Velvet

Chapter 25

An ant was crawling up the hack of Mr. Jeffrys's rusty black gown. In a minute it would reach his shoulder and then crawl onto his neck. He had a scrawny neck, like a chicken's, and it was dirty too. His white collar always had a dark ring around it.

Jake dreamily watched the ant's progress, wondering what the schoolmaster would do when it touched his skin. Perhaps he wouldn't notice and it would crawl down inside his shirt and bite him.

Jake grinned to himself, hugging this pleasurable thought. Perhaps it was a poisonous ant and the bite would swell up and Mr. Jeffrys would have a fever and have to go to bed. Perhaps it would be so bad, he'd decide to leave Burley Manor and go back where he came from.

A fly buzzed against the windowpane, and Mr. Jeffrys's chalk squeaked on the blackboard. Jake frowned at the long series of numbers appearing beneath the chalk. In a minute Mr. Jeffrys would tell him to come up and work the sum out for himself and he wouldn't be able to do it because he didn't understand long division. He thought he might have been able to understand it if the schoolmaster didn't drone on and on in that horrible thin, flat voice.

It was warm in the schoolroom. Mr. Jeffrys had a loathing of fresh air-he said it was bad fot his chest or something. Papa and Gabby loved to be outside. Papa had been away for a long time now. Jake wondered where Gabby was. Papa had said she had to stay in Paris and it wasn't anything to do with Jake that she couldn't come back with them. But Jake sometimes thought Papa had been fibbing…

Tears pricked behind his eyes and he blinked them away rapidly. He always felt like crying when he thought of Gabby. She was so warm and she was always laughing and she had such lovely clothes and she smelled of roses…

"Ow!" He sat up with a cry of pain, rubbing his knuckles. Mr. Jeffrys stood glaring at him, tapping his swishy stick on the edge of the desk.

"Master Praed, perhaps you would favor me with your attention," the schoolmaster said with one of his nasty yellow smiles that wasn't a smile at all. He gestured to the blackboard with his stick. "Perhaps you would do me the great honor of completing the sum I've begun."

Wiping his eyes with the back of his smarting hand, Jake went reluctantly to the board and picked up the chalk. The figures meant nothing to him, and he stared at them blankly.

"Dear me," murmured Mr. Jefffys, coming up behind him. He was standing so close, Jake could feel his breath stirring his hair and he could smell that sourmilk smell that seemed to hang around him. "We haven't been listening to a word I've said the entire afternoon, have we, Master Praed?"

Jake wrinkled his nose, trying not to breathe in too deeply. His stomach knotted with tension as he waited for the inevitable tirade. The words were not so much angry as hurtful, like little darts that buried themselves in his skin. It made him feel sick, and he stared at the white chalk figures, holding himself very still.

The sound of carriage wheels on the gravel below carried faintly through the sealed window. Mr. Jeffrys paused in full sarcastic flood and walked to the window.

"It seems his lordship has arrived," he observed, tapping the stick in the palm of his hand. "I'm sure he'll be very grieved to hear of your lack-" He stopped in astonishment as Jake abandoned his chastened position at the blackboard and ran to the window. He jumped on tiptoe to look out.

"Gabby! It's Gabby!" Before the outraged tutor could say or do anything, he'd bolted from the room, his feet resounding on the stairs as he hurled himself down them.

Mr. Jeffrys gathered his gown around him and marched downstairs in the wake of his errant pupil.

"Gabby… Gabby… Gabby…" Jake catapulted into Mrs. Bailey as he flew across the hall. Bartram had the front door open and jumped aside as the child shoved past him, almost tumbling down the steps to the gravel sweep.

Gabby had just alighted from the chaise and was leaning in to reach for something. His father stood behind her. There was another chaise standing on the gravel, but Jake didn't take this in at first in his joy.

"Gabby!" he bellowed again.

She spun around. "Jake!" Her arms went around him as he leaped against her, and she lifted him off the ground. "My, you have grown," she said, kissing his cheek. "I can hardly lift you now."

"That's 'cause I'm seven," the child gabbled. "Where've you been? Have you cone back to stay?"

"I realize I run a poor second after Gabrielle," Nathaniel said, sounding amused, "but how about a greeting for your father."

Laughing, Gabrielle set Jake on his feet. There was the barest hesitation in the boy's manner as he looked up at his father, but when Nathaniel smiled and bent to pick him up, he put his arms tightly around his neck and hugged him with a silent wealth of emotion that filled Nathaniel with a warm, deep joy.

