Daisy and the Duke by Elizabeth Cole

Chapter 19

Needless to say, life changedimmediately for Daisy, who was now formally Lady Margaret once again, just as she’d been expected to be when she was younger. Lady Weatherby, who had become quite motherly toward her, insisted that Daisy must rest after the ordeal. So she went back to the Weatherbys’ home and sat with Mrs. Bloomfield as she tried to digest all that she’d learned that day.

“Papa always meant for me to be his heir,” Daisy said wonderingly. “He expected me to become baroness and take on Rutherford Grange and run it as he did.”

“You did run it,” Mrs. Bloomfield reminded her. “You acted as owner and estate manager and scullery maid, doing whatever was needed to keep things operating well. I’m sure your father would be very proud…after he got done being furious at your stepmother for cheating you.”

“I still can’t believe she really did that. Papa was going to take care of her! A thousand pounds a year, plus a home for life. And of course she could have married again, and Bella is going to make a splendid match no matter what. Or was going to.”

“Perhaps your stepmother feared you’d take her funds away…just as she did to you. People always seem to think that others are like them. Good-hearted people think everyone is good-hearted. Greedy people think everyone is greedy.”

“I shall tell her that she may stay at the Grange if she likes, when we go back tomorrow.”

Mrs. Bloomfield frowned. “You’d let her stay, after what she did?”

“Well, it was Papa’s intention to give her a home. And I may soon find myself moving to Lyondale.” Daisy smiled, recalling Tristan’s kiss after he requested the right to court her. When he escorted her to the carriage, he whispered that their courtship would be proper, but not a day longer than necessary.

“Yes, you and your duke do seem cozy together,” Mrs. Bloomfield said. “Your mother was never able to sit you down and tell you the sort of thing mothers tell their daughters when it comes to courtship and marriage…and the night of the wedding. Shall I take some time soon to do that with you?”

“Um…it would not be strictly…new information at this point,” Daisy whispered, blushing furiously.

Her sometime teacher raised an elegant eyebrow. “I see,” she replied. “Well, no doubt that fact will hasten your suitor’s proposal.”

“I do hope so.”

Mrs. Bloomfield chuckled. “Oh, to be young again. Now you rest, dear. Lady Weatherby and I shall deal with any callers. I thought we should have Poppy to dinner tonight, so she doesn’t have to dine alone at an inn. And tomorrow morning we’ll go to Rutherford Grange and settle things with the dowager baroness.”

The next morning, Tristan came to Lady Weatherby’s in his own coach. Daisy and Mrs. Bloomfield climbed in, and the driver started down the road that led to Rutherford Grange.

“Are you ready to go home, my lady?” Tristan asked her.

Daisy nodded. “It will be good to see the Grange again, and see Elaine and Jacob and the others. And to speak to Lady Ru—my stepmother, that is. I have many questions for her.”

“And you’ll have reinforcements should you need them,” Tristan assured her, leaning across the coach to take her hand for a moment, “though you are a force all on your own.”

“Well spoken, your grace,” Mrs. Bloomfield said, with a smile at Daisy.

When the coach arrived at the Grange, the place was strangely quiet. But the moment Daisy stepped out of the carriage, the servants and local farmers seemed to pop up like mushrooms. Everyone bowed or curtsied to Lady Margaret…except for Elaine, who enfolded her in a hug and sobbed with joy to see her.

“Stop now, wife,” Jacob muttered, though he was trying not to laugh. “You’re spilling your tears all over our rightful baroness.”

“Oh, I’m just so relieved to see you again, child! And so happy to hear that right will be done and the true heiress will be in charge of the Grange, just as it ought to be.”

“I do hope that everything will go smoothly,” Daisy said. “But first we must speak with my stepmother.”

“I’ve been in the kitchens all morning,” Elaine said. “Where’s the girl who sees to the upstairs? Eliza, come here!”

A slender housemaid with dark hair and a worried expression hurried up to Daisy and Tristan. “I’m here, my lady, your grace.”

“We are here to speak with the dowager,” Tristan said. “And I am not in a mood to wait. Show us to her immediately.”

“I cannot do that, your grace,” the servant said nervously.

“Whatever she may have ordered you to do,” Tristan said, more kindly, “ignore it. I will see to it that you suffer no punishments for disobeying her.”

“Oh, sir, that is not what I meant.” Eliza looked tormented. “You must understand, I cannot show you to her ladyship because her ladyship is not here!”

“What?”

“She is gone, as are a few trunks and the carriage and the pair of chestnuts. The chestnuts were our best horses.”

Tristan scowled, and Daisy knew why. She hadn’t dreamed that the woman would be so cowardly as to flee.

“We must locate the vicar,” Mrs. Bloomfield said suddenly. “Though it may be too late.”

“Blast, you’re right!”

