Chapter Two

July 17, 1817

Hawthorn Cottage

Pavenham village

Bedfordshire, England

T he Honorable Mr. Thomas Alderman—who had chosen to become a vicar, and in which case would be known as Mr. Alderman these days—sighed, for tea this afternoon was not going well.

Every day this week, he'd asked a couple of women—either from the village or beyond—in for tea as a way to interview them to possibly fill a governess position. So far, no one had stood out to him as able to take responsibility for his spirited nieces.

Today's candidates were an older woman, well known for being an easy-tempered grandmother to four in one village over from Pavenham, while the other was a meek and mild young lady who belonged to a titled family in a neighboring county. They were both polite and proper, both had lovely smiles, and both rarely met his gaze when he asked them a direct question.

Unfortunately, this meant his nieces would run right over them and rule the roost much as they did now.

To say nothing that the small whirlwinds worked to do their darndest to make certain he didn't hire either of the women, but he'd made certain to have them both at tea because he simply had to keep an eye on them and he didn't want them outside in the garden digging up worms or worse.

With what he hoped was a stern glance at the two little raven-haired girls sitting on the sofa on the opposite side of the low table in the parlor, he rested his attention once more on the older woman. "Mrs. Barter, if you were to hold the governess position, how would you guide and mold my nieces so they will grow into proper members of society?"

This was especially important, for the girls were the granddaughters of Viscount Tetterfield, and that man had been his father. Thomas was the fourth child of said man; the girls were his sister's children.

After taking a sip from her cup, the older woman gently set it into the saucer and gave him a disarming smile. "I firmly believe that children should be seen but not heard. They shouldn't talk unless invited to do so. Otherwise, they are much too loud." When she set the cup and saucer on the table, she shifted her balance on the chair where she perched. "I would also add that at least three hours a day should be set aside to learn poise, decorum, and proper manners."

Across from him, his oldest niece, Penny, pulled a face and briefly stuck out her tongue.

Thomas bit the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning, for he didn't necessarily agree with the older woman's assessment. "How would you spend the remaining hours of a child's school day?"

"Of course, they would go through their paces in reading, writing, mathematics, as well as languages." Mrs. Barter chuckled and she clasped her hands together in her lap. "Of course, I don't expect Lily to keep such a rigorous schedule. She is much too young for some of these subjects, but she can be taught the value of silence and perhaps painting."

The girl in question, all of six years old, continued to dunk her fingers into her teacup and then sucked off the liquid while swinging her legs as she sat on her chair, apparently content.

Penny frowned. Clearly, she didn't enjoy that answer. "Why does Lily get to paint, and I don't? I like to paint. Water is my favorite thing to paint, and also dogs." Except Thomas had seen her attempts at dogs. They all had two legs for some reason, and he always wondered how the poor things kept their balance. "I don't want to be a proper lady."

"There is nothing more exceptional or sought after than a well-bred young woman who knows her place in the world," Mrs. Barter said to the girl, with a bit of a smug expression.

"I see. Thank you." Thomas drained the remainder of his cup and then set it into the saucer and laid them both on the table. Then he trained his attention on the other potential candidate. "What of you, Miss Lyle? What would you have the children study?"

The young woman's eyes lit when he said her name. Afternoon sunlight sparkled off her strawberry-blonde hair. "I believe that study should be equally intertwined with nurturing." She glanced at the girls, then back at him. "Though I do maintain the best role model for any young child under the age of ten is a mother as well as a father."

His chest unexpectedly tightened. "That is impossible for my nieces, Miss Lyle, but thank you for bringing up bad memories. Perhaps God wishes me to keep my roots and my outlook humble."

A hint of a blush stained her cheeks. "Oh, I do beg your pardon, Mr. Alderman. I meant no offense. I simply meant that perhaps you should marry. You and your wife could become surrogate parents for your nieces."

"Since I do not have plans to marry any time soon, this subject is moot." He frowned as he shot a glance at the two little girls. They certainly hadn't deserved the tragedy that had befallen the family, and though it had only been a year since their parents and his had perished in a horrific carriage accident on their way back to London, in many ways it felt as if it had happened just yesterday. "In the meanwhile, they have their uncles."

Except the girls had always been more comfortable in his presence over his older brothers, and his sister had been closest to him, which is why she'd wished for him to raise her children if something drastic ever occurred.

The young woman exchanged a glance with the older one, and she shrugged. "It would probably be in the girls' best interests if you do marry and settle down. They need the calming influence of a mother nonetheless."

A swift stab of annoyance went through his chest then he reminded himself to take a deep breath and ponder his words before he spoke. "Thank you for your concern, but we are doing well enough in the moment."

She batted her lashes. "And, if I may be so bold, a man as handsome as you shouldn't remain unattached. There are far too many women on the hunt in your congregation, I'll wager."

