Cloudy with a Chance of Marriage

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Jilly watched Stephen go.

His leaving was inevitable, but it hurt her more than she had imagined possible. She’d thought giving up Hodgepodge would be the worst thing. But it wasn’t.

Seeing Stephen look at her as if they’d never met? Seeing the joy leave his eyes? The respect? The regard for her?

It was like someone tearing out her heart.

She swallowed and looked around her, seeing her bookstore with the eyes of someone who knows she must go away forever. There were books everywhere, stacked neatly on the shelves. Too neatly, actually. A thriving bookstore wasn’t so blasted tidy.

Her father’s large, oval looking glass reflecting the street was shiny and clean, but the street was still hazy with fog. Looking into that oval mirror with its ornate frame, she wished she could walk into that murky otherworld and stay.

This world was too painful.

Gridley, her cat, sprawled out on the ledge between two books. He seemed to sense her looking at him because he turned his head and blinked.

Little tears threatened her then.

Gridley.

He was hers, but Hector would never let her take him with her. Besides, Gridley belonged here, at Hodgepodge.

“Get on with it now,” Hector said in a threatening tone.

She jumped. “I will,” she said. “Just … just give me some time.” Her knees felt extremely wobbly.

He laughed. “Yes, you’ve had quite a shock, haven’t you?”

She refused to answer.

“You’re probably wondering how I found you.” His voice was smug.

She put a curl behind her ear. “No, actually, I’m not.”

Hector narrowed his eyes and advanced a few steps. “It was easy. I knew you’d not be able to hide long. You wanted to be found.”

Again, she said nothing. But he was coming closer, so she had to move. She walked out from behind her counter. “I’ve some things to pack,” she said.

Not much, really. She couldn’t take the books, of course.

She wouldn’t want to, either.

They belonged to Otis.

She felt a sudden jolt of power.

Hector had no idea.

It was the plan she’d shared with Otis, her worst-case-scenario plan. He’d balked, said it would never happen, not on his watch, but it was happening.

And she was very glad she’d thought ahead.

Now, when Hector thought she would be ripped away from all she’d managed to build up around her on Dreare Street, she would leave behind at least something …

The bookstore, for Otis.

“Yes, you wanted me to come after you,” Hector said, and now he was a mere foot in front of her. She could smell his sour breath.

She raised her chin. “I’ll be back in a moment.”

“You’d better make it quick,” he said.

She turned her back on him and marched up the stairs, hating him every step of the way.

When she found her bag and began stuffing it with the meager clothing she’d allowed herself to bring, she was no longer shaking with shock.

She was furious.

Why, a voice inside her said, did she have to give up her life for a churlish, stingy man with no heart?

She went quickly through the sitting room, leaving everything in place for Otis, and had the fleeting thought that she’d never found that diary again, the one that had belonged to another wife who’d lived long ago, happily, it seemed, at 34 Dreare Street.

At Captain Arrow’s house.

She flicked the curtain back for a moment and stared at the white stucco front of his home, freshly painted. The pirate flag was no longer hanging from the roof.

She was back to thinking of him as the captain.

She could never think of him as Stephen again, not without inciting a little hitch in her breath and a burning behind her eyes.

She let the curtain fall.

It was time to go.

As she descended the stairs, she couldn’t help feeling a bit of triumph. Whatever Hector was doing to her now, he couldn’t erase all that she’d accomplished while she’d been away from him.

There was Hodgepodge. And Otis would run it.

Otis.

He’d be so—

Upset.

She inhaled a ragged breath. Who would take care of him? Who’d notice his shoes?

She stopped for a moment outside her office, closed her eyes, and pressed her fingers over them.

A comforting thought came to her. Otis would find friends. He already had friends. Susan. Nathaniel.

He’d been with them, actually, more than he’d been with her the last few days. He’d been humming about the sitting room in the mornings when he’d made breakfast, and he’d come home whistling at night.

Otis, she felt in her gut, would be all right, as difficult as it would be for them to part from each other.

But would she be all right?

Would she?

She opened her eyes and stared at her office desk, but what she was seeing was a picture of Captain Arrow’s face, of the front door of Hodgepodge opening, of Lavinia Hobbs, Susan and Nathaniel, the Hartleys, Pratt, the Hobbses’ children and Thomas, and all the other people she’d met since she’d arrived on Dreare Street.