"Lord Praed, Ireally do apologize." Mr. Jeffrys's accents, both obsequious and outraged, broke into the reunion. "Jake had no right to leave the schoolroom in such a discourteous and impetuous fashion. I will deal with him at once. Come here, young man." He moved purposefully, obviously prepared to wrest his pupil from Nathaniel's arms.

"Are you still around, Mr. Jeffrys?" Gabrielle turned to look at him, her lip curled in disdain. "You really are the most odious toad. I suggest you pack your bags and leave as soon as you can do so. Lord Praed will give you a month's wages in lieu of notice and the gig will drive you into Winchester, where you can catch the stage to take you back from whence you came."

She brushed her hands together with an air of great satisfaction.

Mr. Jeffrys's mouth opened and shut, and he looked just like the big old carp in the fish pond, Jake thought delightedly, unable to believe what he'd just heard.

"My lord?" Jeffrys turned in appeal to Nathaniel. "I don't know what to say-"

"We'll discuss it later, Jeffrys," Nathaniel said calmly, setting Jake on his feet. "You may be sure there'll be a generous settlement."

The tutor clutched the lapels of his gown in a convulsive grip as if trying to hang on to some symbol of his authority, then he turned and went back into the house.

Jake gave a gleeful shriek. "You sent him away, Gabby! Gabby sent old Jeffrys away!"

Gabrielle grinned down at him. "Mothers can be remarkably useful on occasion."

Jake blinked and then said in an awestruck voice, "You going to be my mother?"

"Would you like that?" She came down to his level, catching his chin in her hand.

Jake just gazed at her, speechless. Then he gave a loud whoop of joy and dashed away, racing round and around the gravel sweep, his arms flapping wildly in a violent imitation of a massive bird.

Georgie, who'd just alighted from the second chaise, regarded Jake's exuberance with a tolerant eye. "He seems to like the idea," she observed.

"Did you just give that tutor his walking papers, Gabby?" Simon was looking half shocked, half amused.

"Odious toad, she called him," Miles said with a grin. "Mind you, he did seem to be singularly lacking in attraction, even for a tutor."

"I suppose it was too much to expect you to wait for the ink to dry on the marriage license before you started throwing your weight around," Nathaniel remarked with a degree of resignation.

"When it comes to Jeffrys, yes," she responded firmly.

Nathaniel shook his head with a half-smile and called to his son, still tearing around the circle loudly whooping.

"Jake! Jake, come here now and greet our guests in proper fashion."

Jake turned and came swooping toward them, flapping his wings. His father reached out and collared him, hauling him to a standstill.

"You remember Lord and Lady Vanbrugh, don't you?"

Jake nodded, too out of breath to speak. His face was scarlet with his exertions and his hair stuck damply to his forehead.

"Make your bow," Nathaniel prompted.

Panting, Jake obeyed, jerkily sticking out his damp hand. Taking a gasping breath, he asked Gabrielle, "Are you married to Papa now?"

"Almost," she said, wiping his face with her handkerchief. "That's why Georgie and Simon and Miles are here. We're going to be married in the church tomorrow."

"Can I watch?"

"Of course. That's why we came here," she said, taking his hand. "Shall we go and tell Primmy that Mr. Jeffrys is going?"

Miles watched them walk off hand in hand, Jake's bubbling voice continuing almost without pause for breath. "It's funny, but I'd never have thought of Gabby as a mother," he said. "She seems too exotic, somehow."

"Oh, that's nonsense," Georgie declared. "Gabby's wonderful with children. You should see her with my baby brothers and sisters. And little Ned dotes on her."

"Shall we go inside?" Nathaniel said abruptly, his countenance suddenly dark. He strode ahead of them into the house.

Simon and Miles exchanged a rueful look. "Did I say something wrong?" Georgie murmured, slipping her arm through her husband's.

"No," Simon reassured. "He's just a bit sensitive on the subject of children because of Helen."

"But that was seven years ago!"

"He'll get over it. Gabby'll make sure of that," Miles said with confidence as they entered the house.

Gabrielle came running down the stairs as they went into the library. "Oh, there you all are. Georgie, come and help me choose my wedding dress. Ellie's unpacking my things and I can't decide whether to wear flaming crimson, since I am a scarlet woman about to be made an honest one, or some niminy-piminy sprigged muslin."

"You don't have any sprigged muslin," Nathaniel said, pouring wine for his guests, his expression once more equable. "At least, not that I've seen."

"I suppose I could wear my britches, like I did when the Danish captain married us."

