Page 20 of Bernadette’s Dashing Doctor (The Bookshop Belles #4)
CHAPTER 20
The Chancery Court
S ince Bernadette hadn’t seen Marie’s new home at Alston Castle, it hadn’t quite sunk in yet that Marie was a countess. Seeing her magnificent London townhouse in the heart of Mayfair really brought it home, however. Bernadette fairly gaped as she made her way up the steps to the wide double doors, promptly opened by a butler.
“Goodness me.” Estelle caught Bernadette’s arm in hers. “This is very grand!”
“Do you think Alston Castle is this grand? Marie seems completely at home!”
Marie was just stripping off her gloves and handing them to the butler, apparently accepting the deep bows and curtsies the staff were offering as her due.
“ Lady Renwick,” Estelle said, then gave an odd little laugh. “It’s too strange to think that one day I shall be Lady Ferndale. I cannot come to terms with it.”
A shriek greeted them as they entered the hall, and Louise came running from a parlour to the left, trying to hug both Estelle and Marie at once. Shaun Jackson followed with a grin on his face, stooping to kiss Bernadette’s cheek. He looked curiously at Mr Yates, and Bernadette realised that of course they had never met.
“Shaun, please allow me to introduce your brother-by-marriage - Felix Yates. Felix, Shaun Jackson.”
“A great pleasure,” Felix said, enthusiastically pumping Shaun’s hand. “My word, everyone told me you were a great tall fellow, but you really are a veritable giant! How admirably well suited you are for our dear Louise!”
Shaun looked pleased by that, and disposed to like Felix. They all progressed into the parlour where Estelle promptly sat down with a sigh and said “I’ve been sitting in a carriage all morning, why do I feel like all I want to do is sit some more?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?” Bernadette said dryly, “or do we need to once more go over the reasons why a seven-months-pregnant woman needs to rest a great deal?”
“Ugh.” Estelle smiled at her, and then beckoned her to come and sit down close. “All four of us together again,” she said with a happy sigh as Louise and Marie sat down too.
“And three of us married!” Louise said joyously.
Marriage was obviously agreeing with Louise just as well as with both her other sisters. Bernadette shoved down a pang of jealousy, glancing towards the other side of the room, where the gentlemen had congregated by the window. Glynn seemed to be on better terms with Felix now, and at least he was no longer ignoring Bernadette, though he did not seem to be actively seeking her out either. He was just being perfectly polite, as though they were mere acquaintances rather than the closeness she had come to enjoy.
She wasn’t entirely sure why he’d come to London with them. She was probably more capable of looking after Estelle at the moment than he was, despite Felix’s loud declarations that his wife must have her doctor in attendance. Glynn was far too intelligent to fall for that.
Realising she was staring at him as he talked animatedly with Shaun, Bernadette made herself look away, grinding her teeth. He did not return her affections, it was as simple as that. She needed to make herself move on!
“Marie, dearest.” Renwick came over and interrupted the sisters’ reunion. “Let the maids show everyone to their rooms, so that we can all wash up and change for dinner. My barrister is coming, so that you can all meet him before tomorrow.”
“Very well,” Marie said with a little sigh. “I suppose we can talk to our hearts’ content later.”
Bernadette hoped so. She had the sinking worry that everything would turn out exactly as planned for everyone but herself at the Chancery Court. What if they gave her guardianship to someone she’d never even met, who turned out to be an absolute ogre? It was very possible she wouldn’t even be allowed to go home to Hatfield. She might never see her sisters, or Glynn, again for years!
The barrister, a Mr Sears, did little to calm her fears. Deferential to Renwick, polite to the other men, he barely acknowledged the sisters if one of them chanced to ask a question.
“Well, I did not care for him overmuch,” Louise said bluntly as the ladies retired to the parlour after dinner, leaving the gentlemen in the dining-room with their port.
“Too late to get someone else, I’m afraid!” Marie made a face. “I could see Renwick was not pleased when Mr Sears ignored my question and Renwick had to ask it again, but the hearing is tomorrow. We shall just have to let him do his job.”
“That’s all very well for you to say,” Bernadette said, twisting her fingers together nervously and trying to remember if she had packed any chamomile tea. She desperately needed something to help her feel calm. “You’re safely married and needn’t fear your future being handed off to some random stranger!”
“I’m sure that won’t happen,” Marie said, but Bernadette could hear the lack of confidence in her voice. The countess then tilted her head and changed tactics. “On the other hand, perhaps this will drag out for so long you’ll come of age before it’s over. Then the entire point will be moot.”
“If you’re trying to cheer me up, it’s not working,” Bernadette said.
Bernadette held Estelle’s hand as they travelled to the Inns of Court. She was supposed to be supporting her sister in her time of need, but Estelle was the one who exuded calm and provided comfort to her instead. Bernadette felt absolutely sick. She’d drunk Estelle’s ginger tea instead when her sister claimed she did not feel nauseous that morning, but it didn’t seem to have helped.
Men in wigs strolled about as Bernadette and Felix helped Estelle out of the carriage. Having Felix’s smiling, confident demeanor gave Bernadette a sense that everything would be all right. But oh, how her stomach roiled and rolled with uncertainty! She pressed her hands against her belly and silently ordered herself to breathe.
