Chapter 20
Drew sat at his large desk pondering the ledgers that his wife had meticulously kept for these last years and which they had carried with them to the Park. Her financial capabilities and common sense still astounded him, not to mention her ability to quickly grasp the nuances of most if not every situation.
She was so much more than the image he had cherished on the miniature he had carried all those years at sea. Her face, and the feeling of recognition all those years ago, had been the beacon that had finally drawn him back home. It had kindled the light of love and hope in his heart where there had been none for so many years. His mother had died when he was very young and since then, he’d seemed to find no comfortable way to fit in with the society in which he was born to be a part.
Adrift at sea, literally, he prayed that this woman, whom his father had commanded him to marry for his father’s greed, might be the one person who would allow him to find a safe anchorage at last.
A brisk knock on the door broke his reverie. “Come.”
Wellingford entered and made a respectful bow. “My lord, the seamstress from the village has arrived. What are your wishes?”
“Bring her here, Wellingford. When I am finished with her, you can escort her up to my wife’s rooms.”
“As you wish.”
Moments later a woman of middle years entered carrying a satchel that looked to weigh as much as she did. Of medium height but nearly as thin as a London lamp post, she was tidily dressed in a neat muslin day gown. Her hair, black shot through with strands of dark iron grey and pulled back in a severe bun at her nape, had strands seemingly struggling to get loose. She made a wobbly curtsy, evidently not practiced in that art. “Your lordship. I’ve come to be what service I can.”
Drew rose from his chair and came around his desk. “Thank you. Your name?”
“I’m Mary Brown, my lord, but everybody here ’round just calls me Mrs. Pins.”
Drew couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth from kicking up. “Mrs. Pins it is then. I’ve brought you out to the manor for my wife and daughter. They each need a riding habit. Lady Reignsfield will be riding sidesaddle. My daughter will be learning to ride on a pony so I expect we’ll start her out astride. Can you show me some of the patterns and fabrics you’ve brought?”
“Yes, my lord.” Mrs. Pins proceeded to pull out and explain numerous patterns for both his wife and daughter.
Knowing them both better than the seamstress would, Drew selected three patterns for each of them. “Now, madam, could you show me some fabric swatches?”
“I have them right here, your lordship.” Mrs. Pins displayed a plethora of hand-sized fabric swatches. As she did so, she elucidated on the colors, fibers, weaves, and use preferences for each.
She quite impressed Drew with her knowledge despite being someone not well-traveled. She seemed to fully understand her resources and how to use them. “Mrs. Pins, please try to lead my wife toward one of these four fabrics and coordinate them with accessories. For our daughter, Andrea, see if we can guide her to choose from these swatches here.” He pointed to a navy-blue velvet, a hunter-green serge, a rich burgundy velvet, and a chestnut-brown twill for his wife and to a medium-blue serge and a deep-rose pink velvet for his daughter. “Based on their coloring, I think these will be the most flattering. Let me know what you think if they should select other options. Wellingford, you can take Mrs. Pins upstairs now.”
The butler, who had been standing near the door seemingly at the ready, gave a brief bow. “Yes, my lord.” He helped the seamstress gather her paraphernalia and move out of the room.
~ ~ ~
Two hours later, his wife flitted through the same doorway, her face flushed, her mouth lifted in a warm smile, her hands expressing her thoughts as she spoke.
“Drew, Mrs. Pins is a darling. I cannot see how a woman with two dozen pins between her teeth can talk so much. She told me all about the local gentry and the little school they have for the children. She’s truly a font of local knowledge.”
Drew gave up on the ledgers once more and met her halfway across the room. Looking down into her amused pale blue eyes, he gently grasped her hands in his and took each one to his lips for a kiss.
Marianne’s face flushed a deeper pink as her chattering stopped.
A hush fell between them, and Drew watched closely as his wife seemed to be deciding what to do.
The hell with that! he thought. Releasing her hands, he watched her eyes grow wide as he took her into his arms and placed his lips firmly against hers.
For a moment, her arms flailed but Drew held her firmly. At last her eyelids fluttered closed, her hands landed on his shoulders, slid up around his neck.
She relaxed against him, melted her body to his, a small sigh escaping as she drew him closer.
He tantalized her lips with his tongue, then entered the warm wetness of her mouth when she opened to him.
He could feel his own heat rising, his need pressing. She responded, pulled closer, held tighter. Her breathing escalated along with his. He slid a hand up her side around to her breast, clasped his fingers to massage and fondle, was rewarded by further gasps.
