CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
As soon as Daniel’s curricle pulled up to the front of Grex, the footman Anne had watching for him told her of his arrival. She was standing on the front step when Daniel reached her, caught her up in his arms, and walked through the door into the hall with her. Once inside he set her down, but he didn’t let her go. Anne, rejoicing in the strength of his arms around her, said breathlessly, “Thank God you are home! I’ve been so frightened Daniel. Oh, thank God you are home!”
Daniel said, “It’s all right, my love. It’s going to be all right. Preston has sworn to leave me alone.”
She leaned back so she could see his face. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.” He loosened his grip on her. “If you give me something hot to drink, I’ll tell you about it. I’m freezing.”
Daniel shed his outer layers of clothing and they went upstairs to Anne’s sitting room, where a fire was burning briskly. She sat close to Daniel on the sofa, so she could feel the warmth from his body. She had spent the week terrified she was going to get news of his death, and needed the reassurance that he was still alive.
Over a pot of hot tea, he told her about his meeting with Matthew and about Matthew’s plan. He told her how Sir Charles Bunbury had helped them. He assured her the Earl of Preston would no longer be a threat to them. He put an arm around her shoulders, kissed the top of her head, and told her he was safe.
When Daniel had finished, Anne tilted her head and touched her lips to his throat. “I love you so much,” she whispered.
He said huskily, “Let’s go to bed.”
She smiled and let him pull her to her feet. In silence they walked together into the bedroom. Dorothy was comfortably ensconced on the bed, and Daniel briskly escorted the indignant little dog to the door. He locked it after her and said to Anne, “Let me help you with your dress.”
After he had undressed her she lay on the bed watching him disrobe. He was so perfect, she thought. Just watching him moved her to tears. He came to the side of the bed and bent to lay his lips on her stomach. “Our baby,” he said, his voice full of wonder.
“Do you hope it’s a boy?” she asked.
He lifted his head and looked at her. “I think I would like a daughter. A little girl as beautiful and kind and loving as her mother.”
“Oh Daniel.” Anne’s voice choked with emotion.
He lay down next to her, kissing her breasts and throat until his lips reached her mouth. Anne kissed him back with all the passion she had in her, loving the feel of his strong back, the warmth of his skin, the feel of his hair as it slipped through her fingers like heavy silk. He’s here, she thought. He’s here with me and he’s safe. I don’t have to worry any more.
Then he slid over her and all thinking stopped. She opened to him as a flower opens to the sun, yielding her softness to his power with joyous abandon. Holding tightly to him, she gave herself up to the pleasure that washed through her as he took them both deep into the dark center of creation.
Afterward he lay against her, and she felt the heat radiating from his body, the heavy beating of his heart. “I love you,” he said. He picked up her hand, held it against his cheek, and she felt the prickly roughness of his unshaven skin.
Thank you, God, for giving me this man, she thought.
He said, in almost an echo of her own thought, “You have given me so much, Annie. A home, a baby, and most of all your love. I am a very lucky man.”
After a long moment of peaceful quiet she said softly, “There is one question I have always wanted to ask you.”
“Oh? What is it?” He was beginning to sound sleepy.
“Why did you want Grex so much, Daniel? Why didn’t you just build your own new house instead of putting so much money into restoring an old one?”
“Ah...” He was silent for so long that she didn’t think he was going to answer her. At last he said quietly, “I didn’t want a new house. I wanted an old house. A house with history.”
“Yes, but why?”
His voice was so low she had to strain to hear him. “It had to do with my real father. He despised me and I wanted to show him I was just as good as he was. That I had land, and an historic estate, just like he did. It was in my mind the whole time I was in India, that I would return home and show him.”
Daniel turned his tousled head on the pillow and looked at her. “That’s it, Annie. I know it sounds childish, but that’s the real reason I bought Grex.”
Her heart ached for the rejected boy he had been, but she blinked back tears and smiled. “I’m glad you did.”
He grinned suddenly. “It may have been an idiotic reason, but I’m glad I did too.”
They lay together peacefully, neither of them inclined to move. The room was almost in darkness when Anne suddenly jerked fully awake and said, “Good heavens, Daniel! It’s time for dinner. We had better get dressed.” She began to push the covers off of them.
“I like you better this way,” he said, his eyes going over her naked body.
She smiled and said in a scolding voice, “There’s a time for everything under the sun, and now it is time for dinner. Aren’t you hungry?”
Daniel sat up. “Actually, I’m starving.” He sounded surprised. “I could eat an entire leg of mutton all by myself.”
