Page 115 of Scandalous Heiress
Epilogue
July 1888
Cole Manor
Brighton, England
Ada ambled down the stairs in her slippers.The house was quiet, the five children still asleep this hot morning.She relished the idea of peace and quiet for her morning meal.
Victor had left her earlier this morning at six to walk the beach alone.She could not walk in the sand easily given her condition.He liked to stroll along the coast, forming verbiage for his speeches, this one about voting rights.She wanted only to read the papers.
“Good morning, ma’am.”Goodings had stayed on as butler and ran a very orderly house.Indispensable, he knew her preferences for meals, her needs for a multitude of receptions and her tendency to entertain her large and growing family at a moment’s notice.“Shall I serve you?”
“Yes, please.I’m afraid I’m not very agile this morning.I love being downstairs but hate being on my feet.”She was pregnant with her fourth child.Or, declared the doctor after listening with his stethoscope, more likely her fourthandfifth.She was certainly big enough for two, she admitted as she inched herself into her dining room chair.Liv had advised her to take her breakfast in bed.Lily had seconded the idea.But no matter how many pillows she plumped up behind her, she was more crippled by the stay in bed than gratified by it.
The butler knew what she liked for her morning meal and he ran off downstairs to the kitchen to fetch her two poached eggs and salmon.By her place was the morning’s Brighton paper.On the front page was a story about her husband, the Honourable Member for Brighton, who had officiated at the opening of the new orphanage facilities yesterday.On another page was an interview with him discussing life in the Chinese treaty ports and the need for control of substances containing opium.Many aligned with Victor on this issue, including chemists and physicians who studied the affects of opium and its derivatives.Women’s groups, including those who wished to extend the franchise to women, also supported him.Laudanum for ‘hysterical females’ was, many said, simply another way to subdue them.With all this support, Victor had won his first and second elections to Parliament handily.
The article she skimmed told of the recent engagement of the marquess of Ridgemont to an eighteen year old American heiress.Richard continued to face financial problems and he’d changed much in life as a result.Or at least according to the gossip sheets this was true.She and Victor did not receive his brother, nor did the duke and duchess.Their estrangement was well known among society.And the old rumor that Richard had started that it had been Ada who seduced him was long since discredited.People saw who Victor and she really were and that their marriage, no matter it’s impetus, would have occurred because they loved each other.
She sighed, finishing her second cup of coffee when a clatter on the stairs announced the arrival of one of her children.Deirdre, most likely, as she took her cues from Ada and rose early.
“Mama!Good morning!”Her little dog Bud, a spaniel such as King Charles had favored, scampered along beside her.Deirdre, now twelve, had sprouted up this summer, almost nearly as tall as her older sister, Vivienne.Both of them had variations of their father’s and grandmother’s auburn tresses.When they debuted, Ada was certain they’d have proposals by the dozens.
“Sweetheart, how are you?Well?Good.Has Bud gone out?”
“I’ll take him down now.”She kissed her on the cheek.“Are you finished with the papers?”
I am, indeed.”Deirdre liked her news, too.“Shall I return to sit with you after I let Bud out or are you retiring?”
“I thought I’d walk out to the kitchen garden.Join me there when you’re ready, will you?”
An hour later, shaded by the awning on the gardener’s hut, Ada had a bevy of people bustling about her.Deirdre had been joined by thirteen-year-old Vivienne who’d lost herself in a novel.The nursemaid tended to the younger children, Ethan age four, Oliver, age three, and Michael who at two was sure to set the world on fire one day with his non-stop chatter.Her feet up on the stool, Ada sat facing the shade of the trees and admiring the height of her azaleas.They’d bloomed in a palette of roses and pinks last spring.Their blossoms gone now, their green leaves raised their faces to the sun.Beneath them, rows of her chrysanthemums grew tall and bushy.The number of buds meant the rich colors of autumn would be theirs when cooler weather came.
“Here’s Papa!”Deirdre announced, skipping to take Victor’s hand.“And he’s got Camille and Uncle Pierce with him!”
“Do not,” said Victor as he came to Ada and bent to kiss her cheek, “get up.Look who I found on the beach this morning.”
Her older brother Pierce, a replica of her father with his virile Black Irish good looks, strode toward her in his casual seaside attire.Camille, her step-sister, walked beside him swinging her large straw hat and pursing her lips.
Ada examined her brother, his silver eyes hooded, his ink-black hair windblown.Although he greeted her with a smile, it was tight.Camille looked no better.Had they argued?While that was nothing new since Pierce had arrived back in England a week ago from his latest trip to Shanghai, Ada speculated that Pierce had given her a piece of his mind about her latest beau.The new man in Camille’s life had come to family dinner last night at her father and Liv’s house.He was fair, handsome, heir to his father’s barony, a financier, and from first glance it was clear to Ada…and she’d bet hard money others in the family, that Pierce did not care for the man.
Victor brushed a hand through his hair and took the white wicker chair beside Ada.“Feeling well?”
“Out here?With all of you?”She sent him an endearing smile.“You know I am.”
She turned her attentions to her guests.“Are you staying for coffee?Or would you like breakfast?”
Camille plunked herself into the nearest chair and cast a derisive glance at Pierce.“I’d welcome breakfast.Arguing requires food.”
Pierce shot her a narrowed look.“If you’d choose a man with a bit of gumption to him, I’d not have a problem.”
Camille took inventory of Ada, Victor and even Viv and Deirdre’s expressions.“Why do I put up with this?”
Why, indeed?Ada suppressed her grin.
All the Hannifords knew why.Except for Pierce.And Camille, who at twenty-four and an accomplished author, had entertained marrying nearly every eligible man in Britain.
Viv giggled, then extracted a small red ball from her pocket.Even Viv knew these two had more to say to each other than to constantly argue.“Shall we play ball, Ethan?Oliver, you come, too.”
