was my
ears. He’d tell me all of Adderbury’s rude hateful jokes and
comments at my expense. Of course the prig would deny everything in
writing and then I’d pummel him until he cried like a baby. Why are
you looking at me like that? He deserved it.”

“Lady Morley
was gossiping about the Smirke family last evening, before you men
left the table; she was laughing at Lord Adderbury’s stammer.”