The House of Hardie (34 page)

‘Was it worth it?' she asked.

‘Worth it?'

‘Running away. I did so much admire you when I first heard what you'd done. To take your life into your own hands just like that. Such courage. And I can tell from what you've just said about the mountains and the sunrises and the silences and the joys of making new discoveries that the expedition itself was everything you hoped for. But in the longer term … I mean, you married, in a sense, so that you might travel to exotic places. But now, just because you
are
married – and are going to have a family – you'll probably never be able to travel in such a way again. And so I wondered …'

‘If it were true that I married Gordon only in order to travel, I might well be disappointed,' Lucy said. ‘But it wasn't like that at all. I ran away from home because I was in love with him. And I still am. So of course it was worth it.'

‘Good.' Midge swept away any doubt she might have been feeling with a flashing smile. ‘And your family? Have they accepted the situation?'

That was a more difficult question to answer. ‘I haven't told them yet that I'm in England,' Lucy admitted. She had given a good deal of thought to the matter, and decided not to make contact with her grandfather at once. She was anxious for a reconciliation; but although she had given the address of the Shanghai agent when writing to
tell him of her marriage, he had not made use of it. It would be best now, she thought, to wait until she could show him her baby. Little Grace, blonde and beautiful, would remind him of his own beloved daughter, and of Lucy herself, and he might love her as he had loved them.

Not everything went according to this plan. The baby was born at the beginning of January, and was as blond and beautiful as Gordon and Lucy could possibly have imagined. But it was a boy.

Lucy, of course, was delighted with her son and laughed at herself for having felt so certain that she would have a daughter. As she cradled him in her arms, she was sure that life could have no greater happiness in store for her. An adoring husband and an adorable baby; surely she must be the luckiest woman in the world.

Gordon was equally delighted, needing no words to show how glad he was that their previous disappointment was a thing of the past. He looked down at his wife and son with love in his eyes – but that did not prevent him from teasing her.

‘I ordered a daughter,' he said. ‘We can't christen a boy with the name of our lily. Grace Hardie! How the other boys would rag him!'

‘I'm very sorry,' said Lucy demurely. ‘I'll try to do better next time.'

‘See that you do, then. In the meantime, this young gentleman will do very nicely. Another generation of the house of Hardie in waiting to take over one day. My parents are as pleased as Punch.'

They showed their pleasure as soon as Gordon was willing to make room for them at his wife's bedside – and Midge, too, was delighted by the baby.

‘I shall enjoy being an aunt,' she announced, offering a finger to be gripped in the tiny fist. ‘I shall have all the
fun of playing with him and spoiling him – and then handing him back to you when he grows tired of me. We shall be good friends, he and I. But now you must rest.'

Lucy rested. Surrounded by love and friendly service, she was quick to regain her strength. One of her first tasks after she left her bed was to write to her grandfather.

In her first letter – the letter which had never been acknowledged – she had not only announced her marriage, but asked to be forgiven for the distress which she must have caused him both by her disappearance and by her disobedience. There seemed no need to repeat the apology. She was twenty-one years old, a married woman and a mother. She allowed pride and dignity to mingle with her affection as she asked if she might bring her son to meet his great-grandfather, whom one day he would love as dearly as she did herself. There was no reply.

‘Perhaps he's away from home,' she suggested to her husband after a little time had passed. ‘Or …' But surely he could not be dead. She asked Gordon to make enquiries, and within two days he brought her news. The marquess had removed his custom from The House of Hardie, as was to be expected, but it had nevertheless proved easy enough to discover that he was in residence at Castlemere.

Lucy received this information with tightened lips and head held high. Naturally she had realized when she ran away that she was saying goodbye to the life of luxury which she had enjoyed at Castlemere, and to her expectations of any marriage settlement. She had not minded that, knowing that it was not for her money that Gordon loved her. But she had not thought that her behaviour would cause more than a temporary estrangement. Her grandfather had loved her; and love, surely, could not be killed by a little recklessness, a flash of anger. So at least
she had believed – but it seemed that she was wrong.

Gordon was watching her, aware of the distress she must feel. Lucy summoned all her resolve and, instead of weeping, smiled.

‘Never mind,' she said. ‘I have all the family I need here. Your parents and Midge, and you and the baby – and little Grace one day. What more can I ask? I'm part of the house of Hardie now.'

Anne Melville is a pseudonym of Margaret Potter (1926–1998), a daughter of the author and lecturer Bernard Newman. She read Modern History at Oxford as a scholar of St Hugh's College, and after graduating she taught and travelled in the Middle East. On returning to England, she edited a children's magazine for a few years, but later devoted all her working time to writing.

Discover books by Anne Melville published by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/AnneMelville

Lorimers at War
Lorimers in Love
Lorimer Loyalties
The Last of the Lorimers
The Lorimer Legacy
The Lorimer Line

The House of Hardie
Grace Hardie
The Hardie Inheritance

For copyright reasons, any images not belonging to the original author have been removed from this book. The text has not been changed, and may still contain references to missing images.

This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Reader

Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP

First published in Great Britain in 1988 by Grafton Books

Copyright © 1988 Anne Melville

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eISBN: 9781448214372

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