Anne put on her robe and went to ring for her maid. “You had better go into your dressing room Daniel. I don’t think Nancy should see you like that.”
He grinned at her, the little-boy grin she loved so much, and disappeared from her sight.
# # #
Daniel had been home a week when he told Anne he wanted to make a quick visit to the factory.
She said eagerly, “Bonnie and I would like to go with you. We want to speak to the mothers about the new school.”
They were sitting at the breakfast table with Miss Bonteen, and Anne shot a quick look at her friend before saying, “We’ve worked out a course of study, figured out the size of the building and what the children will need. Both of us are very pleased with it. We think it will be a model for other village schools to follow.”
Daniel looked from his wife to her friend, then back to his wife again. Her face was alight with enthusiasm. He wished she didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want her near the factory. He wanted her to remain at home, where she would be safe. But what right had he to tell Anne what she could and couldn’t do? Yes, she had promised to serve and obey him, but she wasn’t his servant. She wasn’t just someone who kept the house and allowed him to have sex with her. She was the person he loved most in the world. Without her he would be alone again, and that he couldn’t bear. He took a deep breath and said firmly, “That would be fine.”
Her smile was his reward.
“What are these plans?” he asked.
They outlined their basic ideas and he was very impressed. “I wish I had an education like that,” he said when Anne and Miss Bonteen finished. “But this plan will only work if there is someone on site who can oversee it. An education supervisor of some sort.”
“Bonnie has volunteered to be the Head Mistress,” Anne told him proudly.
Daniel looked at Miss Bonteen in surprise. “You’re leaving us? But what will Anne do without you?”
Miss Bonteen gave Anne a misty smile before answering, “We have spoken about that, Mr. Dereham, and both of us believe that at this moment the factory children need me more than Anne does.”
Daniel looked from Miss Bonteen, to his wife’s smiling face and nodded his approval. “If that is what you both want, then that is what you shall have.” He looked back to Miss Bonteen and said, “I always thought you would be here to teach our children.”
He saw the tears spring to her eyes and she sniffed. “Thank you. I promise that by the time your first child is ready to be taught, I will have that school running like clockwork. Then, if you wish me to return, I shall be happy to do so.”
“You will always be welcome in this house, Bonny,” Daniel said, using Anne’s sobriquet for the first time. “Grex is your home as much as it is ours.”
At that the tears spilled over, and Miss Bonteen excused herself and left the room, handkerchief in hand.
Daniel turned to Anne and found that she too had tears in her eyes. “Thank you,” she said in a trembling voice. “Thank you for that, Daniel.”
She started to search for a handkerchief, couldn’t find one, took the napkin Daniel handed her and wiped her eyes. When she had finished he said, “Anne, I have something I want to ask you.”
She tilted her head a little. “What is it?”
He looked down at the shining wood of the table and took a long breath. He looked up again and said, “Will you come with me on a visit to my mother?”
Her face broke into a radiant smile. “Oh Daniel. I should love to come with you. I’m so glad you decided to do this. I know she will be happy to see you.”
He looked down again. “I haven’t been a good son, Annie. I blamed her, you see. I blamed her for lying to me, for making me believe I was someone other than who I was. I wasn’t thinking very clearly when I jumped on that ship, and I don’t think I’ve thought clearly about her ever since.” He looked up and met her eyes. “I loved her very much. I loved her and I blamed her and I ran away from her. I never gave her a chance to explain. And my father – I know Owen Dereham is my real father, not the man who rejected me - I was so awful to him when he came to visit, Annie. I cringe when I think back on how awful I was.”
“I’m sure he understood,” she said.
“Do you think he’ll hate me for rejecting him like that?”
She smiled, rose, came around the back of his chair and drew his head against her breast. “I think they will both be ecstatic to see you. Why don’t you write a note to your mother this morning and set a date?”
“You don’t think it would be better if we just arrived without notice? Suppose she writes back and says she doesn’t want to see me?”
“That won’t happen.” The certainty in her voice reassured him. “Write the letter and say you’ll be there next Sunday.”
“But that will hardly give her time to write back and refuse to see me. I don’t want to go there if…”
“Daniel,” Anne said firmly. “Your mother will want to see you. Just write the letter and we’ll set off early Sunday morning.”
He lifted his head from her breast and looked up into her face. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you, my love. I was an empty shell of a man until I met you.”
She bent her head to drop a kiss on his hair and the butler came into the room to remove the breakfast.