Chapter Fifteen
Hadrian needed her, but not in the way she wished he might. Their talk about his wife and daughter had helped her understand where she and Lee stood with him.
Artemis mulled over that thought as she sat hemming a nightshirt for Lee, who staggered around his nursery making noises that occasionally sounded like words.
Hadrian did care about them, in his way. But his heart belonged to the family he had lost. They were his true family. The high-spirited, golden angel he had wed for love, and the precious little daughter their love had begot. Not the illegitimate offspring of a brother he could barely remember and a remote stranger whom circumstances had forced him to wed. It was a tribute to his generous nature that they had managed to form a makeshift bond—one based on necessity and physical attraction and their common history of bereavement.
That was as much as he could give. Though she wanted more for Lee, Artemis was enough of a realist to accept what she could get for herself and be content with it. A few months of half marriage to a man like Hadrian Northmore would be better than a conventional union of many years with any other man.
The nursery door opened then and Hadrian strode in, looking so cheerful and handsome, he lit up something inside of her. “Hi-ho, my lovely lady and my fine young master! Why are you shut up inside on such a splendid summer day?”
“We were planning to take a walk down to the beck as soon as I finish my sewing.” Artemis greeted him with a fond smile, determined not to spoil the time they had by pushing for more. “What are you doing home? I thought you had a meeting today.”
The moment Hadrian entered the room Lee toddled toward him with his arms raised. “Papapa up-up!”
As Artemis looked on in amazement, Hadrian picked up their nephew and swung him high in the air. “Not very eloquent, but you get your point across, lad! I’m not your papa, but I will admit ‘Uncle Hadrian’ is a mouthful at your age.”
He turned toward Artemis. “My meeting will keep for another day. There’s somewhere I’ve a fancy to show the pair of you, if you’d care for an outing.”
If they’d care? For weeks she’d been pressing him to spend more time with Lee to no avail. Now, just when she’d resigned herself that it would never happen, here he was.
Artemis was not about to refuse a gift, simply because it was unexpected. “I’m sure Lee will be delighted to go anywhere with you. But I thought…that is…you said…”
Hadrian gave a rueful nod. “I know what I said. You said a few things, too. They made a good deal of sense, once I took the time to think them over. I reckon I do owe this wee lad more than what my fortune can buy him. He may not remember, but you will be able to tell him when I’m gone.”
When he was gone. That thought made her throat tighten. This unexpected outing did not signify any change in Hadrian’s plans. But it was more than she’d dared to hope for half an hour ago.
“Let’s be off, then.” Hadrian headed for the door, bouncing Lee in his arms. “The gig should be harnessed by the time we get down to the stable yard and Mrs. Matlock had Cook pack us a lunch.”
A short while later, they drove past St. Oswin’s. Lee perched on his aunt’s knee, taking in everything around him.
“What sort of place are you taking us to?” asked Artemis.
His childhood home, perhaps—the farm his father had lost, forcing the family to find work at Fellbank? Surely Hadrian would not be in such high spirits if they were going there.
“It’s a place you’ll appreciate with your love of history,” was Hadrian’s cryptic reply. “I want you to bring Lee back here again, when he’s old enough to understand.”
“Ee! Ee!” cried the child, clapping his hands.
“That’s right, you wee monkey.” Hadrian ruffled his hair. “I want your auntie to bring you here when you’re about eight. That’s the age I was when my pa first brought me. What I saw that day sparked my fancy and stayed with me the rest of my life.”
He glanced up at Artemis. “I want you to take him to Fellbank, too, when he’s older. I’ll leave it to you to decide when he’s ready.”
His gray gaze fairly glowed with trust.
A few moments later, he steered the gig onto a narrow path that wound around the base of a hill overlooking the church. After driving a little farther, he stopped and climbed out. He held his arms open to take Lee. “We shall have to walk the rest of the way. It’s not far. If you can carry the basket of food, I’ll tote this young fellow.”
Lee was only too happy to go to his uncle, who swung him onto his shoulders and set off up the hill. Following with their lunch and the picnic rug, Artemis basked in the warm caress of the summer sun and the cooling rustle of the breeze. Only when she reached the flattened summit of the hill and glimpsed the tumbled, overgrown outline of ancient stonewalls did she realize where Hadrian had brought them.
“This must have been a Roman fort.” Setting down their picnic gear, she stared around in wonder.
“That’s right.” Hadrian’s voice rang with pride, as if he had built the place with his own hands. “Vindicara they called it. I named my company after this place.”
“I wondered how you’d come by that name.” Artemis pictured the fort as it might have looked many centuries ago, with Roman soldiers standing guard, practicing with their weapons, marching in drills. “It means ‘to avenge,’ doesn’t it?”
