Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

L uckily, after Lucy’s arrival, there was still a great amount of sunlight left in the day. It took barely any time for Alicia to realize that the young lady preferred her time outdoors rather than cooped up within the manor in stiff dresses and laced shoes. As Lucy led her outside to walk along the estate’s property, with her quiet and cold governess in tow, Alicia felt more and more at ease.

A light path went around the manor, going towards stables in the east and the gardens in the north. Lucy twisted her arm around Alicia’s and led her out the front of Garvey to follow the route.

“I know we have not known each other long,” Alicia said within the comfortable silence, “but you remind me of my sister.”

Dirt and dust puffed up around them as they walked along, earning a few coughs and snorts from Miss Ayles behind them.

“Really?” Lucy asked. “How are we alike?”

“Well,” she began, a smile tugging at her lips, “for one, Penelope would spend all her days in the wilderness if fate allowed it. I am only three years her senior, but her youth has never changed. She climbed trees while I waited on the ground, arms outstretched in case she fell.”

Lucy giggled. “Did she ever fall?”

“Plenty of times,” she replied.

“Your sister is the one with the hounds, isn’t she?”

Alicia looked over at her as they walked. “Why, yes. How could you have possibly known?” she eyed her skeptically. “I know neither of you met out in society.”

“Oh, no, none of that,” Lucy replied with a wave of her hand. “My brother told me.”

“He did?”

“I believe it came up in a letter,” she said. “Though, it felt like he was telling me outright in order to deny my request for a stray before I ever brought it up.”

“I–I’m surprised it was even mentioned.”

Miss Ayles took a few wide strides behind them to catch up, standing directly on Lucy’s left while Alicia walked to her right. “I pray you’re not saying you’d like a filthy hound,” she sternly said.

“Worry not,” Lucy said, her lips pressed together in disappointment, “I know Matthew would never allow it.”

“I can arrange a time for you to meet my family,” Alicia said encouragingly. “Perhaps some time with the hounds would be all the duke needed.”

Lucy paused in their path. “You’d—” she stopped as her eyes snapped over to the governess, who watched closely, “—you want me to meet your family?”

“Of course,” Alicia replied, confused at the girl’s reaction. She tilted her head. “Why do you ask like it would have never happened?”

The young lady held her head down, not looking Alicia in the eye or responding to her question. Miss Ayles stood behind her like a shadow, hands twisted behind her back and a stern look in her eyes.

Alicia took a step towards Lucy, reaching out till she could grasp her small hands within her own. “I know we don’t yet know each other well enough, so forgive me if I’m being too bold,” she began, “but I hope that, with time, you can learn to trust me, and we can be… well, like sisters.”

“Sisters?”

“If that is what you’d want,” Alicia softly said. “Only if it is what you want.”

Lucy sniffled, and suddenly threw her arms around Alicia’s neck, pulling her into a tight embrace. “I would like that,” she whispered in her ear.

Miss Ayles clears her throat from behind them. “I thought we were out here to take a stroll. Might we continue on, Your Grace?”

Alicia ignored the governess and her sour attitude, squeezing the young Lucy before pulling away, a fondness growing in her heart. They intertwined arms again and continued along the path that wrapped around the manor. As they approached a corner, going back towards the gardens where Renfield worked, Alicia let herself feel hopeful at the new friend walking alongside her.

“How old are you, Lucy?” Alicia asked in the comfortable silence.

“Fourteen, Your Grace,” she replied.

Alicia smiled. “You can call me Alicia.”

The governess scoffed from behind them, but didn’t say anything.

Lucy gave her a wide smile. “All right, Alicia.”

“Do you know when you’ll be debuting?”

“No,” Lucy answered, looking a little glum. “I haven’t prepared much, other than my classes with my governess.”

“Which,” Miss Ayles interjected, “go smoothly when you are paying attention.”

Lucy groaned and pulled her arm out of Alicia’s grasp so she could spin around and walk backward. “How can it be my fault that the world just beckons me too much to listen to Latin or to read books about a proper lady’s etiquette?”

“What is it about the world that beckons you so?” Alicia asked, thoroughly entertained and enamored by the girl’s free spirit.

Miss Ayles rolled her eyes as she stood next to Alicia. “Please, Your Grace,” she muttered, “don’t get her started.”

But it was too late, because Lucy was running, kicking up grass and rocks. Her joyous laugh got caught in the breeze as she held out her arms and ran as though she was about to take off in flight.

