Page 31 of A Wager at Midnight (Betting Against the Duke #2)
Chapter 31
S TEPHEN —T ANTIE’S H OUSE
S unlight warms my lids. I reach for Scarlett and miss. Stretching, I open one eye and then the other. I confirm the worst. I’m lying on my tantie’s lavender sofa alone. I guess she tired of sleeping beside me on the sofa. My aunt is old-fashioned, but I would love nothing better than to sneak into a guest room and snuggle with my future wife.
Scarlett handled the situation so well. There was only one time I became fretful for her, but the strength of that woman continues to amaze me.
The smell of bacon and toast scents the air. That means Mrs. Ellis is up and cooking. She’s fabulous and her cassava pone—the one Tantie claims as her own—is always moist.
I’m so thankful that I don’t smell rose water. Seeing Eveline again, I didn’t realize she liked that fragrance.
My cousin sits across from me in a nearby chair. “Oh, you are finally up. You’re a heavy sleeper.”
Maryanne sips tea.
I flop back down, wondering if everything was a dream. Did I end up coming to Cheapside by myself? Did I fall into a deep trance from too much cassava pone?
“Benny brought you some fresh clothes a day ago. And some peppermint liquid.”
Good ole Benny is always looking out for me. “But where’s my woman? Scarlett Wilcox. Where is she?”
“Stephen, she left Saturday about noon. She drew me a diagram to help me latch on. I folded it and will save it for my husband. I think he’ll like such a picture.”
Friday, we arrived here. What day is it? And is my woman going places as Scarlett or Scotland? Both surnames bettah be Carew. “Maryanne, do yuh . . . do you have a paper? Do you know if the Royal Society or the Annual Exhibition is open?”
She shakes her head. “No paper, but since it’s Sunday, I doubt anything is open. Stephen, are you well? Do I need to hire a physician for you? The accoucheur might be good for something, something that’s not babies.”
Gotta kinda agree with her. Missing signs of distress for any woman, particularly Blackamoor women, is common because of some misguided belief in higher pain tolerance. I’m not sure what the accoucheur’s problem is, but the attitude has hurt our women. My hospital will be different. My wife and I will make it different.
“Cousin, would it be silly of me to ask you two very important questions?”
Wincing, she leans over to take up her cup. Her movements are stiff. She touches her stomach, then gets the cup. “Ask anything, you dear man.”
“A baby boy, that is what you had?”
Holding my breath, I wait, hoping for a yes or a live child. Anything else would be a tragedy. From the couch, I see her formerly round abdomen is flat.
“What is with you, Stephen?”
“Please, just answer—”
“Yes. Little Stephen Scotland Halland is good. He’s better than good. He’s perfect. You and your Scarlett are an amazing team.” Her face frowns. “You should marry her, no matter what she’s done.”
That tone—part sympathetic, part you’re stupid —gnaws at my gut. I sit up fully and rub my jaw. There’s at least a day’s worth of shadow. “I’ve been asleep for a while.”
“Well, you didn’t sleep for a long time. You and Scarlett both stayed up checking on the baby, checking on me. You two saved our lives. But like I said, it’s Sunday.”
I stand up to get my blood pumping. “Did Scarlett go upstairs to sleep?”
“No, Stephen. She’s gone. I don’t think she wants to see you again.”
I’m pacing before I can stop myself. “No, she surely went to refresh herself. And Scarlett and I argue all the time. This is no different, except we didn’t argue. We saved lives together.”
Maryanne shakes her head. “She didn’t want you obligated to marry her.”
“What Auntie Theodora says is irrelevant. It’s what we want that matters.”
She sighs. “Does she know how you feel? I asked her if you’d ever told her you loved her. She said you told her you had to marry.”
I open my mouth to defend myself, but I have nothing to say. Walking the length of the room; I do it so many times, I’m dizzy. “She knows me. She knows she drives me crazy. And I know how to drive her crazy. She knows how I feel.”
“Apparently, she doesn’t. A woman can’t go on a hunch.”
I shake my head. “No, there has to be another reason.”
Maryanne sips her tea. Then she looks up at me with sad eyes.
“Come on, girly. Yuh know. What did I do? Or what she’s doing? Does it involve wearing breeches?”
Maryanne squints at me like I’ve lost what little sense I had. “Stephen, she said she knows the truth and she has to make things right. If it meant losing you, she didn’t want you obligated. Her doubts about how you truly feel were enough for her to walk away.”
I sink back on the couch. “Make things right” . . . There’s only one thing that could mean. She must’ve figured out that Lydia is Katherine’s child, which means Lydia is the Duke of Torrance’s daughter.
Scarlett has left me to correct the lie of a situation which I helped perpetuate. She has gone to share the truth.
“So, that’s it?” Maryanne squints at me. “You’re not going to go fight for Scarlett?”
I rub my hand over my face. “I did something for my patients. I helped them carry out a falsehood. I thought it would harm no one. Scarlett is correct to set things right.”
But she will pay.
Her sisters may never forgive her. And the duke. He’s been punishing all who’ve wronged him. “I must own my part.” I rise. “I need to face consequences and go win back my woman. Maybe stop a war.”
Maryanne salutes. “Go to it. She’s good for you. Make sure she knows this time that you love her. No jinx in that, not with the right woman.”
I will. “Benny.” I call to my driver and prepare to fix the situation.
Upstairs, the little baby boy starts crying. I hear my aunt’s movements upstairs. “Pickney, don’t cry.” Tantie’s voice sounds so hopeful. “Grandma’s coming.”
She brings down the little boy. I peek into the swaddled bundle and see an olive-colored baby reaching for the sky. And then he’s passed to Maryanne for lunch.
The babe’s suckle is strong.
“That’s the best sound, cousin. You and the baby, whole and well.”
She covers the hungry boy beneath her robe. “I have a job, Stephen. You do, too.”
I scoop up the pile of clothes and go up the stairs to bathe and plan. Then Benny and I will go track down Scarlett, the woman who deserves my whole truth.