Chapter Twenty-Nine
A firm hand settled over Everett’s shoulder. “She is at peace now,” Taverham murmured, as the last of the townsfolk drifted away from the burial ground high on a hill overlooking Warstone.
Everett continued to stare into the grave as it was slowly filled with earth. “She loved you till the end, you know.”
Taverham sighed. “I’m sorry.”
“So am I,” he whispered. “I wish she’d fallen in love with someone else. Maybe she could have been happy if she’d just let you go.”
Taverham’s grip on his shoulder tightened. “Come away. Miranda and Christopher are waiting in the carriage to take you home.”
He was concerned the boy had come. There had been no need for him to learn that Emily had lived so close to him for so long.
The dowager was here, too, a grim figure in black mourning at the edge of the crowd. She bowed her head to him and returned to her carriage without a word. That was for the best. He still did not know what to say to her. The dowager had cared deeply about Emily once and been utterly betrayed.
“I can’t leave with you,” he whispered to his friend. “I cannot be in a carriage with them, or anyone. I was holding Emily’s hand as the end came,” he admitted.
He would not willingly put Taverham’s family in any danger.
“Oh,” Taverham, said and then fell silent. “I didn’t realize.”
“Where else would I have been when the last of my family slipped away? Emily did not die without a struggle,” he confessed, heart growing heavy again.
It had been a ghastly night, knowing the end would come sooner than he was ready for. He’d expected months more, not a mere week. But they had talked every day. Discussing the past, and the future she wouldn’t live to share. He never told Emily about Alice, but he’d told Emily everything about Whitney Crewe. How they had met, how she challenged him on every level. Her eccentricities were already known to Emily from gossip, and while Whitney’s character had concerned Emily in the beginning, she had come around by the end of her life.
She had made him promise to pursue her. Sadly, it may have had more to do with Emily’s keen interest in the size of Whitney’s fortune than the woman herself. Emily had happily listed a number of improvements he could make at Warstone with the additional funds when he wed Whitney.
However, any marriage would be for Whitney to decide in the end. It was her future, her life he wanted to bind with his. If he lived after this.
Emily had coughed her final breaths in his arms, struggling for air.
He took a step away from Taverham before he faced him. “Until I am certain I am safe, allowing enough time to pass to be sure, I must keep a distance from everyone.”
Taverham nodded slowly, his expression grim. “How long?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. I think at least six months must pass before I can relax my guard and be at ease around others again.”
Taverham frowned. “What about the wedding?”
Everett glanced at the carriage where Lady Taverham and her son looked on, clutching the window frames tightly. It was good of Miranda to come when she had never been a friend to Emily, and Emily had despised everything about Miranda.
Miranda climbed out, urged the boy to remain behind in the carriage with his grandmother, and moved to join them.
He smiled her way quickly and then faced his friend. “The day I told Miss Quartermane about my sister’s illness was the day she fled my estate and our engagement ended.”
Taverham gawked. “Why didn’t you say something to us?”
He winced a little. “I said nothing because I was not unhappy about it. I did not need pity.”
Taverham brushed his hand over his mouth, likely holding back a question.
He shrugged. “I only have myself to blame in the end for making a match that was not based on love. Seeing you and Miranda together again has reminded me of what was missing in my life. Miss Quartermane and I did not suit, and I am grateful that she released me before it was too late. There is nothing I want to do to change the situation. I hope you will remember that when you meet her again in London.”
“Of course we will be kind to Miss Quartermane,” Miranda promised. “You can depend on us to make sure any gossip we hear is turned so it is favorable to both of you.”
Taverham squinted at him. “What did you do to make her give you up?”
“Give up being my countess, you mean?” At Taverham’s reluctant nod, he shrugged. “I confirmed it was me who lost my breeches at the Fairmont Bachelors Ball. That scandalized her mother quite a bit.”
Taverham’s eyes widened. “That was you?”
He nodded quickly. “But when I finally told her about Emily’s poor health, it was too much, apparently. I discovered Miss Quartermane and her mother have a mortal fear of illness. As soon as I told them of Emily, her current situation and prognosis for life, she practically ran from the room. It took her one night to decide to end the engagement and pack her bags. They left early the next morning while I was visiting Emily.”
“That must have been a terrible shock to discover they were so rude as to leave without saying goodbye,” Taverham said
“Actually, it was a relief not to have to pretend I was happy to be with them anymore.”
“It was for the best.” Miranda held out her hand. He glanced at it, reassured himself she was gloved too, and took her fingers lightly in his. “You know we worry for you,” she said.
He shivered as a chill swept him, and for the first time in his life he felt oppressed by the close growth of the woods. He wanted to get away. He needed to be somewhere else soon. “Thank you both for coming.”
“Of course we would come to support you at this terrible time,” Miranda murmured.
“If you ever need anything, you know where we are,” Taverham began.
“I will write,” he promised, earning a startled glance from Taverham. “I’m going away, you see. I would prefer it if you could keep news of my travels to yourself for a while.”
“Leaving? No. Stay.” Taverham grasped his shoulders, appearing stricken. “If you become ill, I swear we will always look after you.”
Everett broke free of Taverham’s grasp easily. “I’d never ask you to, but should that be my future, I want to see something of the world now. While I am well, I’m going to spend the mourning period traveling abroad,” he told Taverham. “Like we always talked of doing with Emily.”