Encouraged further by her reaction, he started shifting her skirts up. The silks seemed to go on forever. Finally, his hand smoothed across the warm skin of her thigh, over the round firmness of her. He heard himself groan as he slid fingers between the cleft of her bottom cheeks and found the hot moistness there.
“Marianne . . .” he rasped in a voice even he didn’t recognize.
“Yes . . .” she answered breathlessly.
A knock came on the library door. “Your lordship, the wagon is ready at your convenience,” Wellingford announced through the mahogany.
Drew sighed, loosened his grasp, felt the skin-warmed silks of her petticoats and skirts slink through his hands back to the floor. Opening his eyes, his gaze fell to her face, to see her struggle to come back to the present, her face soft and flushed, her eyes filled with heat and wonder. It took a moment for her to focus on him. It took another for her to pull back, regain her own balance.
“Duty calls, my love. We must strive to start such endeavors at a time when we will not be interrupted.” He moved her gently away.
“Yes, my lord,” she said weakly. But when he scowled at her, she corrected herself. “Drew.”
~ ~ ~
Settled in the open wagon, the ride across their lands held Marianne’s rapt attention. As with the approach to the manor the day before, she could hardly grasp such wide-open spaces, such potential for growth and wealth, and the fact that she was a part of it all.
With the bailiffs of Drew’s other properties, she had only to send letters explaining what should be done and how. She would then receive responses with explanations of how her instructions had been carried out, followed months later by comments of how these new practices had fared. In the second year, the harvests always increased substantially. But she had never actually gone to visit any of the properties. Had never seen the difference before and after the changes had been made. She just knew from the results and the positive comments of the other bailiffs that all had worked out better than they had ever hoped.
Why Bridgeton refused to cooperate remained a complete mystery to her. It had not mattered how many letters she sent nor the explanations of how the other estates had increased their production dramatically. The man would not budge.
The wagon slowed breaking Marianne from her thoughts.
Drew coached the team of greys through a stream swollen from rains a few days before.
“It looks like there are plenty of sources of water for the crofters.” Marianne looked over the edge of the carriage carefully judging the depth of the waters.
Having broached the stream, Drew snapped the reins and gave the horses their head. “We’ve never had a lack of water, though, at times we have endured some flooding. This area is quite flat, so when the water rises it can turn the surrounding fields into a mire. Of course, once the waters recede, the following harvest is excellent. It helps one understand how the flooding of the Nile served the ancient Egyptians.”
Marianne just nodded. Enjoying the countryside, the fresh air, and the quiet between them, Marianne relaxed. Her mind wandered back to the heated encounter she’d had with Drew just before they left.
Obviously, he wanted to move their relationship forward into more intimate territory. And he called her ‘my love.’ Should either or both of those things mean something? Despite his absence for so many years, they remained married, so he had every right to expect her submission. She had to admit, though, their first experience of intimacy had not been enjoyable.
To be fair, it seemed he had been just as inexperienced as she.
That no longer seemed to be the case.
The way he kissed her. The way he held her. The way he touched her. All gave rise to serious needs in her in ways she had never felt before.
Robert certainly had raised no such fire in her. Truth be told, he had done nothing more than light pecks on her cheek or perfunctory kisses on her lips.
There had been none of the fierce intensity that Drew had shared and drawn from her.
She sighed deeply.
“What’s that, my love?” Drew reined in the horses as Marianne realized they had stopped in front of a small crofter’s cottage. The door opened and a woman Marianne guessed to be in her late twenties and definitely with child walked out wiping her hands on an already well-used apron. She raised her hand in greeting.
“My lord, news had it you’d be at the manor. Welcome back.” Her face cracked into a warm smile before she put a hand to her mouth and yelled, “Benny! Benny! You come out here now and meet his lordship and his lady.”
Not knowing what to expect, it was with some surprise that Marianne watched as a lad who couldn’t have been more than five or six trundled around the corner of the cottage pulling a cow many times his size behind him.
“Mum, Mum, I hear’s you. I be bringing Martha just like you asked me.” The lad took the cow’s lead and tied it to a rickety post by the front stoop.
Drew jumped down from the wagon, then turned to help Marianne. She whispered, “What do I do?”
“Nothing. Be friendly and it will be just fine.”
Marianne’s feet firmly on the ground, Drew turned to the crofter’s wife. “Mrs. Smith, you are the first visit as we make our way through some of our lands. I expect Mick is out in the fields this fine day?”
Benny had deserted the cow to hide behind his mother’s faded muslin skirts, holding on to her hand as if for dear life.
“Please, my lord, do call me Sally. That he is, my lord, and he’ll be disappointed he missed you.” Looking down at her son, she added, “Benny, here, can go fetch him for you or he can show you which field Mick’s working in.”