“Lady Lucy!” the governess called out. “Your skirts?—”

“Can be primped!” the girl yelled back, giggling and shouting with glee. She ran till her face was bright red and her hair was a wild mess behind her. When she stopped, breathing heavily in front of Alicia, she could not wipe the grin off her face. “ That , Alicia, is what beckons me so.”

“Running?”

Lucy groaned. “No!”

“I don’t understand,” Alicia said with a laugh.

Miss Ayles rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry,” she said under her breath, “she’ll explain.”

“It is the feeling in my legs after running,” Lucy said, still breathless. “The burning, the needles. It is the wind running through my hair.” She raised her arms over her head. “It is the sky that lends me its wings to make me feel as though I can fly. It is the earth, the dirt and ground below us.”

Lucy paused, reaching to take Alicia’s hands in her own. The young girl’s hands were sweaty and warm. “Fate has put me in a lady’s shoes, Alicia,” she said. “I will wear them as well as I can, and I will learn and become better for my debut. But I cannot forget the life I was supposed to have, the life amongst the wild.”

Alicia tilted her head. “The life you were supposed to have?” she repeated.

“Don’t fret,” Lucy said, loudly now, flattening her dress and brushing the dirt off her shoes. “I cannot wait for my debut. Society beckons me just as much as the world does.”

“But,” Alicia interjected, “what did you mean by that?”

Miss Ayles cleared her throat again. “Might we continue on the path, Your Grace?”

Alicia tried to settle the feeling that arose in her stomach, but it was hard to ignore. She reached for Lucy as they kept walking, intertwining their arms so they might be right beside each other. The governess still lingered, and Alicia began to take her presence as a wall being placed between them.

“There is nothing wrong with not truly finding yourself within the ton,” Alicia said.

Lucy sighed. “I want to find myself there,” she replied. “Debuting and fitting in with London’s society would make my brother proud, so that is what I will do.”

Alicia smiled and saw herself within the young girl. “That does not mean you need to lose your wildness.”

“I believe it does,” Lucy said with a sad smile, “at least to some extent.”

As the trio rounded another corner, leaving the garden behind them and nearing the front of the manor once more, Alicia tightened her hold on Lucy.

“How would you feel about a ball?” Alicia asked, quietly so the governess might not hear.

Lucy gasped and practically shouted. “A ball?”

“What was that?” Miss Ayles loudly asked, now walking directly alongside the pair. “Is Garvey hosting a ball?”

Alicia winced. “Not exactly,” she said. “I haven’t had the chance to discuss it with the duke, but?—-”

Miss Ayles scoffed. “He would never agree to it.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“There has not been any sort of ball in Garvey for ages,” she explained. “This is a private family, Your Grace.”

Alicia pressed her lips together. “I understand that, but?—”

“Obviously, you don’t,” Miss Ayles snapped.

Alicia looked over at her, Lucy in between them, shocked at her willingness to speak so freely. “Miss Ayles?—”

“The duke would never agree to such a thing in Garvey Manor,” the governess interrupted her, holding her chin up in a proud way. “Lady Lucy has at least a year left in her studies before we can think about her debut. She will not be presented to society in any shape or form until she is ready.”

“You speak as though you are her mother,” Alicia said, anger brewing in her chest.

Miss Ayles laughed spitefully. “Her mother would never have made these choices.”

Alicia stopped walking as they neared the stairs leading up to the manor’s front doors. “How dare you make such an assumption about the late duchess?”

A tense silence overtook them all. Miss Ayles’s thin eyebrows raised so high they almost disappeared into her hair. Even Lucy, quiet during it all, stood there, staring at Alicia with shock displayed across her face.

A pit grew in Alicia’s stomach. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” Lucy replied with a gulp.

“As if there is something I don’t know,” Alicia said. She looked back towards the governess. “You disrespected the late duchess, Miss Ayles.”

Miss Ayles gave a thin, placid smile. “Your Grace?—”

“No,” she interjected. “I don’t know how you managed to walk around here with the sense you could speak so freely. Possibly it is from the duke’s absence, or your own arrogance.”

“Arrogance?”

“You act as if you are the lady of this house,” Alicia snapped, feeling a heat rise to her cheeks. “That is disrespectful, and gives the wrong impression to a young lady like Lucy.”

Miss Ayles let out a surprised laugh. She shook her head, placing a hand over her chest. “Your Grace,” she said, “forgive me for laughing, but I know I am only a governess. I never had the chance to meet the late duchess; she passed before I began looking after Lady Lucy. Perhaps it is my… independence with the governess position.” Miss Ayles smiled at her. “I meant no harm.”

