Charming Artemis by Sarah M. Eden

Chapter Thirty-Four

Charlie watched Artemis wind her way around the back gardens a few days after her family’s arrival. She laughed with her sisters, an expression of genuine happiness. The sun set her golden curls aglow. Her smile was as soft and as natural as he’d ever seen it. She was happy, and that did his heart good.

The Lancaster ladies reached the terrace door where he stood, and greeted him in turn. Artemis’s family had begun to feel like his family as well these last days. He felt welcome among them, wanted and needed.

“I know having so many people here is a bit chaotic,” Artemis said. “I’m so grateful Philip and Sorrel have permitted it.”

He shook his head. “This house has always been at its most joyful when things were a bit boisterous.”

She took his hand and walked with him into the house. “I’ve spent so much of my life trying to convince myself that I didn’t need to have family around that I didn’t realize how untrue that actually was.”

“And I have assumed for a long time that my family didn’t want me around,” he said. “I am beginning to suspect that is not true.”

She smiled up at him. “Oh, Charlie, they love having you here. Even the least observant person in all the world would notice that.”

“There are a few members of this vast and complicated family who are actively requesting your company at the moment,” Charlie said. “I’ve been sent to fetch you.”

“Who is asking for me?” she pressed.

“I believe I will keep that a surprise.”

She laughed lightly. “You do that a lot, you know: keep me in suspense.”

“Are you lodging a complaint?”

She bumped him with her shoulder. “Not in the least.”

He took her to the library. Her brothers-in-law and Linus were inside, as were Philip and Mr. Layton.

Artemis eyed them all with obvious curiosity. “This is an unexpected gathering.”

“One I arrived for on time,” Philip said. “The same cannot be said for Mr. Layton. That, I believe, makes me the king of the day.”

“Mr. Layton has always been the king,” Adam said, sitting in a nearby chair with his usual air of irascibility and a well-hidden inkling of amusement. The duke was not one to be crossed or taken lightly, but Charlie was coming to know him better and wasn’t nearly as afraid of him as he’d once been.

“Do find a comfortable seat, Artemis,” Mr. Layton said. “I have my doubts the Odd Earl will cease his dramatics long enough to invite you to do so.”

Philip assumed a very solemn expression. “Brother Adam would not recognize me if I ceased the ‘dramatics.’”

“Stop calling me that,” Adam muttered.

“I cannot call you Brother Bob.” Philip never had been one to let an opportunity for a jest slip by unseized.

“Best take up your business, Charlie,” Linus said, “before these two resort to fisticuffs again.”

“We cannot begin until Rose arrives.”

That brought Artemis’s eyes to him once more. “Rose is joining us?”

Charlie nodded. “Along with Wilson.”

He could see the interest growing in her expression. But Rose and her uncle arrived before Artemis could pose a single question. The two women sat together on a sofa, both eyeing the gathering with interest and confusion.

Wilson, who was privy to the reason for this meeting, sat near Philip and Mr. Layton and waited.

Charlie took a seat as well, the chair directly beside his wife. “Artie, you told me once that you wished ladies were permitted to be proprietresses of fashion houses and modiste shops, as you and Rose”—he glanced to the other woman involved in the scheme he was about to propose—“would be bang-up proprietresses. I’ve wished there were a way of making that happen. I’ve seen the work the two of you do in the sewing room at Brier Hill. And Mr. Layton has told me authoritatively that your work is second-to-none.”

Artemis looked around the room, clearly unsure of what was happening and, if he was gauging her expression correctly, a little nervous. She exchanged a silent look of uncertainty with Rose.

“I mentioned your seemingly unattainable wish to Philip and Jason, Jason being something of an expert in contracts and legal-wrangling. They, in turn, consulted with Mr. Layton and Wilson, who are inarguable experts in the area of and various players in the world of fashion.”

Artemis had grown very still. Hers was precisely the expression she’d worn while Mater had told her of Father’s role in Artemis’s earliest hopes and dreams. Artemis was terrified she was about to be let down.

Charlie took her hand and whispered, “Trust me, Artie.”

She took a shoulder-raising breath and nodded.

“James”—Charlie motioned to the man in question, her sister Daphne’s husband—“has experience protecting one’s reputation in Society whilst undertaking a trade. And your brother-in-law Harry”—he was also present—“has successfully built a profitable venture from virtually nothing. Linus is here mostly because he’s nosy.”

