The Price of Pleasure (26 page)

T
ori, do you regret it?”

“Hmmm?” she murmured from her grandfather's window. Forehead against the cool glass, she looked out over the land through the misting rains that had persisted for weeks. She tried to picture it as Nicole had suggested—with flats and swells rolling to the horizon like waves on the sea. It did look like a body of water, at least. A river of flowing mud. She turned to her grandfather, who had just awakened, and smiled. “Do I regret what?”

“Being brought back here?”

“Of course not.” She sat next to him and took his hand. His skin was cool and papery. “I am so grateful you did what you did. You never gave up on us. We'll always love you for that.”

“But there's a sadness about you, Tori, that wasn't there when you were younger,” he said. “I understand about the wreck, of course. You don't know how much I hate that I wasn't able to protect you from that—”

“That's not why I'm sad now,” she interrupted, never, never wanting him to feel guilt for that. She softly admitted, “I fell in love with Grant.”

He gasped and squeezed her hand. “You love him? I was worried you were so angry with him that you wouldn't see that. Oh, this is good news, indeed.”

Surprised by his eager tone, she informed him, “He doesn't feel the same.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “Boy's mad for you,” he said, then snuggled back into his pillows. Seeing him like this, she realized he'd never truly relaxed before now. “Just as I've hoped—you'll be married to Sutherland by May,” he rasped happily.

Though Tori knew it was untrue, she couldn't help giving him an affectionate smile and putting his hand to her cheek. He sighed in contentment and drifted to sleep again.

 

Her grandfather's funeral was to her mother's funeral like day to night.

She had only the two to compare. Tori remembered when they'd buried Mother, when she and Cammy could only recite simple prayers. How she wished she'd known the pastor's comforting words then. She wished she'd done better by her mother. She wondered if she'd done everything possible for her grandfather.

He'd been so loved. Even with the continued rains, scores came to wish him farewell. And of the many villagers who had showed up in their best, only one or two managed dry eyes.

Tori was thankful he didn't suffer in the end. When she'd realized he was fading, she'd stayed by his bed, holding his hand, hoping for some last words. But he passed from sleep into death without a whisper. As though he could finally rest.

After the funeral, Tori returned to her room, planning to stay there for several days and cry until she didn't feel this cloying emptiness. In the short time she'd been here, she'd remembered her grandfather from her early childhood more clearly and remembered how much her father and mother had looked up to him, how both had loved him. Tori had loved him too. And now he was gone.

She'd wager Grant would be taking control of the estate soon. There was nothing left for her here.

The rain continued to fall, coming down in torrents, seeming to give Tori permission to lie curled up in bed, crying, feeling sorry for herself. Cammy had been so helpful, a bedrock of strength for her, but Tori didn't want to burden her further. Alone would be best.

But after she'd spent three days taking her meals in her room and avoiding everyone, the Huckabees begged a word with her and would not be dissuaded. When Cammy told her she wanted to have a serious talk as well, Tori agreed to meet the three of them at breakfast the next day.

“Mrs. Huckabee and myself,” the steward began uncomfortably when they'd all convened around the breakfast table, “we was wondering what you ladies planned to do now.”

Before her grandfather had determined that Tori would indeed marry Sutherland, he'd become increasingly concerned about her future. She'd brushed it off, wanting only to enjoy her remaining time with him. Now Tori struggled with the idea of what she should do with her life. “I don't know. I know there isn't much money.” She plucked a hot pastry from a basket Mrs. Huckabee handed to her. Cammy blushed when she took two for herself.

“Actually, there's no money. At the last, even the earl didn't know how bad we were, 'cause everyone agreed to shelter him. But we can help you sell the remaining furnishings and set up a nice little house in town.”

Tori dropped the bun. “Town?” She hated towns. They were so loud and cramped. “What will you do?”

“We've got positions at an estate near Bath.”

“You won't stay on?” Cammy asked.

Mrs. Huckabee answered, “No, our families have worked for the Dearbournes at Belmont for over a century. Without Lady Victoria or her young ones here, there won't be any Huckabees about.”

“But we won't leave till we find a place for both of you.” Huckabee scratched his head. “Though we might need to be quick about it, because that creditor gets the Court in forty-five days if Sutherland doesn't claim it.”

Tori asked slowly, “You mean it's not just automatically his?”

“No, no. Their agreement was an amendment to the earl's will. Unless Sutherland exercises the codicil within forty-five days, the will settles as it normally would, with you inheriting the estate.”

Grant often accused Tori of ignoring him. But she'd been attending every word he'd said that last afternoon.
I won't come claim it.
“What if he doesn't?”

“Then you'd have one day after that to pay the creditor's notes or he'd claim it from you.”

Her brows drew together. What if Grant really did give it up? Her grandfather had loved this place. He'd told her he
loved it with his soul.
At the time she'd listened to his words, she'd been struck only by the remarkable sacrifice he'd made for his family. Now she wanted to know
why
he loved it. Why it would've broken her father to lose it. And why her mother talked about the peace she found here. Could this run-down estate be her destiny? Was that why she had been brought this far?

There was one way to find out. She shot up from the table, then marched toward the doorway, calling over her shoulder,
“Be back soon.”
Hastily, she donned her cloak. When she opened the door to head for the stables, her eyes hurt from the shock of sunlight after so many days inside. Blinking, adjusting, she finally opened them; they widened at the change in the landscape. Her breath shuddered out.

