Page 72 of Daisy and the Duke
“Hmpf,” Tabitha said, shaking her head. “Told you it would be.”
“Everything has changed top to bottom. I have so much to tell you…” And Daisy told Tabitha every last detail, from hiding in the pumpkin cart to returning to Wildwood Hall, to coming back for the impromptu trial that revealed far more than Daisy ever dreamed.
“Well, good thing he took the left turning, as I told him,” Tabitha murmured under her breath. “No point in arranging all the pieces when the pieces get notions of their own.”
“What?” Daisy asked, confused. She wondered if the old woman was not as sharp as she used to be.
“Nothing, child. I’m just so happy to hear of your good fortune.”
“That reminds me. I’d like you to share my luck. Won’t you consider coming to live closer to Lyondale, or the Grange? I worry about you living all alone in the woods here. Half the time, folks can’t even find your house! Tristan told me he sent men to look for you after I’d run away, and no one remembered where you lived! Isn’t that odd?”
“Oh, very odd. But that’s how I like it, child.” Tabitha laughed. “I’ll stay here, and quite happily. But a visit from little Daisy will always be welcome.”
“I should hope so!” Daisy said. Being a lady would never keep her from the friends who had helped her when she had nothing.
By the time the sun was setting, Daisy had to return to the Grange. Her stomach rumbled when she got closer to home, and by long habit, she headed toward the kitchen door.
“Oh, no, my lady!” Elaine called, seeing her approach. “You use the front like a proper baroness!”
Smiling, Daisy obeyed, veering to the grand front entrance. Elaine and Jacob wouldn’t even allow her to pick up a dusting cloth at Rutherford Grange anymore.
In fact, she was bowed and curtseyed to by literally everyone who came into view, from the stable boys to the villagers to the visiting gentry (who visitedconstantly). Daisy had to keep asking Elaine to bake more cakes for tea, and for more dishes to be made up for the ever-expanding dinners.
Bella never joined Daisy in visiting with guests. She haunted the Grange, lost and lonely and bereft. Every day that passed brought no word from her mother, and the girl was obviously torn in pieces about it. Daisy reflected that the erstwhile Lady Rutherford had used Bella for her own ends, Bella had truly loved her mother, and now she was suffering for it.
Daisy spent the visiting hours on her own, receiving yet more guests, including a young gentleman who seemed quite taken with Lady Caroline, who was there with her mother. Lady Weatherby commented that Bella was missed, and Daisy concurred, saying that nothing she could do seemed to get through.
“Then try again, dear. Miss Bella is probably very frightened.”
So after she bid her guests goodbye, she went in search of Bella once more. She found Bella in a small sitting room. She held an embroidery project on her lap, but she was staring out the window at the lifeless late autumn landscape.
“Bella, you know that you are welcome to receive guests with me. Lady Weatherby was asking after you—I think she fears you’ll make yourself ill with melancholy. You should join us tomorrow. It’s warmer there than in here, if nothing else.”
Bella sat in the chair, her manner stilted and chill, the mortification plain on her face. “I cannot,” she declared, in a tiny voice. “Now that it is known what Mama did to you…to us…she stole your legacy, Daisy, I mean, my Lady Margaret…”
“Call me Daisy.”
“How can I call you anything?” Bella asked morosely. “I am ashamed to even be in the same county as you. You must hate me.Hemust hate me. Oh, Lord, I’ll never be able to look him in the eyes again.”
“The duke has a very forgiving nature,” Daisy said.
“Not the duke.” Bella waved one hand, the first gesture she’d made, the first sign she was human and not a doll. “I refer to Mr. Kemble.”
“Mr. Kemble?”
“He’s so kind and so intelligent. He talked to me, reallytalkedto me, and didn’t go on about my pretty face or my blue eyes. I know my eyes are blue! But Mr. Kemble asked me what I thought about things and it was wonderful…but I must be like the lowliest fly to him now.”
“Wait. You have feelings for Mr.Kemble?”
“Oh, Daisy, I’m afraid I love him.” Bella looked at her with gigantic eyes, ripe with tears. “Mama would never approve, so I said nothing. But every time I could be near him…” She sighed wistfully.
“My goodness, Bella! Does he know?”
“I pray not! Better that I can disappear before there is a chance that we cross paths again. Not that it is likely. For I now find myself quite outside society. I’ll be shunned. No more invitations for me. No one will want to associate with the dowry-less daughter of a disgraced widow. They’ll all think I’m looking to steal a title for myself.”
“Do you desire a title?”
Bella shook her head firmly. “I thought I did, but I know now that it was Mama’s wish for me. She was always talking of it to me, telling me that it was what I wanted. But I never wanted that.Shedid.”