"What Danish captain?" Simon asked, fascinated.

"Oh, on a boat to Copenhagen. Nathaniel asked him to marry us and he did his best, poor fellow, but I don't think he knew what he was doing, so we decided we'd better do it again, properly. Just to be on the safe side. We don't want any little ones born on the wrong side of the blanket, do we?"

"Gabby!" Georgie exclaimed, for once shocked.

Gabrielle just laughed. She glanced at Nathaniel, expecting to see amusement on his face, and suffered a shock. His face had closed, his mouth tightened, his eyes flattened. He looked at his most intimidating.

"I don't find that amusing," he said in cutting accents.

"Why not?" Gabrielle perched on the arm of the sofa. "Maybe it wasn't a piece of scintillating wit, but it wasn't that awful."

"It was tasteless and unfunny. Do you want a glass of wine?"

"Not if you're going to be such a stuffy scold." She stood up. "Come to my room, Georgie, and help me go through my wardrobe."

Georgie left the men in the library with a degree of relief. Nathaniel was looking thunderous and the other two embarrassed.

"I haven't seen Nathaniel look so ominous in ages," she said in the privacy of Gabrielle's apartments.

"He doesn't like talking about children," Gabrielle said. "He feels that Helen's death was caused by his own thoughtlessness. I suspect he's not going to want any more."

"Oh." Georgie frowned. "But what about you? Do you want children?"

"Yes," Gabrielle said. "I want lots of them."

"What will you do?"

"I'm hoping that once he gets used to being married again, he'll stop worrying about it and it'll just happen naturally."

"But what if it doesn't?"

Gabrielle shrugged. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it." She flung open the wardrobe, where Ellie had hung her gowns. "Now, what's it to be? I suppose I really can't wear black, not to my own wedding."

"No, of course you can't," Georgie said indignantly. "Not even you could do something that outrageous." She riffled through the dresses. "What about this?"

Gabrielle put her head on one side, frowning at the gown of lilac crepe. "No, I don't think so. There's an ivory silk in there with black velvet ribbon knots on the sleeves…… Oh, it's you, Nathaniel." She turned at the sound of the door opening. "Do you think I can wear a dress with black velvet ribbon?"

"I wouldn't presume to have an opinion when it comes to your wardrobe," he said, his tone constrained, his eyes still frowning. "I wanted to consult you about Jefffys, but I see you're busy."

"I'm just going," Georgie said hastily. "I have to decide what I'm going to wear to this wedding."

"I believe Mrs. Bailey has had your luggage taken to the red suite," Nathaniel said with some of the stiffness of the old days, holding the door for her.

"Thank you." Georgie whisked herself into the corridor, wondering again just what it was her cousin saw in Nathaniel Praed. Sometimes he could be quite approachable, but usually he was downright intimidating.

In her bedroom Gabrielle regarded Nathaniel quizzically. "Why do I have the feeling you're about to be unpleasant?"

"What possessed you to make such a vulgar and indiscreet remark?" he demanded, striding to the window. "It embarrassed everybody."

"No, youembarrassed everybody," she corrected, "by scolding me like that."

Nathaniel said nothing for a minute as he stared out the open window. A flock of swifts were diving andcirclingthroughacloudofmidgeshoveringoverthe river,andtheeveningairwashotandheavy.

Hedidn'twanttohavethisdiscussion,buthe knewithadtocomeoutintheopen,forGabrielle's sake.Hehadn'trealizeduntilthenhowstronglyhefelt. "Gabrielle,Idon'twantanymorechildren,"hesaidfinally.

Gabriellesatonthebed."Ithinkyoumeanthat youdon'twantmetobecomepregnant."

"It'sthesamething."Heturnedtofaceher,his eyestroubledbuthisfaceset.

Sheshookherhead."No,it'snotatallthesame thing.AndI'mtellingyounowthatIamnotHelen. I'mstrongasahorse,asyouwellknow,and!-"

"Idon'twanttodiscussthisfurther,Gabrielle,"he interrupted."Iamnotpreparedtofatheranymore children.I'msorry."

"Don'tyouthinkthisisabitpremature?"Gabrielle said."Tobequitesodefinitebefore-"

"Iwantedtobringitupnow,"heinterrupted again."Ifyoucan'tacceptthis,thenI'llunderstandif …if-"Hebrokeoff,runninghishandsthroughhis hair,hiseyesanguished."Ifyoudon'twanttogo throughwiththewedding,"hefinishedinarush.

Hewasserious!Instinctively,sheattemptedto lightentheatmosphere."Butwe'realreadymarried," shepointedout,raisinghereyebrows.