“I suspect the lot of you have been scheming,” Artemis said.

Charlie kissed her hand tenderly. “We have a proposition for the two of you.” He looked at Rose and Artemis in succession. “One you needn’t be afraid to hear out.”

She slid her arm through his. “What is this proposition?” she asked the room.

“A modiste’s shop on Bond Street,” Mr. Layton said. “I know of a property there that could be obtained for a reasonable cost. Further, I am acquainted with a dressmaker who is not only remarkably talented but is also as reliable as a lighthouse in a storm.”

“How does that involve us?” Rose asked.

“This modiste would make, in this shop, the dresses the two of you design, with the invaluable input of Wilson,” James said. “A go-between, which is essential to avoiding scandal.”

Artemis sat up a little straighter. Rose’s gaze narrowed on them.

Mr. Layton retook the explanation. “We would put it about that this new shop, owned by a mysterious proprietress, the name of whom the two of you are welcome to invent, specializes in designing entire wardrobes for the very fashionable as well as one-of-a-kind gowns and dresses for those wishing to make a splash without looking a quiz.”

“We would have our own shop?” Artemis held fast to Charlie’s arm. Her head darted about as she looked to each of them for confirmation.

“There is some degree of risk,” Harry said, “but it has every promise of being profitable. Assuming, of course, His Grace doesn’t storm about the place, threatening to behead your customers.”

As always, the duke ignored the jab. This was, Charlie understood, a long-established pattern with those two men.

“You really think this could work?” Artemis’s eyes darted about, hope warring with caution in her posture. She reached out with her free hand and grasped one of Rose’s. Her friend and abigail looked every bit as cautiously hopeful.

All the gentlemen nodded.

She looked to Rose. “A shop,” she whispered.

“I can hardly believe it.” Rose appeared to struggle with the possibility even more than Artemis.

“We would, of course, not proceed until we were certain both of you could do so without fear of reprisal or difficulties,” Adam said. “But it is more than merely possible, Artemis and Miss Narang. It is within your grasp.”

Rose was never one to appear overset or anything but utterly calm. In that moment, though, she simply shook her head, her expression that of a person entirely overwhelmed.

Artemis looked to Charlie. “We would have to be in London at least half the year. I know you do not care for Town. I want you to be where you will be happy.”

“My dear, wherever you are, I want to be. Wherever you are, that is where I will be happy.”

“If you two keep this up, I will vomit,” Harry tossed out in warning, earning a laugh from the room.

Discussions of the proposed business became more detailed, with Rose and Artemis joining Adam and James as they explained the calculations they’d made and discussing with everyone the complications they foresaw. Charlie watched with joy as Artemis came to life. The lady who had spent a lifetime hiding her pain behind a mask of indifference had growing reasons to be openly and unabashedly optimistic.

Mr. Layton moved to sit beside Charlie. “It is good to see her happy.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Your father would be proud of you, Charlie. I hope you realize that.”

Charlie slouched a bit in his chair, but not in frustration or defeat, as he had so often in the past. “You knew him better than I did. If my calculations are correct, and I’m certain they are, even Wilson knew my father longer than I did.”

Mr. Layton nodded. “Wilson has known all the Gents for thirty years. He was younger than you when we first met him.”

“I think I would have enjoyed knowing Wilson as a young man.”

Mr. Layton laughed. “The Gents had some grand adventures together, though we were as different from one another as night and day.”

“Why is it none of you have been part of our lives until now?” Charlie asked. “It seems so odd that you’ve been playing least in sight for so long.”

“Your father asked it of us in his will,” Mr. Layton said. “He knew our tendency to swoop in and fix things, whether or not they need fixing. He wanted to guarantee that your mother was able to raise you boys as she saw fit, to have the influence and importance in your lives that she needed and wanted to have and that he knew you brothers would benefit from. The best way to assure that was to ask us to tread lightly until you were all grown.”

“Then you haven’t seen Mother in thirteen years?”

Mr. Layton clicked his tongue. “Of course we have. We have visited during times when you boys were away at school. We have written to her and she us. Those who were in London anytime she was never failed to call on her. I assure you, we have not neglected her, but neither have we cast aside your father’s instructions.”

“And were you not at least curious how my brothers and I were getting on?”

Mr. Layton studied him a moment. “I suspect, Charlie, your brothers have not always been good about including you in their discussions.”

