Chapter 6 - GEORGINA—A YEAR LATER, MAYHEM

Chapter 6

GEORGINA—A YEAR LATER, MAYHEM

March 7, 1817

London, England

Iran out of the house, leaving before my older sister stopped me with her mission of the day. With the coal business slowly recovering, Katherine seemed dedicated to it as if it were human, giving the baby more care than her late husband ever did.

Mr. Thom shook his fingers at me. “Where you going, Miss Georgina? Can’t just run to Olympus like Hermes.”

Frowning at him, I refused to be deterred. “Mr. Thom, I’m not running. I’m riding. Hand me the reins. You know where I’m off to.”

The old man’s face became serious. “He never misses a Friday. Go see what our duke is up to.”

The Wilcox man-of-all-work had been with our family a long time. He was Papa’s right-hand man. He and his sons drove our coal wagons until we were down to just two. He’d seen how the duke attending us had changed us for the better.

Scarlett bounced down the steps. “I have my medical books. I’m going to fix him. I know he’s sick. He looked pale last week. He didn’t feel up to taking a walk by the river with us like we always do. He loves rivers. Says his home in Saint Petersburg has many.”

If an illness couldn’t be fixed by soup or bedrest, a female’s logic was ignored. But Scarlett was determined to right this. She wanted to be a physician, a woman doctor in the male profession.

From her herb garden in the backyard to her sneaking into science lectures, my sister wouldn’t be deterred.

Before she could climb next to me in the gig—a beautiful two-wheeled carriage that my horse, Thunder, pulled—Katherine stood by Mr. Thom on the steps.

“Oh, boy,” he said. “You got caught. Betcha a pound she’s not letting you go.”

Everyone stilled.

No one tossed out bets but Tavis.

My brother-in-law was gone, a year and a week. All of us, the duke included, took him to the cemetery. We offered prayers before His Grace returned us to Ground Street. Tavis’s parents never came.

But the duke visited every week, every Friday morning until today.

“Get out of the gig. I’m sure Mr. Thom has to run errands, ladies.”

“No errands. All done for today,” he said, but then backed away, fleeing to the rear of the redbrick house as she glared at him. It was her mad face, like the one she offered us.

“Something is terribly wrong with the duke. I’m—”

“We are.” Scarlett interrupted me. “This is an us project.”

Katherine marched down the steps and stood in front of Thunder.

Seeing her scowl with her arms folded, foot tapping, reminded me of Mama. That woman could be severe when she was healthy. . . and angry.

“Katherine, you’re not more than four years older than me, and at times you act like I need a guardian. Where’s the fun-loving girl who’d always dared to take on the world?”

The frown that seemed permanently etched on her face grew larger. “You both need guardians to protect your reputations. With the coal company doing better, perhaps I should do what other guardians do and find you two husbands.”

I looked at Scarlett.

She looked back at me. In unison, we said, “Katherine, you’ve become otherworldly.”

“I’m serious. I’ve put off my duty long enough. And since you two don’t pay attention to the business, I think it only right that you have your own households to manage. I will soon have enough for dowries for the two of you.”

“Katherine.” I shook my head. “I’m not marrying. And we’re only doing better because of the duke. The man you hate has stepped in to help us.”

Scarlett’s cheeks turned colors like she held her breath. “You don’t suppose she’s the reason he hasn’t come? Did you order him not to come back?”

“If it was that easy, don’t you think I would’ve tried that?” Katherine huffed. “He’s always here. I can’t escape him.”

Scarlett drummed her medical book. “The Duke of Torrance visits faithfully on Friday like he promised. He pays attention to Lydia, Georgina, and me. He’s never offended by your low-toned barbs. He’s a gentleman. And we think he’s in trouble.”

“Georgina, Scarlett, I mean it. Get out of the gig. Give me the reins.”

“No, sister. Why don’t you walk down to the coal office. Figure out how to save it without the clients the duke has sent.”

Katherine’s head dipped, and I felt sorry for how harsh my words sounded. But there was no changing my mind.

“What if I have to go to a client? You’re taking our only carriage.”

“This is a gig, Katherine. It’s not our coal wagon or our coal dray. Wilcox Coal has those two conveyances to move people and coal. You only have to send someone to go get one. Mr. Thom, isn’t that right?”

The little man had returned to rake the leaves falling from the cypress tree near the front of our town house. The March winds had shaken a few loose.

He looked away, still not wanting any part of our fight.

“Bye, Katherine.” Scarlett sat back and waved.

“Both of you, out. You can’t go to a man’s house in the middle of the day unchaperoned. It’s simply not done. The Duke of Torrance will not protect your reputation.”

That didn’t even seem true. This man had no reason to be of use to our family once his friend died. “If he cared nothing for us, we’d have never seen him again. Every week, for fifty-three weeks, he’s been coming to our door. Something must be wrong.”

“Katherine,” Scarlett whined. “Go back into the house. Have your morning tea. Grouse about our mission of mercy if you must, but we’re going to see the Duke of Torrance.”

“Mr. Thom, help me tell them how wrong this is.”