“That is one meaning,” said Hadrian. “Another is ‘lay claim to.’ I believe that’s how this fort got its name.”
“Does it have anything to do with how you and your brothers came by your names?” Artemis asked. “It is not every day one meets a man called Hadrian.”
The name had associations of strength and authority that suited him, though.
He nodded. “As a lad, I got a good many bruises sticking up for my name when my friends made fun of it.”
“And gave a few as well, I imagine.”
“So I did,” he admitted. “Pa said it was a name to be proud of, a name to live up to.”
“He was right,” said Artemis. “And you have.”
Hadrian looked torn between pride and embarrassment.
“See there, Lee?” He pointed to a large, squared-off stone in what was left of the eastern wall. “The inscription has worn away more in the past thirty years, but I can still make it out.”
Lee was too young to understand. Yet the intensity of his uncle’s tone seemed to engage his attention. “LEG VI—that means the Sixth Legion. Some of them likely built this place sixteen hundred years ago. That’s even older than me.”
Lee chortled, as if he understood his uncle’s wry quip.
Hadrian turned his attention back to Artemis. “St. Oswin’s was built out of stones taken from here. Some of them have words carved on them, too. Remind me next Sunday and I’ll show you.”
He swung Lee off his shoulders and eased the child to the ground, keeping hold of one small hand. Lee wasted no time toddling toward a slender block of carved stone set out from the fallen wall.
“This is some kind of altar,” said Hadrian. “The inscription is to the god Vitirius, by a tribune called Titus.”
They spent a delightful afternoon exploring the ruins. Lee roamed about to his heart’s content, happy to be out of doors in the company of his aunt and uncle. As Hadrian had predicted, Artemis appreciated the vivid history he brought to life for her. But more than that, she savored the indescribable sweetness of being a family—even if it was only a fleeting mirage.
When Lee’s boundless energy began to flag, they settled in the shade of a section of wall and ate a hearty luncheon of cold meat pies, bread and cheese, washed down with cider.
“I have something else to show you.” Hadrian fished in his pocket and pulled out a coin about the size of a sixpence. Balancing it upright between his thumb and forefinger, he held it out for Lee and Artemis to get a good look. “This here is a silver denarius. The Romans used them to pay the soldiers. That man on the front wearing the helmet is Emperor Constantine the Second. Looks a bit like your old uncle, don’t you think?”
Artemis peered closer. “The profile does look rather like you. Did you find that coin here?”
Hadrian shook his head. “My father found it when he was a lad. He thought old Constantine looked like his father. It made him wonder if our family might have Roman blood. That inspired him to study Latin and history from the local vicar. The more he learned about the Romans, the more he admired them. It made him resolve to raise our family up.”
“He sounds like a very determined man,” said Artemis. Both Hadrian and Lee had inherited that sometimesexasperating virtue.
Hadrian nodded. “He was all of that. Some of the miners spent more of their pay at the public house than their families could afford. Pa never darkened its door. He said he had better things to do with his time and brass. The money he might have spent on a pint, he put away for Julian’s schooling. The time he might have idled away there, he spent teaching us to read and write.”
Hadrian flipped the coin into his palm and clenched his fingers over it in a protective fist. “Pa gave this to me on the day he first brought me to Vindicara. I’ve carried it with me ever since to remind me where I come from and what I have to do.”
Another woman might not have understood that urgent sense of duty to secure his family’s legacy. Not only did Artemis understand, she admired it. “I am certain your father would be proud to know how well you’ve fulfilled his dream to make something of your family.”
“I’ve a ways to go yet. But with your help I’m making progress.” Hadrian reached out and dropped the denarius into her palm. “Keep that safe for Lee, will you? Give it to him when you bring him here again and tell him the things I’ve told you.”
“I will.” Artemis nodded toward their nephew, who had drifted off to sleep in his uncle’s arms. “I will also tell him all about this day and what a wonderful time he had with you. Though he may not remember, I’m certain that somewhere inside he will carry a special sense of you.”
Hadrian glanced down at the child, then raised his eyes to her. As always, a potent physical awareness stirred between them.
His firm, wide mouth arched in a devilish grin. “What would you say to coming here late some warm night and performing the sacred rites of Aphrodite?”
“I should be scandalized, of course!” Artemis tried to look as shocked as she once would have at such a suggestion from him. Unable to support the pretense, she sputtered with wanton laughter. “Deliciously scandalized. Name the night and I shall be yours!”
More and more, she yearned to be his—fully and forever. But since Hadrian’s tragic past had made that impossible, she must try to be content with as many days like this one as he could give her.