That was an understatement. “I’m the baby. Babies don’t take part in discussions.”

“Well, I’m including you in this one because I think you need to know you were never abandoned.” Mr. Layton leaned his elbow on the arm of his chair, as if settling in for a drawn-out topic. “Niles—Mr. Greenberry—has a son who served in the army alongside your brother Stanley. That was no coincidence. When the Duke of Hartley found himself searching out a vicar to offer three of the livings at his disposal, his uncle, Lord Aldric, suggested Harold. When Jason was contemplating asking a chance-met Frenchman to accompany him to the Continent and, later, to act as tutor to his wife’s brother, he talked to Henri, since he has vast connections amongst the French émigrés.”

Lud, that was a lot of connections.

“When Philip and Sorrel needed a doctor who created braces and other such devices, they spoke with Kes—Mr. Barrington—as he has vast experience in that arena. I have an estate not terribly far from Fallowgill and sent detailed reports of its situation to Philip when it was struggling, which also put me in a position to offer help to Stanley and Marjie when they first took up residence there. Niles has experience with horse breeding and provided assistance to Corbin when he first began his efforts at Havenworth. Kes’s brother-in-law is a barrister, attached to Lincoln’s Inn, and he assisted Jason in beginning his studies there. When the love of Corbin’s life found herself in horrible danger, Lord Aldric summoned his many connections to discover chinks in the armor of her tormentor, utilizing his nephew’s high standing to add intensity to the counterattack. And each of us met often with Philip, Layton, and Crispin when they assumed the reins of their estates.”

“You did all of that?”

“Your father would have guided each of you in your pursuits and concerns and decisions,” Mr. Layton said. “He would have fought your battles with you. To do so on his behalf was our very real honor.”

“All of my brothers seem to have known you other than me.” Charlie still couldn’t reconcile that. How could they have been such strangers to him when the rest of the family was so deeply acquainted with them?

“Harold doesn’t know us as well as the others do,” Mr. Layton said. “We ought to have introduced ourselves to you sooner. It feels a bit as if we blinked and you were suddenly grown.”

“May I ask another question?” Charlie had a million of them.

“Certainly.”

“Was my brother Layton named for you?”

“He was,” Mr. Layton said. “Many of the Gents named children after each other. We have always been like brothers, family in a way that goes beyond blood and birth. We would do anything for each other.”

“That is a legacy my father passed on,” Charlie said. “His sons, I’m discovering, would do anything for each other. Crispin is one of us, of course, and now Linus. I suspect even His Grace would join our cause if asked.”

Mr. Layton motioned to the other gentlemen in the room. “As would Mr. Windover and Lord Techney, I would wager.”

Charlie didn’t doubt it for a moment. “Imagine if they’d been here when we paid our not-entirely-friendly visit to Finley.”

“Finley?” The name seemed to strike Mr. Layton. “Why were you calling on him?”

“He was harassing Catherine—again—and treated Marjie poorly. And he”—Charlie swallowed down the anger that rose up in his throat—“made an insulting and indecent proposal to Artemis, heavily insinuating that she was the sort who would welcome it.”

Mr. Layton’s jaw tightened. “The weasel.”

“We warned him to play least in sight,” Charlie said. “I hope he does.”

“He will.” Mr. Layton straightened his sleeves. “I wrote him a letter when he was harassing your soon-to-be sister-in-law Clara a few years ago, warning him that his behavior toward the ladies of the ton was being whispered to their husbands and fathers and brothers. He rushed to Town but was unable to salvage his standing. It seems instead of choosing to mend his ways, he has decided to continue his harassments here.”

“But you think he’ll stop now?”

“The Gents discovered something about his family years ago that we’ve kept in our pockets in case using it became necessary.” Mr. Layton stood, suddenly looking entirely intimidating.

“What are you going to do?” Charlie asked.

“He has been hurting your father’s daughters. I am going to destroy him.” On that pronouncement, Mr. Layton left the room.

Has been hurting your father’s daughters.

For so long, Charlie had felt like his father had abandoned them, that he hadn’t been there when they’d needed him, like he’d promised to be. But he had been.

He had been there through the Gents’ quiet efforts on his behalf.

He had been there through those he had adopted into this family.

He had been there through Mater’s unwavering love and support.

And he was there, living on in each of the Jonquil brothers.

He was there.

And he always would be.