Tristan ordered one of the men nearby to ride to the village immediately. But Daisy already had a sinking feeling that Hornthwaite would be gone as well.

But then she decided that she could only do what was in her own power to do. So that very day, she set about making Rutherford Grange a proper home once more. She and Tristan had discussed the fate of the Grange, and agreed that the two estates could be more effectively managed as one for the time being, with Daisy offering discreet supervision to a new manager. Tristan, rather brilliantly, suggested that the house itself could serve as a school…until such a time when one of Tristan and Daisy’s heirs would take possession of it, just as a tier would eventually take on Lyondale for their own. This vision of the future was so dazzling that Daisy had nearly wept with joy.

The maids showed great zeal in packing the dowager’s things out of her suite and moving Daisy’s few items in. They cleaned the room and fluffed pillows and lit a huge fire in the fireplace to air the room out.

Daisy walked through each room with Eliza, who wrote down every little thing that Daisy wanted to be attended to.

“We’ll need more staff, my lady. The baroness—not you, her—let so many go over the years.”

“I shall correct that,” Daisy said. “The Grange deserves to shine again. Let it be known in the village that I want to hire several servants. Maids, footmen, stablehands, others too. They can come tomorrow morning and I’ll interview them.”

“You, your ladyship? That’s a job for the housekeeper.”

“Ah, but we don’t have a housekeeper yet!”

“Elaine should be housekeeper,” Eliza said. “She does it all anyway.”

“So she does! I’ll ask her if she’ll accept the position.”

They came to Bella’s room. With a sigh, Daisy pushed the door open. She was sad that she couldn’t have at least spoken to Bella one last time. She had seemed truly shocked at her mother’s actions.

“Who’s there?” someone asked. “Is it morning? I didn’t sleep all night.”

Daisy went still at hearing a voice from the darkened room.

“Bella?” she asked. “They left you?”

“Left me?” Bella sat up in bed, awake all at once. “Who left? What’s happened?”

Daisy explained it to her while Eliza ran to fetch a tray of toast and strong tea. Bella was completely unaware of her mother’s plans, and horrified to hear that she had been abandoned without a word.

“She’s gone?” Bella kept repeating at intervals, staring at nothing while she hugged her knees. “Is she going to send for me? What am I to do?”

As the day went on, it was discovered that both Mr. Hornthwaite and the dowager were indeed long gone, along with the rest of the church funds, and several remaining valuable items from the Grange. The duke sent riders along all the roads in search of them, and notified the magistrate of the situation. Daisy wasn’t sure she even wanted them found, though.

As Daisy and a few other servants suspected, the dowager had been selling off items to fund the creation of her and Bella’s wardrobe, as part of her plan to marry Bella off to the highest titled gentleman she could find. It was further discovered that the dowager and the vicar had been lovers for years, a fact which Daisy hoped she could magically forget as soon as possible.

That chapter in her life was better off closed forever.

The new chapter was much fancier than she’d been used to. Within a few days, she found herself with a lady’s maid hired from nearby, who managed to retool the old baroness’s abandoned wardrobe into several lovely items for Daisy. Bella showed no interest in acquiring a lady’s maid of her own, or in visitors, or in anything. Daisy was growing worried about her continuing melancholy. Her shock was understandable, but Bella seemed to be bracing for yet another blow.

There was only one more task Daisy had to do, which was to visit Tabitha and tell her all that happened. She managed to slip away one afternoon and stroll through the quiet woods. A few birds called in the upper branches, and a squirrel pursued her suspiciously, but other than that, Daisy was alone.

To think that she’d once feared being lonely while walking through these same woods not long ago! Now she had all the company she could manage, and the most desired suitor in England visiting her every day. She sang under her breath, utterly pleased with the way things turned out.

Then she saw Tabitha’s cottage, and hurried toward it, calling her friend’s name.

The old lady opened the door and leaned out. “What’s this? Thought we spirited you away from here, girl.”

“You did, but I’m back, and oh, Tabitha, everything is grand!”

“Hmpf,” Tabitha said, shaking her head. “Told you it would be.”

“Everything has changed top to bottom. I have so much to tell you…” And Daisy told Tabitha every last detail, from hiding in the pumpkin cart to returning to Wildwood Hall, to coming back for the impromptu trial that revealed far more than Daisy ever dreamed.

“Well, good thing he took the left turning, as I told him,” Tabitha murmured under her breath. “No point in arranging all the pieces when the pieces get notions of their own.”

“What?” Daisy asked, confused. She wondered if the old woman was not as sharp as she used to be.

“Nothing, child. I’m just so happy to hear of your good fortune.”

“That reminds me. I’d like you to share my luck. Won’t you consider coming to live closer to Lyondale, or the Grange? I worry about you living all alone in the woods here. Half the time, folks can’t even find your house! Tristan told me he sent men to look for you after I’d run away, and no one remembered where you lived! Isn’t that odd?”