Even Lady Duchamp. Jilly had never found out where she went each morning.

She’d wanted to know.

Now she never would.

Drawing in a deep breath, she entered the store again. It was time to go. Time to leave everything behind.

“Miss Jilly!”

Otis was there, his chest heaving and—God love him—his shoe in his hand. The other one was missing, presumably thrown at Hector.

Hector flung his finger in Otis’s direction. “That oaf hit me in the eye with his demmed slipper.”

“Yes, and I’ll do it again!” Otis roared. “You’ve no right to come here and destroy our peace.”

Jilly raised her hand. “It’s all right, Otis. Don’t worry about me. We knew this day would come.”

Her loyal friend looked at her, his eyes hurt and his mouth sagging. “I don’t want you to go.” His voice trembled.

“I have to,” she said, and knew she had to be strong for him. “You’ll be fine. You’ve got Hodgepodge.”

“What?” Hector’s face reddened more than usual.

Jilly looked him in the eye. “You can’t get this, Hector. It belongs to Otis.”

Hector twisted his head to stare down Otis. “You cur. How did you manage that?”

Otis lifted his chin. “I don’t care what you call me. And I didn’t manage anything. Your wife was looking out for her best interests, and if I can help her do that, I will.”

Hector narrowed his eyes and leered. “Aye, you take this moldering place. I’ll take her.”

Otis’s eyes filled with tears.

Hector had known exactly what to say to hurt him. For a stupid man, he was surprisingly able to sling barbs.

Jilly wished she could hit him over the head with one of her large atlases.

The street was busy. Several children ran by the shop window. An elderly couple strolled down the other side of the street to watch the fair planners hard at work painting someone’s front stoop.

“Hello, Miss Jones.” A cheerful young man stuck his head in the open door. “How are you today?”

She gave him a wan smile. “I’m well, Gerald. Thanks for asking.”

“Good.” Gerald grinned. “Seeing your sign puts an extra spring in my step. Especially when we’ve got to do more hedge cutting next door to Lady Duchamp’s. She’s doing her best to be unpleasant. Yesterday she instructed her maid to toss a huge pot of rotted potato peelings out the windows on top of our heads while we were working.”

“Oh, Gerald!” Jilly was horrified.

“No matter,” he said. “We managed to get out of the way. Probably because her maid hates her, too, and called out a warning to us.” He put his hand up in a friendly farewell and departed.

“Who’s Lady Duchamp?” Hector asked.

Otis glowered at him. “Someone not nearly as wicked as you.”

Jilly cleared her throat. “She’s my neighbor across the street. She’s not particularly friendly. She has a niece, Lady Tabitha.”

“I wonder if we’ll see them about Town,” Hector said.

Jilly started. “What do you mean?”

Otis’s eyes grew wide.

“We’re staying here.” Hector looked her up and down. “In fact, we’ll be on Grosvenor Square. I rented a town house for the rest of the Season. I want Prinny and his cronies to know you’re no Celtic princess. You’re just Mrs. Broadmoor, a lying wife who needs a good comeuppance.”

“So that’s how you found me,” breathed Jilly. “Someone at the ball—”

“She never stopped being Lady Jilly!” Otis cried. “And who wouldn’t lie to get away from a blackguard like you?”

“Yes, indeed.” Hector gave a short laugh. “You stepped right into it, Miss Jones.” He was apparently ignoring Otis. “Maybe if you’d been a little less noticeable at that ball, you’d still be hidden from me. But no, you had to claim to be descended from Celtic kings.”

Jilly swallowed. Captain Arrow had made that up, but she’d asked him to devise a strategy. So they could get to the prince …

So they could get him to come to the street fair …

So they could save Dreare Street …

So she could live here—happily ever after.

It hadn’t worked that way, had it?

She gazed out the window and saw Gerald, Pratt, and Miss Hartley laughing and merrily slapping paint now on a front door and some shutters on the house next to Lady Duchamp’s.

The happily ever after hadn’t worked for her, but perhaps it wasn’t too late for everyone else.