When he heard the first of their guests had arrived, Hadrian sent Mrs. Matlock to fetch Artemis, while he took up his place on the steps of the front portico. He preferred that this first meeting with his estranged partner take place amid the bustle of their arrival. Hopefully it would ease any awkwardness between them.
The first one to alight from the carriages was Susannah Penrose, holding a small boy by the hand. “Thank you for inviting us, Mr. Northmore. It is a pleasure to see you again. This is my nephew, Master Phillip Crawford. Phip, make a nice bow to our host, like I taught you.”
The child abruptly doubled over at the waist, then straightened up and retreated behind his aunt’s skirts.
Hadrian dropped to his haunches. “A pleasure to meet you, Master Phillip. My nephew Lee is near your age. He’ll be keen to play with you.”
Lady Kingsfold appeared next, carrying her young daughter. “This has been a great adventure for Phillip and Eleanor—their first journey from home. Mr. Northmore, may I present my sister Belinda and her husband, Sidney Crawford?”
“Welcome to Edenhall, Mr. and Mrs. Crawford. Thank you for accepting our invitation.”
“Our pleasure.” Sidney Crawford returned Hadrian’s bow. “A fine-looking place you have here. Is the fishing good?”
Hadrian nodded. “I am told the trout are running very well down in the beck.”
Ford stepped past Mr. Crawford to offer Hadrian his hand. “My brother-in-law is a keen angler. The skill of your cook and the quality of your wine cellar matter far less to him than a plentiful supply of fish nearby. I’ll wager his enjoyment of your hospitality is assured.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Hadrian gave his partner’s hand a hearty shake. “Would the two of you care to walk down to the beck? If you’re anything like me, you’ll be anxious to stretch your legs after a long carriage ride.”
Mr. Crawford greeted the suggestion with an eager nod.
“In that case,” said Lady Kingsfold, “my sisters and I will take the children inside and get them settled.”
“My wife is waiting to welcome you.” Hadrian gestured toward the large front door. “She will be pleased to see familiar faces from Sussex.”
As the women and children headed inside, Sidney Crawford strode toward the beck, leaving Hadrian and Ford to follow at a more leisurely pace.
For a few moments they walked side by side without speaking. Then Ford broke the silence. “I must say, this is not where I pictured you’d be after you stormed out of Hawkesbourne.”
“Where did you picture me, then?”
“The truth?” Ford gave a hoarse chuckle. “Swinging from a gallows for murdering Lady Artemis Dearing.”
There was a time Ford’s prediction might not have sounded so far-fetched. Now the thought of harming one hair on her head made Hadrian’s blood run cold.
“She was not to blame for what happened to my brother.” Hadrian glanced toward his partner. “Neither were you. I was a blinkered fool to say otherwise. I know you are not a man to easily pardon such a grave insult, but I regret what I said to you that day. Whether or not you are willing to accept my apology, I’m offering it.”
Ford halted abruptly and turned to fix him with an incredulous look. “Who the hell are you? And what have you done with the real Hadrian Northmore?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“So you have.” Ford broke into a bewildered grin. “And I cannot believe my ears. Laura insisted you must have invited us here to make amends, but I had my doubts. I should know by now that she is usually right. Tell me, what made you willing to apologize? During three years in India and two in Singapore I never once heard you beg anybody’s pardon for anything. The most you ever did was dispatch Simon or me to smooth things over.”
Hadrian knew what—or rather who—had brought about the change in him. But he could scarcely admit it to himself, let alone Ford. “Perhaps my brother’s death has made me realize there are worse things than losing face.”
Ford’s dark brows rose. “Such as…?”
“Losing a friend.”
For an instant Ford looked overcome with a mixture of emotions. Then he gave Hadrian a hearty clout on the arm. “That sounds like the sort of good sense I would be prepared to drink a toast to.”
“Then drink we shall.” Hadrian nodded toward the beck and the two men resumed their walk. “We never did get to hoist a glass of arrack in honor of Singapore being officially recognized.”
He inhaled a deep draft of late-summer air, redolent with the scent of things ripening. “Something tells me you and I have a great deal of good fortune we should drink to.”
“Your guests have arrived, ma’am.” Mrs. Matlock appeared at the drawing room door to inform Artemis. “The master sent me to tell you.”
Artemis jumped from her chair, where she’d been trying to concentrate on a bit of needlework. The house party had been her idea and she hoped it would promote reconciliation between Hadrian and his partner. But she dreaded having to face the Kingsfolds again after the way she’d treated them.
Though she had changed in many ways since leaving Bramberley, she was not a naturally sociable person and probably never would be. The prospect of formal entertaining, even a small group of people with whom she was fairly well acquainted, still alarmed her.