The poor man shook his head. “Not getting involved, Lady Hampton. I promised your father I would continue to make sure the grounds are good. Nothing else. Discipline is not me. Grounds good.”

Mr. Thom had emigrated from Mama’s beloved Port Royal, Jamaica. His English wasn’t the best. But he was hardworking, and we could trust him. “But if I didn’t have to rake or visit coal customers and I was a viscountess, I’d go see about the duke.”

At that moment, Lydia ran from the house and jumped into the gig. “You should’ve waked me up. If you think for one moment I’m not going to check on him too, you’ve made mistakes.”

“Haven’t we all.” Katherine covered her eyes. “All of this fuss over the Duke of Torrance?”

“Do we have another duke?” Lydia offered this advice with a grin, then a grimace. “We’ve waited long enough. He could be in trouble. We have to go see about him. He’s my bestus friend.”

Katherine’s fists balled before she flattened her hands against her hips. “The Duke of Torrance is a wealthy man. He has a full staff and can manage on his own.”

I’d try one last time to convince her, then I hoped she’d hop out of my way. This gig was going to Mayfair. “For over a year, the duke visits on Friday, every Friday, by ten a.m. He’s the first visitor to call upon us. He takes us on walks by the Thames. He brings treats and he patiently samples the tweaks I’ve made to my Cornish Fairings.”

“Well, obviously that’s the problem. You’ve made him ill from those biscuits. Too much ginger.”

Katherine’s tone was full of sarcasm. She knew my biscuits were delicious. The experimentation was to find the proper icing sugar for them and then to try and make something the duke called kartoshka, made with leftover breads.

“Wait. You’re saying my food did him in. Oh my goodness. Scarlett, look up stomach ailments. Katherine, move. We have to go.”

“He’s sensitive,” Lydia said. “He can’t be sick. If he dies, who will give us advice on spices or give us some from his homeland in Russia?”

Squinting at us, Katherine shook a finger. “You have been accepting gifts from him? I said no gifts.”

I pointed back. “Move.”

Then I felt silly and lowered my hands but kept the reins. “The duke has been wonderful to us. You’re not the least bit concerned, Katherine, that he could be ill or injured? Why are you like this? Why can’t we go see about him? Why can’t we be the ones helping?”

“Oh, Georgie, you and your questions.” She blew out a long breath. “Ladies, why must it be any of those troubles? He’s a busy man. He could’ve found something better to do with his time.”

“Kitty sounds very bitter.” Lydia shook her head.

Our youngest was the only one who ever said out loud what everyone was thinking. “Kitty, we are wasting time,” I said, mimicking the child’s tone. “Go back in the house and figure out what new thing you need to do with Father’s coal business—”

“Our business, girls. And, yes, we have new customers, but we’re not out of trouble. Selling the business is still a possibility. There are loans to pay off, but for the first time in a long time, we’re not bleeding money.”

At this, I couldn’t look at her. Katherine was good with numbers. She’d done all the accounting. Then she married and let Tavis manage the debits and credits on the ledger.

“The late Lord Hampton didn’t seem that good at math.” I pointed again to her. “Was he, Lady Hampton? Thank goodness the duke encouraged our creditors to give us more time.”

Walking from the front of the gig, Katherine swung one leg in, and then the other. “Fine. You win. We’ll look in on the duke, then we will head off to the offices. You girls need to start visiting the business to remind you of our legacy, or let me find you husbands.”

I handed her the reins, and she started my horse trotting.

“But, Katherine, you didn’t find a good one,” Lydia said in a sweet and sincere, painfully truthful voice. “Why do you think you could get a good one for them?”

Wanting to laugh, I held it in. Katherine had gotten us underway, and I didn’t need an upset sister changing her mind and stopping.

At the end of Ground Street, we turned left and headed for the bridge.

“He’s unusual,” my scowling sister said. “Be prepared for strange things in his household. I’ve known him longer than any of you. He’s very strange. That won’t change, no matter what he does or says. He won’t change.”

Katherine’s tone sounded aggrieved, even irrational. Like she was convincing herself of something that wasn’t true.

“You just like being mean to him,” Lydia said. “He’s our friend. He wouldn’t abandon us. Even Scarlett wants to go, and she hates men. And Georgina runs from them.”

Sadly, both things were true. I ran or walked away a lot. Scarlett, the little rebel woman of science, had also become His Grace’s advocate.

“I don’t hate all men. I just find them highly illogical. I don’t have any idea why they are allowed to run the world.”

“Just remember what I said.” Katherine had us on Blackfriars Bridge. We’d soon cross the Thames and be in Mayfair in no time.

Shaking my head, I bit my lip and sat back, peeking at the ferries crossing underneath.

My prayers were that all was well with Torrance, that he wasn’t sick and that we hadn’t become a nuisance to him.

Nothing needed to change, except maybe Katherine’s attitude.

I hated that she seemed so angry with our friend. If wishes had the power to become true, mine would be that my older sister would become easier on the Duke of Torrance.

We needed him, much more than he needed us.