Chapter24
At eleven in the morning, Aurora slowly descended the stairs of the too-quiet house. She felt raw, uncertain of herself. Terrified she’d revealed too much yesterday. Far more than she’d ever intended to.
She’d woken in their bed alone, and her first thought was that she’d been abandoned. She had rubbed her arms briskly, trying to quiet her fears. Drew had made so many promises to her last night. Ones she desperately wanted to believe in. But no one ever kept their promises. Not to her, at least.
His side of their bed had been cold, and he’d left none of his clothes on the floor, as he so often did. Had he gone, vanishing without a trace just like her mother had done? If he’d reconsidered their arrangement, she didn’t know how she’d go on, but she was sure it would hurt. Hurt like nothing else ever had in her life.
She lifted her chin, determined to face whatever came with the same dignity she’d tried to feel ever since she’d come to London and put one foot in front of the other.
Drew was not in the morning room. He was not in the library or adjoining study.
In fact, there seemed to be no servants lurking anywhere she went in the house.
Disturbed by the quietness, Aurora walked trembling toward the back of the house, and headed for the stables. If Drew had left to go riding, he’d have taken Horse with him.
There were a series of corridors and stairways to traverse before the outside courtyard was reached. Long before she reached for the locks on the rear door, she heard voices, unexpected laughter.
Aurora quickly pushed the doors open…and found every single servant they possessed busy in the once-empty courtyard.
A lamb bleated. A chicken crowed, half a dozen geese were honking up a storm and darting through the legs of the male servants as they sought freedom.
There were pots in corners with flowers in them now, where once had been only barren and cold cobblestones. Straw that might have once been piled up in a neat heap was spread out in all directions. The scene reminded her of the home of her childhood, before everything bad had happened in her life.
She clenched her hands together tightly, so astonished that the one happy moment in her story was suddenly recreated the very next day here in London.
“What is going on?”
From the midst of the chaos, Drew rose. His face red and damp with sweat and grinning. His coat missing, and his sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He also had a fully grown chicken tucked under his arm.
She sobbed out loud, relieved to see him. Dear God, she loved when he was this way. Smiling and happy, his grief for his first wife a distant memory.
He waved her toward him urgently. “At last. Where have you been, woman?”
She hurried to his side and whispered, “It’s your own fault. You always let me sleep too long.”
“I thought you could do with a rest after our talk yesterday.” He gestured around him, grinning widely. “What do you think of your new responsibilities?”
She put her hands over her mouth, fighting back tears. “You bought me farm animals?”
“I’ll buy you a farm, too, soon.” He bent to kiss her cheek. “This motley collection is the best I could scrounge at short notice. It’s a start.”
She looked around then quickly went to make friends with the animals, hands trembling from the happiness gripping her at each touch. She hadn’t been around animals since she’d moved to London. Drew was so good to her. He’d listened to her closely, shared her pain…and bought her the most perfect gift of all.
Aurora had never met an animal she didn’t want to make friends with. They were always kinder than people.
All except Drew and her cousins.
She let each animal sniff her hand, learn the sound of her voice so they’d come to trust her. The servants drifted away, leaving them alone in the cobbled square together within a few minutes. She looked around and winced. “I’m not sure this space is big enough for all you’ve bought.”
“I’ll begin to make enquiries for somewhere close by to keep them until we find somewhere we like,” he promised. “North, south, east, west. What direction shall we go?”
Drew had lived on an estate in Kent, to the southeast of London, during the short years of his marriage. But she suspected he might be reluctant to return on account of his disagreement with his father over his failure to marry the duke’s choice. The Kent estate was a place she never wanted to visit before, but she had heard so much about it that Aurora yearned for at least one glimpse now. Drew’s country estate sounded exactly like a place she’d always wanted to spend her days. Quiet. No one to complain if there was mud on her hem or if her hair had fallen from their pins, or if she lingered outside in the evening hoping for a glimpse of her namesake in the heavens above them. She had done that with her father so many times.
She frowned, and pushed the unwanted memory away. She had to let go of her disappointments. Her past had no place in her life anymore.
As Drew’s mistress, she’d likely never be able to visit Drew’s old home. Certainly not if Drew was disinherited. There was still a chance that might happen if he did not marry. He would forever be set apart from his life and family. That wasn’t fair to him. She wet her lips, uncertain of what to do to change that, or if she should try to help heal the rift between father and son. Northport wanted Drew to marry one of his choices.
“You’ve had a busy morning,” she said, hedging.