Give me strength and patience. Sadly, neither of these women were quite right in filling the open position.

When Penny giggled and clamped her linen napkin tightly into her lap, unease twisted down Thomas's spine.

"What have you got there, girl?" Mrs. Barter asked, for she was the closest to the girls' location. "Bring it here. Little girls shouldn't conceal things, and neither should they play tricks."

"I'm not doing either of those things," Penny protested, and her long black braids fairly quivered with outrage.

"Bring it here anyway." The older woman's voice didn't brook argument.

Without another word, Penny wriggled off the sofa, and with a glance at her sister, who looked properly horrified, she took the few steps to Mrs. Barter, where she then snapped open the napkin. Out tumbled a brown-green toad, which landed squarely in the older woman's lap.

"Awk!" The poor woman sprang to her feet while brushing the offensive amphibian from her person. Thomas scrambled to his feet at the same time. "Why in the world would an eight-year-old child have such a horrid thing in her possession?" She scrubbed at her clothing as if she could remove every trace of the toad. "Good heavens, it's staring at me!"

"Calm yourself, Mrs. Barter. Toads are basically harmless," Thomas said in a soothing voice, and then once more bit the inside of his cheek.

Meanwhile, the poor toad, no doubt upon being beyond bewildered, hopped away with an offended croak. Not that Thomas truly knew if an amphibian could become annoyed, but he liked to think that if he were a toad in the situation, he would indeed be offended. Once he went beneath a sofa, Thomas quietly expelled a breath of relief.

Penny, being Penny, merely grinned without malice or regret. "I found him down at the creek. If you want one, I can go find you one too."

"I should think not!" Mrs. Barter sent a glare around the occupants of the room. "I wouldn't take the position of governess, not even out of the goodness of my heart. The children are simply too far gone to be rehabilitated." Then, in high dudgeon, she flounced from the parlor. Seconds later, the front door to the vicarage slammed closed.

Miss Lyle eyed the floor where the toad was last seen. With haste, she stood and kept her skirting a bit above her ankles. "Well, I should go. No doubt you'll wish to give the girls a good talking to." She met his gaze with a smile that was slightly shaky. "If you find yourself in a bind with the children, I am available to help. Temporarily, I might add," she said and turned slightly green about the gills when the toad hopped onto the rug. "They should have someone to look after them until you can fill the governess position."

"Don't worry yourself about it, Miss Lyle. I'm sure that if the Creator wishes there to be a governess in our midst, someone will appear who has the proper constitution for it." Obviously, the last two candidates were not it. "I'll have one of the stable boys hitch your horse to your gig."

"Don't worry about it." She gestured to a young maid sitting in the corner that Thomas had forgotten about altogether. "Meg and I will go 'round to the barn and ask for assistance." When the toad turned about and croaked, she emitted a tiny squeak of alarm and bolted between the pieces of furniture. "Well, good day, Mr. Alderman. I wish you good fortune in your search."

"Thank you. Safe travels home." He walked behind the lady and her maid and saw them out of the cottage. As soon as he closed the door behind them, he returned to the parlor. "Girls, I think we should talk."

Penny huffed. "You mean you want to lecture us." She frowned at the toad. "I'm sorry I threw the toad on the woman. It was wrong, and it scared the toad."

Oh, God. I'm simply not somber enough to be a father figure.

"I agree that it was wrong. Not only from the toad's point of view, but also from Mrs. Barter's." He resumed his seat on the sofa and then gestured at the girls to join him. "Lily, did you have a part in bringing home the toad?"

"Not mostly, but I helped Penny put him in her pail." Once the little girl settled onto the cushion beside him, she curled into his side, and he lost his heart all over again for her. "Uncle Thomas, why must we have a governess?"

"I want to know too," Penny said, as she settled at his other side with the toad in her lap.

Yet another dress ruined because of her penchant for playing outside and mucking up her clothing, but he supposed the girls were allowed that small freedom after everything they'd already gone through.

"What happened today is exactly why you need a governess." Smoothing the escaped strands of black hair away from Penny's face, Thomas sighed. "As I tell you every time, you are the granddaughters of a viscount, and when you come of age, you will take your rightful places within the beau monde ." The two little bodies, so trusting of him, and looking up at him with identical pairs of moss green eyes, nearly broke him. "That means you will eventually need to be proper young ladies, and in order to prepare for that, you need to practice proper behavior and deportment now. Unfortunately, it is beyond my ken to teach you that."

"But we don't want anyone else." Penny frowned. "Why can you not teach us? Mama said you were her favorite brother and that you always made her laugh."