“Oh, very odd. But that’s how I like it, child.” Tabitha laughed. “I’ll stay here, and quite happily. But a visit from little Daisy will always be welcome.”

“I should hope so!” Daisy said. Being a lady would never keep her from the friends who had helped her when she had nothing.

By the time the sun was setting, Daisy had to return to the Grange. Her stomach rumbled when she got closer to home, and by long habit, she headed toward the kitchen door.

“Oh, no, my lady!” Elaine called, seeing her approach. “You use the front like a proper baroness!”

Smiling, Daisy obeyed, veering to the grand front entrance. Elaine and Jacob wouldn’t even allow her to pick up a dusting cloth at Rutherford Grange anymore.

In fact, she was bowed and curtseyed to by literally everyone who came into view, from the stable boys to the villagers to the visiting gentry (who visited constantly). Daisy had to keep asking Elaine to bake more cakes for tea, and for more dishes to be made up for the ever-expanding dinners.

Bella never joined Daisy in visiting with guests. She haunted the Grange, lost and lonely and bereft. Every day that passed brought no word from her mother, and the girl was obviously torn in pieces about it. Daisy reflected that the erstwhile Lady Rutherford had used Bella for her own ends, Bella had truly loved her mother, and now she was suffering for it.

Daisy spent the visiting hours on her own, receiving yet more guests, including a young gentleman who seemed quite taken with Lady Caroline, who was there with her mother. Lady Weatherby commented that Bella was missed, and Daisy concurred, saying that nothing she could do seemed to get through.

“Then try again, dear. Miss Bella is probably very frightened.”

So after she bid her guests goodbye, she went in search of Bella once more. She found Bella in a small sitting room. She held an embroidery project on her lap, but she was staring out the window at the lifeless late autumn landscape.

“Bella, you know that you are welcome to receive guests with me. Lady Weatherby was asking after you—I think she fears you’ll make yourself ill with melancholy. You should join us tomorrow. It’s warmer there than in here, if nothing else.”

Bella sat in the chair, her manner stilted and chill, the mortification plain on her face. “I cannot,” she declared, in a tiny voice. “Now that it is known what Mama did to you…to us…she stole your legacy, Daisy, I mean, my Lady Margaret…”

“Call me Daisy.”

“How can I call you anything?” Bella asked morosely. “I am ashamed to even be in the same county as you. You must hate me. He must hate me. Oh, Lord, I’ll never be able to look him in the eyes again.”

“The duke has a very forgiving nature,” Daisy said.

“Not the duke.” Bella waved one hand, the first gesture she’d made, the first sign she was human and not a doll. “I refer to Mr. Kemble.”

“Mr. Kemble?”

“He’s so kind and so intelligent. He talked to me, really talked to me, and didn’t go on about my pretty face or my blue eyes. I know my eyes are blue! But Mr. Kemble asked me what I thought about things and it was wonderful…but I must be like the lowliest fly to him now.”

“Wait. You have feelings for Mr. Kemble?”

“Oh, Daisy, I’m afraid I love him.” Bella looked at her with gigantic eyes, ripe with tears. “Mama would never approve, so I said nothing. But every time I could be near him…” She sighed wistfully.

“My goodness, Bella! Does he know?”

“I pray not! Better that I can disappear before there is a chance that we cross paths again. Not that it is likely. For I now find myself quite outside society. I’ll be shunned. No more invitations for me. No one will want to associate with the dowry-less daughter of a disgraced widow. They’ll all think I’m looking to steal a title for myself.”

“Do you desire a title?”

Bella shook her head firmly. “I thought I did, but I know now that it was Mama’s wish for me. She was always talking of it to me, telling me that it was what I wanted. But I never wanted that. She did.”

“Oh, Bella. I am so sorry for you. You must be overwhelmed.”

“I will endure it,” Bella said stoically. “I do have one request, if you can grant it.”

“What?”

“Allow me to stay here for another week or so? Just until I can make arrangements…”

“Arrangements for what?”

“I…I don’t know.” Bella looked stricken. She was a gently bred young lady who only ever planned on becoming a gentleman’s wife. She had no skills and no connections, and no ability to make her way in the world. “What do you advise, Daisy?”

“I advise that you stay here for now, and if I marry the duke before you decide what to do, you should come live with us at Lyondale. We have been sisters by our parents’ marriage, but we will be sisters in spirit now. You should not be punished for your mother’s misdeeds. Tristan will agree with me—you will always have a home where I call home.”

“I don’t deserve it,” Bella whispered.

“We can argue about that later,” Daisy said. “Now come. Dry your cheeks off before your tears roll down and stain that pretty silk dress. And I think that you should not run away before seeing Mr. Kemble one more time, for I suspect that he may have something to say to you as well!”

In fact, Daisy was sure of it, for love seemed to be in the air.