Page 7 of The Elusive Phoebe (The Widows of Lavender Cottage #1)

Chapter Four

S he walked Mr. Crane to the door and bid him farewell as Lilian and her husband stepped up on the stoop.

“Oh, my dear!” Lillian held out her arms.

Phoebe rushed into them. “I am so so pleased to see you. Oh! This is perfect timing.” She turned to her Steward. “Please meet Lilian and Oliver Hartwell. The only people here who know me as both Phoebe and Lady Smalling.” She laughed. “In truth, the only people here who know me at all.”

He bowed. “Pleased to meet you.” He tipped his hat and a footman opened his carriage door. “Now, I’ll let you all get caught up and I’ll return the same time next week.”

“Yes, thank you.” She watched him climb up into his carriage for a moment, and then she turned to Lillian. “Please, come inside.”

They followed her in and everyone took a seat in the small salon just off the front room area.

She brought the tea tray over to them. “Please, have some tea. Mr. Crane and I were just having a bite.” She still couldn’t wrap her head around the news she’d just received.

“I apologize that I was halted on my path to your home. The good news is that I will soon have a few servants to help me with things like delivering a message to my nearest neighbor.”

Lillian and Oliver were staring at her with wide, pleased expressions.

“What is it?” She laughed.

Lillian brushed hair from her face. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that you seem so happy, so well. I’m truly relieved to find you thus.”

Phoebe reached forward and grasped both of Lillian’s hands. “My dear friend. You have saved me. This is better than I could have possibly imagined. It is just perfect and the best part about it is?—”

“It’s yours.” Lillian finished for her, laughing. “Believe me, I understand.” She waved her hand around. “Much of the improvements to the place were made by Oliver and I together. ”

“Were they?” Phoebe nodded. “I just love it. Thank you.”

“He was my landlord you see.” Lillian giggled. “And holes in the roof and other things brought him over here enough.”

Phoebe smiled. They seemed so happy, so in love. He reached for Lilian’s hand. “Best day of my life when you moved in, only I didn’t know it yet.”

She shook her head. “That’s the truth. I was also a bit difficult, not a real fan of men.”

Pheobe snorted. “I can well understand that.” She covered her mouth. “Not that there is anything wrong with men. I just have no use for them on a personal level. Anymore.”

Oliver held his hands out. “I can completely understand you both. There are definitely the kind of men who are better far away.” He glanced around with an appraising eye. “How is everything working? Any trouble here?”

“It’s all wonderful. I’ve been using the kitchen. No leaks in the roof. I’m absolutely content. And the view is the best I’ve ever seen.”

Lillian sighed with a small smile. “It is quite lovely. I don’t think I’ll ever leave, myself.”

“I don’t know why anyone would.” Phoebe leaned back in her chair, relaxing into the idea that she could stay, forever if she liked .

“It is a bit isolating.” Lillian studied her face. “Not many come here from town.”

Phoebe held up a finger. “And that is yet another reason to be grateful for the place.”

Lillian laughed with her, eyes shining. She just nodded and as their eyes met, Phoebe realized how precious and comforting it was to have someone understand, to truly see her and her situation. She reached for her hand and held it a minute.

Lillian winked and then they started talking about the lavender and harvesting some of it for sale.

“There is actually a good business going on all around us.” Lillian rested a hand on Oliver’s thigh.

“He takes care of everything, but during the harvest we will see others about the place. Just wanted to make you aware. They are usually local, and we have had no problems with them. The tenants also usually know them, can vouch for them.”

Phoebe nodded, a tiny feather of unease tickling her awareness, but she decided to worry about that when the time came.

They sat in companionable conversation for an hour or more, enjoying the tarts, until the tea was cold. When her guests were about to leave, she cleared her throat, trying to carefully phrase her next words .

“Mr. Crane gave me some surprising news.”

They paused and seemed to recognize the shift in tone, watching her.

“He suggested that many are looking for me. People have tracked him down, knowing he’s associated with me and asked him for my direction.

They are trying to find me.” For the first time, the heaviness of such a statement settled more noticeably upon her.

She felt her mouth quiver a little bit. “I don’t know what this means for me, who they are or why they would want to find me.

I have inherited quite a bit, it seems.”

Lillian’s eyes widened and she shared a glance with Oliver.

“But I do not want anyone to find me. I don’t want to see my father.

I have no care to see people from my previous life.

I don’t know who else might be there, fortune hunters, he mentioned.

People who might wish me harm. People after something to do with my late husband.

” She wrung her hands. “This is a bit more unsettling and awkward for me in the retelling, actually.”