“That would be fine.” Drew eyed the boy still cowering behind his mother’s skirts. “Would you like to take a ride in the wagon and we’ll go find your pa?”
The lad pulled back farther.
Marianne tapped Drew on the hand, then moved slowly toward the boy. As she came to him, she bent down and held out her hand which held a small piece of wrapped candy, treats she kept for Andrea when she was especially good. “Would you like a sweet, Benny? If you’d like to ride in the wagon, you could sit on my lap. Maybe his lordship will let you hold the reins for just a second.” Marianne looked back at Drew as the boy’s eyes widened, relieved to see her husband smile and give the boy a nod.
“Mama, I’ll go with his lordship. Will Papa bring me home?”
Releasing his mother’s hand, he stepped forward suddenly all brave and ready for adventure.
His mother nodded and ruffled his hair just before the boy sprang forward to climb into the wagon.
“Hold up, Benny. We’ll have to help Lady Reignsfield in first. Never forget that a lady always goes first and a gentleman has a duty to help her.” Marrianne tucked the rejected sweet back into her pocket then Drew helped her into the wagon and waited for her to settle in.
“I ain’t no gentleman, m’lud,” protested Benny.
Drew turned back to him, picked him up, and sat him on Marianne’s lap. She laid her arms gently around him.
“Being a gentleman, Benny, is not about money or rank. It’s about manners and politeness. Any man can be a gentleman, you just have to learn the rules.” Drew jumped up into the wagon and unwound the reins.
“If you says so, m’lud. When do I get to drive?” Benny leaned forward on Marianne’s lap as if he’d start his lesson right then.
Drew chuckled. Marianne smiled at Mrs. Smith. “Should we leave him with your husband or bring him back?”
She waved them off. “Mick will bring him home. You can be on your way after you’re done chattin’.”
Once they were well off and the road less rutted, Drew turned to his new charge. “Come stand between my knees, Benny, and I’ll show you how to hold the reins.”
Benny bounced out of Marianne’s lap so quickly she gabbed for empty air to protect him from a fall that never happened.
“Yes, m’lud.” The lad stationed himself between Drew’s knees and paid strict attention as Drew wound the reins through has fingers and explained the technique.
Marianne noticed how patiently her husband explained the process of controlling the horses and how he held the reins further along so that nothing would go awry if the young boy should accidentally drop them.
As instructed, the lad snapped the reins gently and shouted to the horses and the team sped up just a bit. Benny laughed with glee.
“This ain’t so hard, m’lud. Maybe I can be a stable boy some day and learn how to ride and drive your coach when I grow up.”
“That’s a fine idea, Benny. I’m always looking out for a good stable boy. And I can never have too many coachmen. You learn your lessons and I’ll tell your pa and ma I’ll have you when you’re just a tad older, say when you’re eight or nine.”
“Aw, m’lud, do I have to go to school? I’ll just be workin’ with horses.” The boy jiggled the reins slightly but Drew kept the horses in check.
“Of course, you do. If you want to be a coachman and especially a driver you must understand how to take directions. You might need to write them down to remember them if they are complicated. And, you must keep my lady safe so you will speak to her regularly. That is why it is important for you to learn to be a gentleman. Someday you’ll want to marry and any lady will be impressed with good manners.”
“Aw, m’lud, I don’t want no wench. I like the horses though.” Looking up from his task, Benny nearly dropped the reins. “Over there! There’s pa in that field over there.”
The threesome found Mick in the fields holding onto the handles of a Rotherham plough and the reins of the two horses pulling it through the field. It looked as if he had made a good deal of progress for so early in the day.
Evidently hearing the wagon pull up, he stopped and turned, then raised a hand in greeting.
Benny shoved the reins back at Drew. “Papa, Papa, I’m riding in the wagon! M’lud let me drive! I found you for m’lud and m’lady. We came to see you in the fields!”
Drew gathered the excited child into his arms and handed him down to his father, who promptly tossed the boy in the air a few times much to the glee of his son.
Drew turned to Marianne. “There’s a man who loves his children. And, his son seems to return the feelings as well.”
Marianne laid a hand over her husband’s. “All a child really needs is love and gentle discipline. If we do that, everything else should fall into place.”
Taking her hand and giving it a squeeze, he heard Mick say, “Welcome home, m’lud. It’s good to see you. What’s it you be needing out here on the lands?”
“Information. Lady Reignsfield has some ideas for improving the crop quality and yield. She’s been sending letters to Bridgeton with suggestions. Have you or any of the other crofters heard anything about them?” Drew stepped down from the wagon and turned to give assistance to his wife.