“I’ll go with you to Grosvenor Square,” she said to Hector in a subservient voice, to pacify him. Her mind was working very fast. “Which house is it?”

She had to know if he was lying. Perhaps he really intended to take her straight back to the village in Somerset.

“Number 54,” he said, “right next to Lord and Lady Beechum’s residence. They’re high in the instep, so the broker tells me. And she’s a gossip.”

So. It was apparently true that they’d be moving onto Grosvenor Square. Her husband was really enjoying himself at her expense, but she knew this day had been coming.

Was running away worth it? a voice in the darkest corner of her mind teased her. It had been silent ever since that night in the garden with the captain.

Now it was back.

Another jolt of misery overcame her as she recalled the look in his eyes when he’d learned the truth.

You made a very foolish mistake, the same dark corner mocked her. You should have accepted your lot, the way other women do.

She reached out a hand and steadied herself on the edge of a shelf. “Let’s go,” she said in a shaky voice. “I’m ready.”

“But Lady Jilly—” Otis wasn’t bothering any more with the Miss Jilly’s. They were back to how things were in the village she’d lived in for all her life. She was a lady and always had been.

She managed to get past him without looking into his eyes and gathered a few things from the counter: her shawl, the book of poetry she’d just begun, and the little journal she’d kept. She’d ceased with the silly story about the captain and Miss Hartley and their dozen children. Now she was writing about her own hopes for the future, hopes she’d considered realistic—as Alicia Fotherington had.

“I’ll be fine,” she told her friend in firm tones.

It pained her to ignore Otis’s concern, but she couldn’t tell him her plan. She had to leave.

Now.

Before the rest of Dreare Street heard the truth.

If she stayed hidden in the house on Grosvenor Square, perhaps no one else would find out her true situation, beyond Captain Arrow. And she already knew he would tell no one.

Jilly was betting on the fact that Hector was a supreme liar and was lying now. They might go to Grosvenor Square but she doubted for long. He wouldn’t want the whole of London society talking about how his wife left him. He had pride. Far too much of it.

This sojourn in Grosvenor Square was probably the most frightening revenge he could think of. He’d probably devised the idea on the journey to London. He’d hate to part with the funds required to keep up a house in Mayfair, so she was sure they wouldn’t linger for the entire Season.

No. He was merely attempting to torture her with the possibility of extended shame. She had no doubt.

In his own twisted way, he was quite brilliant. Jilly would be mortified to have to live in London and know that everyone would be talking about her, the daughter of a viscount who’d fallen so far that she’d pretended to be descended from Celtic kings and pretended to be an unmarried lady.

Despite her authentic pedigree, she’d not be invited to parties because of her deceit. Either that, or she would, so the party-goers could see the disaster of her life up close.

It didn’t matter, really. No doubt Hector planned on keeping her confined to the house, which would suit him. He was exceedingly dull and at home had shown no interest in attending musicales or village dances.

And if, for some reason, he did intend to parade her about society?

She’d claim illness. She knew Hector would be willing to believe her. She could claim an attack of nerves—he’d like that, as he would have induced it—and she could lounge around in a fragile state for the time being.

Because all she needed was two days.

After that, everyone and their cousin could know she was Hector’s wife.

She just couldn’t have Prinny learn about it until after the fair. He wouldn’t come, otherwise. And if he didn’t come, no one from the Upper Ten Thousand would come.

So she must keep the street from finding out. If Lady Duchamp discovered her secret, the whole of London society would know by the day’s end.

She’d do whatever it took to keep Hector content for two days.

Two miserable days.

And somehow, she’d also come back to Dreare Street on the day of the fair.

How? the awful voice in the dark corner of her mind asked her. How will you get back here when you’ve already failed so miserably at your plan to be free of Hector?

She didn’t know.

But right now, she couldn’t think of that. Time was running out. Someone, soon, would come by and ask why the carriage had been outside Hodgepodge. They’d ask Otis why Jilly had left in that carriage with a strange man. Already, she was sure Lady Duchamp was peering out her window and wondering what was going on. At this very moment, she might be calling for her cane and her shawl and demanding to have the front door thrown open so she could cross the street and see what the commotion was about.

Jilly had to leave before that happened.