They both leaned forward. Lillian shook her head. “I am sure this is a shock, in every way. What do you want to do about it? How can we help?”

“I think I should hide my identity, be introduced as Pheobe Atwater here?” She searched their faces to gauge a reaction. “Is that a good idea?”

Oliver considered her a moment. “People know the name Atwater, do they not? Would it not be better to change your name entirely?”

Lillian nodded. “I think you could keep the Phoebe, so few use a first name. But perhaps you should be known as a different name entirely, from a different place than you were raised?”

“Thank you. Yes, I see how that would be better. Thank you.”

“So, now you just think that over and let us know your new name.” Lillian laughed. “It’s kind of fun, is it not?”

Phoebe tilted her head to the side and then allowed a small smile for Lillian’s sake. “A bit, I suppose.”

Lillian nodded, but then her expression clouded. “There is the matter of the Widows.” She looked to her husband. “I have already told them you’re coming and revealed your name.”

Oliver shared a look with Lillian for a long moment and they seemed to both understand something at the same time. Lillian turned to her. “It will be fine. They are the most trusted people of our acquaintance, are used to keeping secrets, and we need their help at any rate. ”

“The widows?”

“I alluded to them in my letter to you. They are the dearest group, led by Lady Joanna, a woman dedicated to helping women live on their own and take care of themselves. The rule is to never choose to marry solely for love. Marry for other reasons, marry smartly, carefully craft marriage contracts, take care of yourself if you must once again marry.” She grinned.

“It was a bit tough to explain my love for Oliver and to show how it was also a good idea to marry him.”

He chuckled. “True. They are an imperious bunch. But they do much good and as a result we have a large amount of widows here in Somerset, educated, smart, independent and caring. Lillian is still actively involved with them even though she’s married.”

“We help each other. Forever.” She nodded.

“And you will now be a part of that.” She toyed with her own fingers a moment as though thinking through something.

“I think if we explain to Joanna and talk to the few who have been alerted to your arrival, we can rename you so to speak and just tell the others your new name. How do you feel about that?”

“Do we need to explain all the various details as to why this is important?” She was happy to broaden her trust to a few more, but even Lillian didn’t hear all the things she had just learned.

Some things she would like to keep to herself until she understood exactly what she was dealing with.

What had her husband written? What was she to do about Archie?

So many things she did not wish to share or discuss with anyone else at the moment.

Lillian shook her head. “No. They are just the type of group not to ask too many questions. We all know we have things we’re dealing with, secrets we can’t tell and this one might be intriguing to some but they will let you direct how much anyone knows.

” She moved toward the door. “You shall get along very well here I do believe. And Oliver and I are here for whatever you might need. We are so happy to keep lavender cottage let and that it is you.” She leaned in and kissed Phoebe’s cheek. “Welcome home, my dear.”

Tears immediately sprung to her eyes. “Thank you.” She clutched her tighter in a hug. “This is the best godsend. Just days ago I was running from my jailers in the north and now here I am, perfectly safe and happy in such a beautiful place.” She wiped her eyes. “Thank you.”

They hugged again, even Oliver who seemed less inclined to embrace, but he had a good heart, Phoebe could see it.

The both of them gave her hope that good relationships did exist, that good men could be found if she was ever inclined, which she was not.

Trust was also difficult to come by. She had the beginnings of a trust in her solicitor.

He was paid to be trustworthy. She knew anyone could be bought, but she sensed he could not.

His loyalty ran deep, to Lord Smalling anyway.

As soon as the door shut, she pulled the note from Archie out of her pocket.

He might be the only exception ever. But it fully depended on what he had been doing with himself all this time.

She was nowhere near ready to see him, but perhaps a correspondence could begin?

She’d have to give it some thought. The paper was folded carefully.

It carried no seal. She smoothed the creases.

“Miss Phoebe. I left home the moment I heard. Please allow me to pay a visit. I have news. I await your earliest indication I might be welcome.”

He included his direction in London.

Archie. Feelings she hadn’t dared explore for over a year flooded her.

Archie. Love, trust? Hint of betrayal. He could have saved her, run away, anything.

Neither of them realized the urgency of her situation until too late.

But he had refused. He had been afraid. And he hadn’t come after her.

He had been the one man who could have saved her from her fate…

and then not to come find her in the North.

Her heart raced. No, she hadn’t decided what she felt for Archie.

A whole year had passed before she’d stopped hoping he would come rescue her.

And after that year, feelings of betrayal had replaced the hope.

She tapped her fingers over the paper, considering. Then she shook her head. She didn’t know what to do there. She set it aside for the more urgent reading. Her hands shook as she lifted the first of many letters from her husband. Could she read it? Dare she?