Nathanielshookhishead."Ithinkwecanforget thatridiculousceremony,"hestated."Godknowsifit waslegal,butI'mpreparedtoforgetiteverhappened."

"Well,I'mnot,"Gabriellesaidfirmly."AndIthink it'smostunchivalrousofyoutosuggestImightbecome abigamist."

"Don'tmakeajokeofthis."

"Well,Idon'tknowwhatelsetodo,"sheretorted. "You'rebeingabsurd."

"I'mbeinghonest,"hesnapped."AndI'mtryingto saveyoufrommakingamistake."

"Oh." She stood up, her eyes flashing. "Well, let me tell you, Nathaniel Praed, that I don't need saving from anything, and I'll make whatever mistakes I choose. And if that includes marrying an arrogant, miserable, self-willed, ill-tempered, misanthropic bastard, then so be it."

"You are a termagant," Nathaniel declared as honeyed relief flowed in his veins.

"Well, maybe you'd like to think twice about marrying me, in that case."

"Oh, I have," he said with a slow grin. "Many times. It doesn't seem to make any difference though."

"Bastard," she said again, but with a responding grin, relieved in her turn that the painful intensity had dissipated. He'd change his mind once he was secure in their marriage. There was plenty of time.

"And as it happens, I do have an opinion on black ribbons," Nathaniel said. "I won't permit them. This is a wedding, not a wake." He pulled her to him, pushing up her chin. "And once we're married, I won't tolerate being savaged by a disrespectful virago either. Is that clear?"

Before she could respond, he sealed the statement with his mouth on hers, his hands sliding around her body to cup her buttocks, pressing her hard against him until he felt the playful resistance leave her. Her mouth was soft and yielding beneath his, her body moving against him of its own accord.

The door burst open at this inopportune moment. "Gabby… Gabby… can I… oh-" Jake stood openmouthed in the doorway, staring.

Nathaniel released Gabrielle and turned slowly, bending a stern eye on his blushing son. "I believe you forgot something," he said. "What do you normally do outside a closed door?"

Jake shuffled his feet. "Knock."

"Precisely. I suggest you go back outside and start again."

"It's easy to forget in all the excitement," Gabrielle said.

Jake shot her a grateful look and rapidly disappeared.

"You shouldn't make excuses for him," Nathaniel said, frowning.

"Oh, but he was so embarrassed, poor lad."

"It could have been a great deal more embarrassing…" Nathaniel's frown deepenec as he regarded the closed door. "Now what's he doing?"

"Perhaps he's too uncomfortable to try again."

Nathaniel shook his head and impatiently opened the door. Jake was standing in the corridor, chewing his lip. "Did you want to talk to Gabrielle?" his father demanded.

"Yes, sir." Jake nodded.

"Well, come in, then." Nathaniel waved him in and Jake scuttled past him. Clasping his hands tightly, he gazed intensely up at Gabrielle and spoke in a rush.

"Primmy says that when people get married they have page boys," he blurted out. "Can I be your page boy when you marry Papa?"

"Yes, of course you can." Gabrielle bent to kiss the earnest little face. "I would be honored… and so would Papa." She glanced up at Nathaniel and Jake's anxious eyes followed hers.

"Yes, I would," Nathaniel said gravely. "In fact, I'd like you to do something very important. I need someone to hold the ring and give it to me at the right moment. Do you think you could do that?"

Jake's face was scarlet, his brown eyes huge, and he could only nod vigorously. Then abruptly he turned and ran from the room, and they could hear his shrieking whoop of excitement receding down the corridor as he headed for the nursery stairs.

"Now, that, Papa, was an inspiration," Gabrielle approved, smiling. "And it deserve? a kiss."

"More than that, I believe," Nathaniel said. "But I think I'll lock the door."

******************************************************************

The next afternoon Jake stood behind his father in the dim, musty light of the village church, waiting for Gabrielle. He clutched the gold circle that Papa had given him so tightly that it seemed to be ingrained in his hot, sticky palm.

Papa had said there wouldn't be anyone there but their three guests and Primmy and Mrs. Bailey, and any of the household who might want to give up part of a Saturday afternoon to see Lord Praed married, but in fact the church was full. The entire village had turned out, as well as the estate workers and tenants.

Jake's stomach was fluttering. Supposing he missed the right moment, or, horror of horrors, dropped the ring. He stared down at the uneven flagstones at his feet and imagined the bright little circle of gold rolling away under one of the pews among all those feet.

