Page 19 of The Valentine Skates
Lili turned to join her mother and brother with a small frisson of doubt fluttering beneath the warm pearl choker nestled at her neck. What if Frederick caught the attention of a wealthy, influential woman? Would he still want her, along with the burden of her questionable past?
Chapter Twelve
December - Christmas on the Farm
Emily’s nursehad bundled her so thoroughly against the snowy cold, that all that was exposed on her face were her excited dark eyes above her dear, upturned nose. Frederick had the reins of the sleigh and guided them quickly through the meadow toward the wooded copse where he’d earlier found the perfect Yule log for the holiday house party celebrations at Wembledon.
Tiber loped alongside, a critical, watchful eye on the small girl he’d apparently adopted as his personal responsibility. Lili had accepted months ago that her beloved wolfhound had totally transferred his loyalties.
Howick and her mother had invited everyone who was anyone of merit within thetonto a festive holiday event at their country estate. Cook had hired extra help for the kitchen, and all the servants from Howick House in London had been transported to the country estate to supplement the normally smaller staff to help with the many guests expected to arrive over the next few days.
Lili felt as though she’d climbed aboard a crowded public conveyance in town and now was headed somewhere she truly did not want to go. She calmed herself with the image of Emily’s happy face. She’d become a constant in the child’s life. Emily depended on her to be there, and always being there for Emily depended on convincing the rest of the world the unspeakable horrors of the dey’s harem were now buried in the past.
“Whoa—“ Frederick pulled hard on the reins of the work horses pulling the sleigh. Clouds of frozen breath curled from their mouths, and the bells on their harnesses rang out across the cold air.
Two footmen and a groom from the Wembledon stables jumped down from the wagon pulled behind the sleigh and headed toward the giant toppled and rotted tree Frederick had spotted earlier when he was out scouting with Rowan. They’d brought thick rope, axes, and a saw to cut the old tree into manageable chunks to tow back to Wembledon behind the sleigh and wagon. They’d also load the wagon with greenery from live trees in the woods for trimming the halls of both Wembledon and Weyford Manor.
Lili had swathed herself in layers of clothing as well as thick woolen hose and then covered the lot with her trusty, heavy woolen red cape. Considering all the clothing Emily’s nurse had insisted she wear, it was a wonder the child could walk on her own. Her slow walk out of Weyford Manor had prompted her father to scoop her up in his arms and carry her to the sleigh.
Lili eyed Frederick’s heavy farm clothing and envied him the ease of trousers and the heavy layers of underclothing that she assumed made bearable his daily battles with the elements.
They’d already had to send out Howick conveyances to rescue some of their guests who had been stranded by slides of conveyances into icy ditches. However, in spite of the bitter, snowy weather, still the guests came. All of Wembledon’s thirty guest chambers would be filled by the end of the week, and the servants’ quarters below stairs would be bursting at the seams.
A small hand snatched at the side of Lili’s cape. “Lady Lili, Lady Lili, is Papa going to let me help chop the Yule log?”
Lili turned and pushed aside a coppery brown lock out of Emily’s eyes. “No, Poppet. Not this time. Maybe next year.”
She threw her arms down to her sides in a dramatic fit of pique she’d begun affecting ever since she’d healed from her brush with death in the icy River Wey the winter before. Lili suspected the Wembledon servants who’d come to love Frederick’s small sprite of a daughter might be responsible for all the spoiling attention Emily had received while she recovered from her near drowning.
“Emily, your father spent a lot of time searching for just the right log before today so that you wouldn’t have to be out in the cold for long.”
The small girl grimaced, but shot Lili a mutinous look.
“Maybe you should thank him instead of being angry with him.”
“The only reason you’re saying that is because you’re always onhisside.”
Lili nearly chuckled at Emily’s accusation. “He’syourPapa. He only wants what’s best for you.”
Sudden tears in the small girl’s eyes caught Lili by surprise. “What’s wrong?”
“Why can’t you be my Mama? Why do you have to stay at Wembledon? I know Papa wants you home with us.”
“Emily - don’t you want to be a grown-up lady someday with her own home and family?”
The small girl slowly nodded her head in assent.
“Being a grown-up means you have more freedom, but you can’t always do what you want.”
“Why not?” Emily’s voice rose, shrill and plaintiff.
Lili worried the expedition might have overly tired the child. “Because a lot of people will depend on you when you’re a grown-up, and you can’t always think of just yourself.”
Frederick and one of Lili’s footmen made short work of the fallen tree by each taking an end of the two-sided saw he’d brought from the barn.
They rigged ropes to drag back the logs, and as soon as they neared the sleigh, he could see Emily and Lili deep into a discussion he wasn’t sure he wanted to interrupt. Just seeing the bright blonde head bent toward the small, dark-haired one made Frederick’s heart ache. The two people he loved most in the world were there, together, seeming like any other normal family. And yet their coming together officially as one seemed more out-of-reach all the time.
He tamped down his feelings of frustration and steeled himself to brave the gauntlet of the cream of English society set to descend on Wembledon and Weyford in the coming days. Because of the size of the company of guests invited to the house party, he’d offered to host sleigh rides along the river and skating parties on his farm pond, followed by roasting chestnuts around a roaring bonfire.