Find Me a Wife 3

"How long have you been standing their watching my downfall my dear Aunt?" asked Cedric wearily as he looked down at the baby girl that had been so hastily placed in his arms.
"Long enough," said his Aunt as she came to stand next to him and peered into the blanketed bundle, "Was it required to tear into the girl like that?"

Cedric remained silent as he approached the crib to lay the baby down. He himself didn’t understand his own motives, he wasn’t sure how he was going to justify his behaviour to his Aunt. But something had to be said, " She is not welcome in this house. It is a trying time for the entire family. A person with no understanding of someone else’s circumstances, especially a silly schoolgirl out looking for a husband, is not too enduring at this point of time. I wish her to the end of the world rather than here."

(Unknown to them, Saoirse had been passing by the room in search of Lady Ellen, when she heard the Duke’s monologue. Insulted and hurt, she hurried back to her own quarters to avoid meeting anyone in the gallery. Without ringing for a maid, she somehow managed to get out of her gown and corset, straining her arms and hurting a few fingers on stray hooks and then slipped into her nightgown. Bfore she turned down the bed, she added the spare scented firewood into the already roaring fire. Within minutes, the room was uncomfortably warm and a faint sheen of perspiration beaded her forehead as she lay in her bed, smiling secretively even though she was acutely uncomfortable.

As she’d hoped, fifteen minutes later there was a soft knocking at her door. Rominding herself to sound feeble, she murmured an affirmative, and a maid entered to help her dress for dinner. "I’m feeling rather ill, Rose. I’m afraid I won’t be able to come down for dinner. Could you please tell Lady Ellen and make my apologies to everyone else?" A tiny little voice in her head added, "And kick the Duke in the shin for me?"

The poor maid immediately went into a flurry of concern, Saoirse’s high colour adding to her distress. Saoirse calmed Rose that it was probably just exhaustion and sent her away with the message. As soon as she deemed it safe, she got up, opened a window and covered it with a curtain so that some of the heat would escape, but no one would notice the open window anyway.

Congratulating herself on having avoided distasteful company for at least one evening, she turned onto her side and drifted into peaceful slumber dreaming of Ashbrooke Castle and her Appaloosa called Nox.
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Rose shook her head as she hurried to the kitchen so she could inform the Butler to not set Lady Saoirse’s place at the table. She’d just told the stern Lady Ellen that her charge was sick and couldn’t attend dinner, and the good lady had SMILED. She had actually SMILED. She remembered what Mrs. Hayes had told her when she’d first joined the household to help support her family, to never think too much about peculiarities, it was too stressful. Mrs. Hayes was right.
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"It’s so cold these days, quite a few people are catching a chill!" exclaimed Lady Ellen at the table in explanation to Matthew’s enquiry about Lady Saoirse.
Matthew looked a little puzzled and said, "Aunt Ellen, it’s June. A warm June."
Lady Ellen continued with her charade, " Matthew, don’t you feel the chill? Right down to your bones? I’d swear the source is somewhere in this room."
Catching on, Matthew looked at his brother’s grim face and chuckled, "I see. The source of our guest’s illness is sitting at the head of the table."
Cedric bit back something particularly rude and then said, "I hope she feels better tomorrow. However my dear Aunt, this just proves my point that she is nothing but a burden and she will now tie up house helps in her care who could instead be engaged to help with the babies."

Lady Ellen caught Martha’s eye as Martha supervised the serving of the course and both women grimaced at his distasteful comment. Then, Lady Ellen suddenly grinned and said, "Martha, Cedric’s right. Our whims and fancies tie up a lot of hands in the households. You needn’t be here, take Rose and May and take care of the girls. And tomorrow, none of the chambermaids should clean Cedric or Matthew’s rooms or studies. They can clean up after themselves."

With a twinkle in her eye, Martha bustled out, shepherding two bewildered girls ahead of her as Cedric and Matthew gaped at their wily Aunt. Matthew was the first to protest, acting like a ten year old unlike the twenty year old he was, "But I didn’t even say anything……….."

His Aunt spared him a withering glance as she enjoyed the play of expressions on Cedric’s face.

"You win Aunt Ellen. What must I do to have you revoke your orders?" asked Cedric in a mock humble tone.

"Apologize."