Another tug to his heart brought out a wad of emotion into his throat. "While I appreciate that, there are some things in life only a lady can teach to girls." Had he already failed these precious little lives? Yes, it was slightly scandalous taking the girls in when he was a bachelor, and yes, they could have gone to his oldest and married brother who'd inherited the title when their father had died the same day the girls' parents had. But Robert didn't have the time or patience to give them—additionally, he had three children of his own—and neither would he have been present in their day-to-day existence. Robert resided in London for practical reasons, and that wasn't any place to raise girls of their nieces' temperaments. "However, I am becoming more and more busy with my growing congregation, and I don't want to neglect you."

It was Lily's turn to frown. "What is a congregation?"

"It is what I call my parishioners." Perhaps it was also another too-big-to-digest word, for he sighed and then grinned. "People who come to church."

"Oh." Then she put a tiny, delicate hand on his knee. "What is neglect?"

"It is when someone is doing something else instead of paying attention to those around him who mean… everything to him." In the girls, he constantly saw his sister, and every day that went by he was reminded of the enormity of his responsibility to them. "I love you and your sister far too much to not give you a proper education or care." Engaging a governess needed to happen soon, for the care of his congregation was beginning to suffer since his attention was distracted by his nieces.

A long-suffering sigh came from Penny, as if she carried the weight of the world on her little shoulders. "If we must have a governess, could she at least be fun?"

Despite himself, Thomas snorted. "I don't know if there is such a creature." His certainly hadn't been. But then, the poor women who'd held that position had been responsible for four rambunctious children—three of them boys—and if memory served correctly, none of them had lasted long. "However, I will try to find the perfect person to fill the post, but you must promise that you won't try and frighten her away with toads or worms or whatever tricks the two of you can concoct."

Both girls giggled, which intensified when the toad let out a croak and hopped beneath the sofa once more.

He continued, for it was important the girls understood the gravity of the situation. "Unless I can find a governess, you might need to go live with Uncle Robert in London." The man that Cynthia had married hadn't been of the ton . His only brother had died in the war, and apparently his parents had perished years earlier, for they had been older when they'd had their children.

Lily shook her head. "I do not like London. It's too noisy."

"And big," Penny added with a shiver. "There is nowhere to run and jump, and everyone frowns too much."

"Then it would behoove you to behave. I made your mother a promise that I would look after you to the best of my ability, but you must be willing to help." That had been a terrible day, when he'd rushed to the Derbyshire estate where his father's country seat was located, where his sister and her family had been visiting. As a result of the carriage accident on one of the rural roads, his parents had died instantly, but it had taken another few hours for Cynthia and her husband to succumb to their horrid injuries. Thomas hugged them both in turn. "Now, collect the toad and put him back where you found him. His family is probably looking for him. Afterward, we'll take a walk so you'll be hungry for dinner."

"Thank you, Uncle Thomas." Penny slipped from the sofa only to drop to all fours on the floor to reach beneath the sofa until she'd secured the toad.

"Try not to land into too much trouble." He slumped against the back of the sofa once the girls had both run from the room. "I think I'm in a spot of bother."

Not for the first time did he wonder if becoming a vicar and taking the living in this particular area had been a mistake. His life wasn't always walking the straight and narrow. For much of his past existence, he had been a rogue without a care in the world beyond his next entertainment or woman to take into his bed.

As the fourth child of a viscount and the third son, there had been no expectations placed upon him, and no one had given him direction for his life. Traditionally, such sons were instructed to either go into the military or the Church, and since he disliked anything having to do with the military or war, he'd considered the Church… and then summarily dismissed it in favor of squandering his life and chasing women.

Until the day he'd felt God call him to minister to those in need.

That shift and transition had been quite difficult, but in a way, cleaning up his life had given him the purpose he'd lacked before. It would be a lie to say that his good looks hadn't had a hand in growing his flock, but he was grateful for it. Additionally, the old vicar from whom he'd taken the living had cautioned him that he would need to marry sooner than later, for an unattached vicar could prove problematic and distracting.

Such a thing had been more or less true. There had been an uptick in flirting and interest in him as a person since he'd taken the living three years ago, to say nothing of the constant battle between his new life and his old one. In some ways, he missed the freedom he'd used to have, but being a vicar had given him a hopeful outlook he hadn't had before.

And then the girls had come to live with him, and everything changed once more. Perhaps becoming a vicar was his way of doing penance for all the scandal he'd conducted in his younger days, or perhaps it had happened to give him a fresh perspective on what the people in his congregation struggled with, but he didn't wish all of this to be yanked from his grasp merely due to the fact he couldn't find a woman to fill the governess position to his two lively nieces.

In this, as well as everything else, he would practice faith. If it were fated to come into being, it would. Until then, he had a sermon to write, and a walk with the girls to prepare for.

Please send us the woman who is most suited to look after the girls, and who will help us all come together better as a family.