Alicia couldn’t drop the feeling in her chest, the heat of anger that swallowed her up. “I would do better to rectify your attitude, Miss Ayles,” she said. She looked back to Lucy, who stared at the sky as a trio of birds flew by. “Lucy, would you want a ball here at Garvey?”

“Oh, do not decide on my behalf,” the young girl said quietly with a shy look. “If my brother allowed it, I would happily attend.”

Alicia squeezed the girl’s hand. “I will speak to him. It would be a wonderful way to get you prepared for your debut.” She eyed the other woman. “Isn’t that right, Miss Ayles?”

The governess sighed. “Of course, Your Grace. If the duke allowed it.”

Alicia had no problem saying that the governess did not approve of her. Not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things, but Alicia always took too many things to heart, like someone involved in Lucy’s life that didn’t want her around. She breathed deeply as they kept walking to the manor, this time in a steady silence.

Before they could go up the stairs leading to the front doors, Ms. Crawford stepped down, meeting them halfway.

With a bow of her head, Ms. Crawford said, “Your Grace?”

Alicia pulled away from Lucy and approached the housekeeper. “What is it, Ms. Crawford?”

“The duke left a note with Mr. Livingston stating that he will be spending the evening at the Mayfair lodging,” she said.

Trying to hide her disappointment, Alicia pressed her lips together. “Did he happen to say why?”

“No, Your Grace,” Ms. Crawford replied. “Other than that it was business.”

“Business,” she repeated, under her breath in a spiteful manner.

“Your Grace,” the housekeeper said, “it is not… unusual for the duke to spend time away from Garvey in the summer season.”

Alicia crossed her arms over her chest. “And why is that?”

“I can’t explain the duke’s mind as if it were my own.”

“Tell me, Ms. Crawford,” Alicia began, defiantly. “How long have you been employed here at Garvey?”

Mrs. Crawford was so taken aback by the question that she opened and closed her mouth like a fish, unable to find any words to say for a moment. “Since before the duke was born, Your Grace.”

“That is quite a while,” she said.

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“So, tell me again why you can’t explain the duke’s constant need to be away from his home?” Alicia gestured over her shoulder to Lucy. “From his family?”

Ms. Crawford visibly bristled, her wrinkly cheeks turning a shade of amber. “It is not a trend specific to the duke. All societal men find their business leads them to London in the summer, whether it be Parliament or their sales. Bachelors live in their Mayfair lodgings till a wife is secured.” She took a deep breath, seemingly satisfied with her explanation. “ That is why the duke spends his time away.”

Alicia stared at her silently for a moment. “Tonight, I will give you the satisfaction of not giving me a truthful answer.”

“Your Grace?—”

She raised her hand to quiet the housekeeper. “I know I come into this home as a stranger, but how long do you expect me to be patient, when the rest of my life will be spent in these halls? How long can the duke expect me to be docile about it?”

“Patience is a virtue,” Ms. Crawford whispered. “If that is all, Your Grace,” she said as she bowed her head to Alicia, turning back on her heel and walking back inside Garvey Manor.

Alicia sighed. “I suppose,” she called out to Lucy and the governess, “it will just be the three of us this evening.”

“Don’t look so glum, Alicia,” Lucy chided playfully.

“You have been away,” she said. “Don’t you want to spend time with your brother?”

It was the governess who approached her, lifting her skirts as she went up the stairs. “Your Grace,” she began, “not all families of aristocratic society were blessed with the love that forged your own.”

“What?”

Miss Ayles looked over her shoulder at her. “Everyone knows the rare love story that filled the Egerton house,” she said. “You think my mother never turned, thinking no one could hear her when she muttered how jealous she was of Lady Egerton?”

Alicia felt stunned, unable to say anything.

“It is not your fault, Your Grace,” Miss Ayles said as she turned to face her. “But it is your fault for not acknowledging that what you were blessed with was, in fact, a blessing.”

Alicia met her eyes, feeling like a fool. “I–I apologize.”

Both Lucy and the governess looked surprised.

“What for?” Lucy asked, taking her hand.

“It was… ignorant of me to think it was the same everywhere,” Alicia explained. “My parents were lucky, and a rarity. I would be better if I understood that.”

Lucy suddenly wrapped her arms around the duchess, squeezing her into a warm embrace. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Maybe we can have a family like that now.”

Alicia embraced the young lady back, smelling the sweet spring breeze and thanking fate for bringing Lucy into her life. Even if her husband would not be around, at least she had that beautiful light to guide her through the secrets and mystery of Garvey Manor.