“Are you all right?” a quiet voice said, and she looked around to see Glynn standing nearby, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Yes,” she said automatically, trying to summon up a smile. It felt thin and weak, and she sighed, deciding to be honest. “I’m nervous.”
He hesitated, and she wondered if he was going to throw out some silly platitude, telling her everything would be all right. Instead, he said “You have a lot of good people in your corner, Bernadette. I don’t think they’ll let anything bad happen to you. If the worst outcome should come to pass… well, there are options. I have a plan.”
“What kind of plan?” she wanted to ask, but there was no time; they were being called inside and separated.
At least he called me Bernadette again. It was a small thing to feel happy about, but somehow Glynn using her name had settled the worst of her stomach’s uneasiness. Bernadette linked her arm through Estelle’s, and they followed Marie and Louise inside.
Chancery Court was an imposing stone building with high panelled windows. If it was designed to make attendees feel small, it certainly fulfilled that duty.
A solicitor guided the sisters to the back of the court, where they could sit in the gallery. They were under strict instructions not to speak, which suited Bernadette as she fretted away.
The judge in black robes and a long wig that would not have been out of place in the times of the Cavaliers, sat on the King’s Bench at the other end of the hall, while the gentlemen sat at the long table with the solicitors and barrister as they began reading the details of the petition. The sun beamed through the tall windows, casting colour and spots of light as it passed through the stained glass, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air. A lot of dust. Bernadette sniffed in disapproval. Did the silly men even let maids in here to clean? Rosie, or Mary, would never have allowed a room to get so dusty!
Lord Renwick and his barrister did most of the talking during the hearing. The judge paid attention to the earl, and Bernadette had never been so grateful to have that kind of connection. They thought they were fortunate to have Lord Ferndale as a benefactor, but an earl was somebody even court judges were happy to listen to.
An earl and a baron and his heir, a town magistrate and a town doctor - eminent members of the community were joining forces to provide guardianship for one young woman who ran a bookshop, safeguarding the Baxter family’s legacy for Brutus.
The judge shook his head. Bernadette’s ears strained to hear his comments.
“You’re willing to vouch for a woman operating a business?”
Renwick’s barrister stepped up and explained further.
“It is not her business, it is her cousin’s, by the name of Brutus Baxter. He is heir to the bookshop and the residence above in the event of Mr Matthew Baxter’s demise, and is running it as a going concern at the present time, ably assisted by experienced personnel hired by his guardians. There is no further issue of women running a business. Brutus Baxter is the ward of Lord Ferndale and Mr Jackson, the town magistrate. He is the Baxter of Baxter’s Fine Books , m’lud.”
The ‘lud’ nodded. Bernadette grinned to herself. The ‘experienced personnel’ were herself and her sisters, but it would hardly be helpful to explain that to the judge. The barrister had listened, then, at least to Renwick’s barrister.
“If, when Brutus Baxter comes of age in nine years, it is the case that Matthew Baxter has not returned, we shall then return to the court to have Matthew declared dead, m’lud.”
The words hurt Bernadette’s ears. She did not want to hear anything referring to her father as no longer being of this earth. Her father had to be alive, somewhere. He simply had to be. Estelle’s hand tightened around hers, and Bernadette glanced at her sister’s face. Estelle had always been the best of them at putting on a brave face, but their father had been gone more than a year, and eight full months had passed since they last heard from him. Estelle’s other hand rested on the swell of her belly. Bernadette could guess what she was thinking. Would Matthew ever get to meet his grandchild?
As the day wore on, the light changed angles and the barrister’s voice droned on. More men in wigs came in and sat in the rows between the main table and the gallery at the back. It made it difficult to see what was going on with so many more bodies in front of them.
Bernadette’s ears strained to hear Renwick’s barrister over the murmuring, whispering crowd.
“And so, you see, m’lud, we have come not to prosecute the petition lodged by a Mr Joshua Baxter, who has since left England permanently for the Americas, with his wife and two remaining sons, but to declare it moot, since Mr Brutus Baxter is the heir to Mr Matthew Baxter’s estates. All we should like to do is declare Lord Ferndale, Lord Renwick, Mr Jackson and Dr Williams as the rightful guardians of Miss Bernadette Baxter until her father returns to these shores, or until she comes of age, whichever happens first.”
There was a little movement at the table. It was hard to see what was going on. It might have been Glynn standing up.
But why would he be standing?
“My Lord,” he said. Yes, it was definitely Glynn’s voice. “I seek to have my name removed from the board of guardians for Miss Bernadette Baxter.”
Her heart could have stopped with shock. Could he be more cruel? Why would he request such a thing unless he was planning on leaving Hatfield altogether?
“For what reason, er, Mister…” the judge said, searching for his name.
“Doctor Williams,” Glynn provided. “For the reason that I’m not a suitable guardian, because I wish to marry her.”
The court erupted.
Bernadette sat in mute shock.
Had he just said he wanted to marry her?
He could have asked me first! But a smile was beginning to spread across her face, warmth flushing her cheeks.
He wants to marry me.
Another shock came hot on the heels of the first, even as the judge was banging his fist on his desk and called the court to come to order.
A man’s voice rang out from the doorway, loudly saying, “Then perhaps you should ask me?”
Whoever could that be? Bernadette couldn’t see past her sisters. It was Louise, taller than the others, who caught sight of the man in the doorway, and shot to her feet.
“ Father? ”