“Will you call upon Whitney?” Miranda asked, her eyes alight with speculation.
“That woman does bear watching,” Taverham warned, seemingly without a clue that Everett’s interest in Whitney was slightly more romantic in nature than protective.
“I will, but I will keep a distance for her sake,” he promised Miranda. “It is not my intention to curtail her time there.”
Miranda smiled. “I am glad you are doing what is needed. You both wore such long faces the day you parted ways, but I understand why you could not stop her going, even if you should have told her the truth.”
He frowned. “I will not risk her health, but I harbor a small hope that she will agree to accept my companionship for a while,” he murmured.
“If I have learned anything about Miss Crewe, it is that she will hardly care for the proprieties.” Miranda turned away. “Come, husband. Let us not delay Everett a moment longer. He has a long journey ahead and a heart to recapture.”
Taverham fought his wife’s managing. “What the devil are you talking about? What heart?”
Miranda succeeded in steering him away a second time. “My dear husband, always so slow to grasp the obvious. Let me explain. Your best friend has fallen head over heels in love with the most eccentric woman we know.”
“With Whitney Crewe?” he exclaimed a little too loudly as he turned back.
Miranda dragged him on, whispering now, but clearly enough that Everett heard. “What better woman should he pursue than the one who already loves him?”
Miranda all but forced her husband into the carriage, and they moved off and turned down their drive within minutes.
He idly wondered how the rest of that conversation would go. Would Miranda admit to everything she’d pieced together? Everett suddenly didn’t care.
He had a plan. The carriage was already packed for his trip and waiting beneath the shade beyond the cemetery.
He had today and tomorrow to reach Dover, and the docks to book passage on a fast ship. Whitney was a full week ahead of him, but an easy crossing could make the interval much longer.
He hoped he would not have to wait long for a ship that would deliver him straight to Whitney’s side. He had memorized her plans, but there was always the danger she might change them, too. He wanted to tell her face to face that he wasn’t a married man as soon as possible. He caressed the letter from her in his pocket.
Whitney had promised she was eager to see him, and would always look for him. He was glad to know she’d taken up his offer of accommodation.
He smiled, thinking of her enquiry about Lady Acton’s happiness. He worried that his letter had given him away, and that Whitney suspected he’d been untruthful.
He bid one last farewell to his sister and turned for the carriage. He set his cap upon his head, and looked up to find only the Blakes and Garrett Thompson had lingered after everyone else had gone away. The Blakes were holding hands, and he suddenly wanted the chance of love returned that he’d given up when Whitney had gone.
He wanted her so badly he ached.
He forced a smile for their sake to hide his distress. “Thank you all for coming.”
“It’s no trouble. Are you all right, my lord?” Nancy peered into his face. “You’re very pale today, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“Merely tired,” he promised, restlessness gripping him a little tighter. He had spent his nights wondering if telling Whitney he wasn’t getting married would have made any difference to her plans. When morning broke through the trees and bathed his bedchamber in light, he had wanted to run after Whitney immediately and tell her before it was too late. The agony of waiting for her reply to his letter had only been appeased by hope when he received it. But there had been Emily to consider, to care for until now. Now she was gone, and he was truly free to do and say what he felt in his heart. “A little time will do me the world of good. Is there anything you need?”
“No, nothing.” As Everett shuffled his feet, anxious to be on his way, Blake’s smile grew. “You’re going to chase after the redhead now, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he promised. “It may be some time before I see you all again.”
“A merry dance she’ll lead you.” Blake laughed softly. “Knew you should have chosen her the day she stood in my workshop and you kept blushing.”
“Now Blake, don’t tease him.” Nancy linked her arm though her husbands and smiled up at him in delight. “She’s just what he needs, and everyone who met her agrees with me. Redhead always make the best wives,” she said proudly, quoting Whitney back at him.
He believed it, too. When he’d spoken to the vicar, and after he’d explained that there would not be a wedding involving Miss Quartermane, the man’s first response was to enquire about whether he had considered asking for Whitney Crewe’s hand, instead.
It seems Whitney had been more sociable than he’d realized, and there was a greater disappointment that she had gone away than expressed for the Quartermanes’ hasty departure.
“Thank you. I don’t expect to return soon, so if you need anything, just call at the estate and Thompson here will take care of you both.”
“Well, I won’t need any new dresses for many years,” Nancy said with a laugh.
They had reached his carriage, but he turned back. “Why is that?”
Nancy beamed. “Miss Crewe gave me an armload of gowns and frilly things she said she couldn’t possibly take with her. Some of it were too fine for me, but she said I could do what I liked with everything I didn’t want. Miss Jones has a pretty new gown for her wedding day, Mrs. Jennings a fine shawl for church, and Miss Lambert has a sturdy pair of boots and thick stockings for the coming winter. It’s almost as if she’s already your lady and taking care of us.”
“That was very generous of her, and of you to share,” he said, and he was more than pleased. Whitney would make an exceptional countess one day. “I hope upon my return to bring her home with me.”
He did not say how long that might take. He’d no notion how long Whitney’s travels and adventure would take, but he wanted to be at her side for all of it. If she would have him. He would wait until he was sure he was well and healthy before even mentioning the possibility of fulfilling his dreams, of marriage and a family, with her.