Hadrian was relying on her, Artemis reminded herself, inhaling a deep breath and smoothing her skirts. “Thank you, Mrs. Matlock. I trust everything is ready to make our guests comfortable.”
“Indeed it is, ma’am.” For all her brisk, capable manner, the housekeeper had not been able to hide her excitement over Edenhall playing host to a baron, a viscount and an earl. “Your guests will find nothing lacking in our hospitality.”
With that reassurance to shore up her courage, Artemis contrived a smile of welcome and hurried to the entrance hall to greet her guests.
She found Lady Kingsfold holding her small daughter in her arms, while Mrs. Crawford carried a baby. Susannah Penrose brought up the rear, clutching the Crawfords’ elder son by the hand.
In spite of her earlier misgivings, pleasure welled up inside Artemis at the sight of their familiar faces. “Welcome to Edenhall. It is a pleasure to see you all again. I hope you had a good journey.”
“It was quite tolerable.” Lady Kingsfold exchanged looks with her sisters and they all began to laugh. “I believe that is the best one can hope when traveling with small children.”
“I’m certain the trip will be well worth it.” Mrs. Crawford endeavored to soothe her baby, who had begun to fuss. “I have scarcely been a step from home since Phip was born and Laura is just as bad. It will do us good to have a change of scene.”
“We can get the children settled in the nursery before I show you to your rooms.” Artemis led her guests toward the main staircase. “My nephew will be delighted to have some playmates of his own age.”
She felt rather apprehensive about mentioning Lee. Would the ladies object to their respectable little darlings sharing a nursery room with an illegitimate child?
If they did, Lady Kingsfold gave no sign of it. “Your nephew and my Eleanor are of an age, aren’t they? It will be good for her and Phillip to make a new friend.”
When they reached the nursery, two capable-looking nursemaids were waiting to take their young charges in hand after the excitement of their journey.
Artemis showed Mrs. Crawford and Miss Susannah to their rooms first, then seized the opportunity of a moment alone with Lady Kingsfold. “I cannot thank you enough for accepting our invitation. I would not have blamed you for refusing after the way I spoke to you and your husband when we last met. I understand now that you had everyone’s best interests at heart. I only wish I’d had the sense to heed your advice.”
Lady Kingsfold reached for her hand and gave it a warm squeeze. “It was a difficult situation and I cannot blame you for taking exception to our interference. I might have done the same if you had tried to give me unwanted advice about my family. I was delighted to receive your invitation. It gave me hope that our husbands might mend their friendship.”
A weight lifted from Artemis’s heart when she heard that. She and Lady Kingsfold were near in age and had been neighbors for almost ten years. Though their younger sisters had been great friends, there had always been a polite coolness between them.
That was her fault, Artemis acknowledged. When Laura Penrose had come to Hawkesbourne as the young bride of a much older husband, Artemis had privately condemned her as a fortune hunter. Later, when the widowed lady had wed her late husband’s heir, it had seemed to confirm all Artemis’s worst suspicions. As with Hadrian, her uncharitable assumptions had been quite wrong.
“Ford has been so out of spirits since he quarreled with Mr. Northmore,” Lady Kingsfold continued. “I urged him to make some overture, but he can be very stubborn when he believes he has been wronged.”
Artemis nodded. “Hadrian has difficulty admitting he has done wrong. I knew he wanted to make amends, but he could not bring himself to make the first move.”
“They are too much alike, that is their trouble.” With a chuckle of exasperated fondness, Lady Kingsfold linked arms with Artemis and they continued down the wide gallery of the east wing. “That is the price we pay for having married such dynamic, ambitious men.”
“Perhaps so.” It gave Artemis a sense of bittersweet satisfaction to talk with Lady Kingsfold about their husbands, as if she and Hadrian had a true marriage, rather than a convenient arrangement for their nephew’s sake.
“Clearly you have much more influence over your husband than I have with mine,” said Lady Kingsfold. “You were able to persuade him to invite us here. If it had been left to me, I fear their estrangement would have continued, growing more difficult to resolve as bitterness hardened between them.”
Artemis detected a note of regret in the lady’s voice and wondered at its cause. “Here is your room. I hope you and Lord Kingsfold will find it comfortable and that you will enjoy your stay at Edenhall.”
“I’m certain we shall.”
As Artemis turned to leave, Lady Kingsfold called after her, “I hope you will not mind my saying so, but marriage seems to agree with you.”
A few months ago, Artemis might have resented such a well-meant observation. Now she welcomed it. “Thank you. I believe it does.”
Marriage to Hadrian Northmore, even a sham one, did agree with her. If only she had as much influence over him as Lady Kingsfold seemed to think she did, then perhaps she could persuade him to reconsider his plans for the future.