Marianne declined the offer with a small shake of her head. She would leave it to Drew to gather the status of the current situation in his own way. After all, these people didn’t know anything of her yet. If the bailiff was resistant, the rest of the crofters might be, too.
Turning his attention back to Mick, Drew found the crofter removing his cap after setting Benny down beside him. Looking out over the partially plowed field, Mick scratched his head as if deep in thought.
“Not that I can say, m’lud. Bridgeton stopped by about every month last year. Sometimes more often after a storm or some other problem. But he’s not been here for months this season and he’s never said nothin’ about changing our ways. We plant and reap just the same way we’ve always done. The way my pa did before me. Can’t say any of the others have done a thing different either. We share the reaping chores in the fall months, as you know. No, I don’t see we’ve changed a thing.”
Drew stroked his chin in thought. “Would you be interested in trying some new ideas? If we felt we could improve our harvests, would you be willing to try them out?”
Benny, who had been quietly, if impatiently, standing by his father’s side, tugged on his parent’s pant leg and said, “Yes, Papa. Let’s try something new. New is always better.”
Mick reached down and affectionately ruffled the boy’s hair. Turning back to Drew, he nodded. “Sure, m’lud. We could try it for a while and see if the land will be more generous. We ain’t got nothin’ to lose.”
“And, Mick, would you be willing to encourage the others? Not everyone might be as easy to convince as you and young Benny are. Would you encourage the others, too?”
“Well, you know, m’lud, some of them are gonna ask what’s in it for them to change what’s been workin’ for so long.”
“What would you say if we shared the profits should there be any increase?” Drew hesitated in thought as he stroked his chin once again. “What if we shared the difference in profits from the old ways to the new half and half?”
Mick’s eyes grew wide. “You’d do that, your lordship? You’d be that generous to us just for tryin’ somethin’ new?”
“We’d all be taking a risk, Mick. You and the other crofters are doing the labor and until you’re all more familiar with the process it might take more time and work. I’d be willing to reward each of you for the extra efforts required.”
Mick stuck his hand out. “I’d be willin’, m’lud. And I’d tell the others, too.”
Drew took the proffered hand and shook it firmly. “Excellent. Her ladyship and I plan to visit a few of the other nearby farmers to chat with them. If you could follow up in the next few days by telling them about your enthusiasm for the plan, I’m sure they’d be even more likely to cooperate.”
Tugging on Mick’s leg, Benny chimed in, “Papa, Papa, I want to help. Me, too. Me, too.”
Mick swung his son up on his hip as Drew clambered up onto the wagon, grabbed the reins, and pulled away. Father and son waved, broad grins across their faces.
Drew and Marianne waved farewell.
Drew placed his hand on Marianne’s knee and squeezed. “Can we afford it? You’ve been keeping the books all these years. If we make a profit could we share fifty percent of the improved income with those doing the work?”
Marianne paused in thought as if running figures through her head. “Yes, yes, I believe we can.” She patted Drew’s hand. “If the majority of these crofters will come over to the new ways we should gain enough to reward them so generously.
“You seem to know Mick quite well despite all the years you were gone.”
“We played together as children. When I would come back to the manor, and those times were few and far between because of my father’s foolish and ruthless investing, I’d stop by. I went to his wedding. He’s a good man and a hard worker.”
“If we needed a new bailiff, could he fit the bill? Is he smart enough? Does he have any schooling? With a new baby on the way, I would think he could use additional income.”
Drew shifted back on the bench to look his wife straight in her eyes. “You’re quite the schemer, aren’t you? You haven’t even met Bridgeton yet and you’re already replacing him.”
Marianne shook her head. “I’m not encouraged by his past obstinacy to expect that he will finally come over to my side despite the fact you have returned.” Her hand slid across Drew’s, still on her knee. “If he is that old, it might be easier to give him a reasonable pension and start the new techniques with a younger, more open-minded person who is willing to cooperate and make it through whatever bumps we have during the transition. Someone so unconvinced might sabotage the results without even realizing it.”
Drew snapped the reins gently to encourage the greys up a small hill. “You’re probably right. And, yes, Mick would be my first choice among the crofters. He has two other children, older, a boy and a girl, whom he sends to the school in the village. He could have them working the fields but he wants a better life for them. He had a few years of schooling as well, as that was the only way I’d go when I was very young. He was a good student, a fast learner. So, to answer one of your other questions, I do feel he would make an excellent bailiff. I’d be happy to pay him the added wages and work with him on a regular basis.”
After visiting three more families and chatting with the men about possible changes in farming methods, Drew and Marianne headed back to the manor.