But first she had to convey to Otis that he needed to make up some kind of excuse for why she was suddenly gone.

“Mr. Broadmoor,” she said, for that’s how he preferred to be addressed by her in public and sometimes in private, depending on his odd moods, “if you don’t mind, I’d like to leave immediately. Please tell the coachman to prepare the horses.”

“The coach is ready,” Hector said.

“Very well.” Jilly was unsure how she’d be able to get Otis alone.

She looked at the window ledge. “I’d like to take the cat with me.” She strode over to Gridley and scooped him up. “You won’t mind, will you?”

“Of course I bloody well mind!” Hector scoffed.

“Are you sure I can’t have him?” Jilly feigned true distress.

She’d already determined she’d miss Gridley, but he was better off here, basking on his shelf.

Hector made a face. “Put the cat down, and let’s go.” His voice tightened menacingly.

“No.” She turned her back to him. “Please. Not yet. I—I need to hold him a moment longer.”

Her back felt rigid, exposed to Hector’s malice. She cradled Gridley in her arms. He blinked up at her lazily, his mistress who fed him a small kipper every morning, along with a dish of cream.

A tiny tear pushed its way out of her eye and trickled down her cheek.

She heard Hector’s impatient release of breath. “Get that cat away from her,” he ordered Otis. “Why haven’t you done so already, you lummox?”

Jilly resisted the urge to turn around and tell Hector to shut his mouth—that was her dear friend he was maligning!—and waited.

Otis stumbled toward her, around two tables, in the process knocking a stack of prettily bound books to the floor.

It’s a small price to pay, and they can be cleaned and restacked, Jilly thought, still in shopkeeper mode.

When he got to her, their eyes met, and Otis froze for a moment.

“Hurry up!” Hector shouted.

Gridley twisted in Jilly’s arms.

“Here,” Jilly said aloud for Hector to hear. She thrust Gridley in Otis’s arms. “Good-bye, Gridley.” She petted him slowly, doing her best to appear reluctant to leave him.

“Say I was called away for family illness,” Jilly said in the merest of whispers. “I’ll be back for the fair. Get the captain’s help, meanwhile. Tell him … tell him I’m sorry.”

Otis’s eyes were still wide and she saw some pity in them. But she also saw a glimmer of hope, which he swiftly extinguished.

Good, Jilly thought. He understands.

Perhaps he understood more than she cared him to.

“I’ll miss you, Lady Jilly.” Otis gave a big sob. “Oh, how I’ll miss you!”

Heavens, he was playing his part too well. But it was what she loved about him, wasn’t it? She threw her arms about him, and Gridley squirmed, pressed as he was between them. When she pulled back, Otis gave a long moan of despair. The cat’s tail whipped back and forth in a frenzied motion. He wanted back to his ledge and peace.

Jilly couldn’t blame him.

She straightened her back, and looked at Otis with a great deal of affection. “I must go now, dear friend. Good luck with Hodgepodge.”

He suddenly seemed to remember he was holding Gridley and let him slip to the floor.

When he stood again, he took Jilly’s hand and raised it to his lips. “Good-bye, Lady Jilly. Best of luck to you.”

His voice was a mere whisper now. The real grief had come back to replace the staged.

She felt it, too.

Oh, how she hoped her new plan would work! She’d still be stuck with Hector—who’d be furious after he found out—but at least Dreare Street would have a chance to be happy.

She went to Hector, and with everything she had in her, forced herself to place her hand on his arm.

“You’ll never see her again, you idiot,” Hector said to Otis, and strode with her to the door. “Good riddance,” he said, looking back. “And may your bookstore go up in flames.”

To prove his point, he flicked his smoking cheroot through the air.

“No!” Otis shouted, and went scrambling after it.

Hector merely laughed.

Jilly thought she couldn’t feel any worse at that point. But when she headed straight for the carriage, she somehow knew Captain Arrow was watching her.

The shame she felt was so great, she could barely hold her head up.

She entered the carriage swiftly and was relieved when the coachman cracked the whip seconds later. They were on their way.

When they rolled out of Dreare Street onto Curzon Street, she clenched her hands in her lap. She’d be back, she told herself, in two days.

She would be back.