He took a step closer to Papa and tugged his coat with his free hand. "What happens if I drop it," he said in a loud whisper that reached the front pews.

"We'll just pick it up again," Nathaniel said with a calm smile.

Jake nodded, but kept hold of his father's coat. It made him feel better.

There was a rustling in the church, people turned their heads toward the door, and Jake looked too. Gabby was walking up the aisle with Lord Vanbrugh. She was smiling, acknowledging the people in the pews, and when she reached Jake, she bent down and kissed him.

"I might drop it," he whispered.

"Then we'll pick it up," she said, just like Papa, and he knew it wouldn't matter. He let go of his father's coat and looked confidently around as Reverend Addison began to speak in his Sunday voice.

"I think I'm going to cry," Georgie said matter-of-factly to Miles. "Doesn't Gabby look wonderful?"

She did, Miles agreed. Nathaniel had prevailed over the black ribbons and she wore a blue-gray gown opening over a half-slip of Valenciennes lace, her hair piled high and held in place with a pearl-encrusted silver fillet. Pearls encircled her throat and wrists, and their creamy pallor seemed to blend with her skin, accentuating the dark eyes and the vivid fire of her hair.

Nathaniel's head whirled. He wondered if he would ever become so used to her that she would no longer take his breath away. And then she gave him her crooked little smile and there was a gleam of mischievous invitation in her eye, and he knew that she would never lose the power to enchant him.

"With this ring I thee wed," the Reverend Addison intoned.

Jake instantly stuck out his hand, open-palmed. His father peeled the ring off his palm and ruffled his hair. Gabby winked at him, and he squeezed one eyelid shut, wrinkling his nose inimitation.

"With my body I thee worship…"

Gabrielle's hand inNathaniel's quivered, her fingers tightening imperceptibly around his, her eyes locked with his.

Georgie gave up the struggle and snuffled pleasurably into her handkerchief and even Miles blinked rapidly. The powerful magnetism between the couple at the altar was almost palpable inthe still, attentive church.

And then it was all over and the organist began to play and Lord and Lady Praed went into the vestry to sign the register.

"Jake, I want you to run an errand for me," Nathaniel said, "if I can find some paper-oh, thank you." He took the sheet of paper and quill offered by the vicar and wrote swiftly. "I want you to take this note to Mr. Stewart, the bailiff. He was in the church, but I expect he's outside now, waiting for us to come out. Can you do that?"

Jake nodded importantly, took the note, and ran off.

"What was all that about?" Gabrielle scrawled her signature in the ledger and stepped aside to make room for Nathaniel.

"I hadn't expected such a turnout," he said. "I thought I'd better host a reception. Stewart will put it about that the Red Lion is open for business and the drinks are on Lord Praed."

Gabrielle smiled to herself. She'd noticed that winter day on the river that a different side of Nathaniel was revealed when he was in character as lord of the manor; it was a role at which he was naturally adept, inspiring both affection and loyalty.

Outside, they were engulfed in the throng of well-wishers, women bobbing curtsies, men twisting their hats between their hands, offering awkward but genuine congratulations, children shyly smiling, pushed forward by their parents.

It seemed to put a seal on the marriage that Gabrielle hadn't thought she needed or wanted. And yet this public acknowledgment filled her with a deep sense of satisfaction and contentment. She was well and truly married to Nathaniel Praed. A convoluted past of deception and fear behind her, a simple conventional future lying ahead.

Talleyrand would be smiling.

"Honeymoon time," she whispered as the crowd thinned and they began to walk toward the lych-gate.

"So it is," Nathaniel said. His hand drifted down her back, coming to rest on her bottom.

"There are people around!" she hissed, moving forward. The hand followed her.

"So what? I can touch my legal wedded wife if I wish… wherever and however I wish." He smiled with such complacency that Gabrielle went into a peal of laughter.

"Why do I have the feeling our hosts are about to find us surplus to requirement?" Miles murmured.

"I think we should dine in Lymington," Simon agreed. He looked behind him. "Where's Jake? Oh, there he is." He called the boy, who came running over, still glowing with self-importance. "How would you like to come into Lymington with us, Jake?"

"With Gabby and Papa?"

Georgie shook her head. "No, just with us."

Jake frowned. Papa and Gabby were walking very close together. He remembered the previous afternoon when they'd been kissing. A blush spread over his cheeks and he nodded. "Yes, please. If Papa says I can."

"Don't worry about that," his godfather said cheerfully, taking his hand. "I doubt your father will have an opinion on the subject."