Green. Everything is a startling green.
“Oh,” she breathed as she twirled around to take in the hills carpeted in new grass, at the flowers bravely sprouting between rocks. So this was what Nicole meant. She'd wondered. When the snow melted, they'd been left with rain and runnels of mud, and Tori had been consistently unimpressed. Now…
Breathtaking.

Even a timid rider like her couldn't wait to get on a horse and
go.
To explore this place that was like new. Determined, she swallowed and marched into the stables to find young Huck. “I need something that won't run,” she explained. “Something short. With tiny little legs.”

Huck assured her, “The way things've been around here, that's about all what's left of the Court's horses. Used to have a foin stable, we did. Here's Princess.” And he led out a squat mare. Princess looked as if she had ingested some soporific.
Perfect.

Once Tori got accustomed to the horse and they ambled out into the pastures, she came to see what Nicole had found so special. And she did get the sense of freedom she'd enjoyed on the island. The wide expanses of land
were
as splendid as the greenest seas she'd ever swum.

Yes, it was a world away from what she was used to, but it appealed to her in an unexplainable sense. Were her roots drawing her to this place? Some unknown force pulling her to love it, though her every sense told her it was unfamiliar, foreign?

Could she at least try?

Lost in thought, she gave the horse free rein, and they descended the downlands into the village. A picturesque little hamlet in the valley, it consisted of four or five rows of timber-framed cottages amid their own penned-in gardens. Sheep roamed with impunity and trotted after children as they played.

Tori passed the common area, where most of the villagers took their noontime break. As soon as she was spotted, a group of tenants begged her for her time.

After polite small talk, they descended on her. “If'n we don't get some seeds this season, ye can expect nothing from our fields.”

“Ol' Mr. Hill broke his arm—he'll not be shearing this year. Who's to replace him?”

“Me boy's stout enough,” one woman volunteered.

“Hush up! He's a wee twig still—”

“He's the best we got since all the young bucks went to greener pastures to find work.”

Tori had noticed that only women, children, and much older men inhabited the village. So the young men had been forced to leave their families when the work withered away? She sighed, remembering that Huckabee had told her eight of his nine children had gone to work in the cities. She hadn't realized until now that they hadn't had a choice.

While they quibbled, the youngest of the old men introduced himself as Gerald Shepherd and said, “We bred the ewes last fall just as we always done. But who's to be here to help during lambing? And the roof's got to be fixed on the sheep barn. Wool's perishable and can't get damp. Warm and dry it's got to be, for shearing and lambing.”

Shepherd grew quiet—she thought because he'd said all on his mind—but he'd only been catching his breath. “And the acres by the creek flooded this fall. What ye got is a marsh out there. That land was where most of our food was grown, since the other fields were taken with sheep.”

This alarmed her more than anything. Food was the first priority—anywhere you were. “So if I don't get those acres drained, we'll have no food?”

“That'd be the right of it.”

“There's no other land free?”

“Not unless you count the rose gardens,” he quipped, and everyone chuckled.

Trying not to look as panicked as she truly was, Tori said, “I will have it figured out tomorrow.”

“Time's a-wasting,” one of the older men grumbled.

“
Time's a-wasting,”
Tori mimicked when she got back to the house. She tracked down the Huckabees.

“I've decided I want to stay here and try to make the finance payments. So, we've got a lot of work to do,” she began, then launched into a litany of the villagers' complaints.

The couple eyed each other uncomfortably, then Huckabee coughed. “To be blunt, there's nothing here to work with. Not unless you can get a loan. And there's simply no collateral left. The creditor was lending the earl money, but now that he's passed away, there'll be no more credit.”

“What if I appealed to them?”

“West London Financiers, that's the name of 'em. They're as hard as they come. About a year ago, we wrote, begging for an extension, and the same day they sent a payment due notice upon threat of foreclosure.”

Her heart sank.

“Mrs. Huckabee and me, well, we like to work and need to follow it. But like I said, we'll set you up in a nice place in the city somewhere. You could live well, if you were frugal.”

Without the land…A bitter taste rose in her mouth. Why was it that when she was just starting to see the possibilities of the place, she saw how impossible it was to hold on to it?

She cleared her throat to ask him when she should expect their departure, but an insistent thought arose. When Tori had first arrived, Mrs. Huckabee had shown her the room upstairs where Tori's father was born. And his father, and his father. And while Tori stood there, she'd had the oddest thought that came from nowhere.
My children will be born here.

Brows drawn together, she abruptly asked, “Mr. Huckabee, what if I could get some money to pay the first finance payment?”

He shook his head sadly. “I think it would buy just a little time. Even some of the villagers are already asking me when Sutherland is to take up the place.”

“What did you tell them?” Tori demanded.

“The truth. That I didn't know what was happening. But maybe it's for the best. Those Sutherlands got a heap of money.”

He began to say more, but Tori cut him off. “Listen to me. He's not taking this place. No one's taking this place!” As soon as she said it, she knew it was true. She would fight.

This was
her
birthright—her family's memories were woven throughout. She liked the people here. Her best friend was blossoming in this cold land….

“What if I could come up with a larger sum of money? How much would you need to get us over the hump?”