Chapter Twelve

Elena had written to Annamaria, who responded that she and Sophie could visit the next day. Of course, Elena had not been prepared for her husband to balk at the neighborhood.

"Elena, you can't go there." He looked up from the desk in his study as she stood in front of him.

"I did not take you for a snob." Her husband glanced down at her words, but she saw the tick in his jaw.

"It isn't that I'm a snob. St. Giles is dangerous."

"I'll be with Aunt Sophie."

"Aunt Sophie, while formidable, is small enough that someone could easily throw her over their shoulder."

"I would like to hear you say that in Sophie's presence. I'm sure Sophie has some kind of protection." Elena would not be surprised to discover Sophie carried a pistol. For some reason, she imagined a small, dainty pistol that could fit into a reticule, even though dainty was at odds with everything she knew about Sophie.

"Even so, you do not know London that well, Elena. Yes," he went on as she opened her mouth to speak. "I know you have been here the last few years, but how many neighborhoods have you gone to? Are you familiar with?"

She realized she did not know London all that well, but she still felt like he was being something of a snob and a worrier.

"David, what if we take Goliath? And a footman? Would that make you feel better? Because we are going with or without your blessing. You realize a woman sits on the throne of your country, and yet women can go nowhere by themselves? You know, I made it across borders on my own. I am very capable of taking care of myself."

"Yes, and look what—" He stopped himself, though Elena felt the words he did not say in her bones. Look what happened to you. She couldn't believe he would bring that up right now when it had taken so much to tell him in the first place. He seemed to realize he had gone too far as his face eased, and he rested a hand on the side of his head.

"You have crossed borders, haven't you? I suppose that's more than I can say." He sighed, rubbing his temple on the uninjured side. "I'm sorry, Elena. I just don't want anything to happen to you." He looked strained and earnest. Elena felt herself melt just a little.

"With two such companions, what more could I ask for?"

He gave her a small smile, and she knew she had won this round.

****

As they drew closer to Annamaria's, Elena reflected that she had not been to this part of London before, just north of Covent Garden. It was close to the hospital, so she had likely seen and met many from this part of town, but she had never actually been there before. She was grateful to get to see a different side of life from the glittering ton, though some of those in the streets begging for coin broke her heart, reminding her of her time without home or food.

Elena's heart twisted further as they slowed after rounding a bend. This street was dirtier than the ones before, with a squalid smell that filled the air. David had told her how the smell from the Thames was now and had been dubbed "The Great Stink" by papers like the Illustrated London News . Elena could certainly understand the epitaph as she tried to breathe through her mouth to keep from casting up her accounts. She was closer to the Thames than she usually was, and the smell in the summer heat made the air feel heavy and unmovable. She hated that people had to live like this. David had mentioned that they had coated Parliament in a certain chemical to protect themselves from the stench, but it seems the leaders of the country had forgotten the people of St. Giles.

As they stopped, Elena squinted at the building in front of her, which looked to be slowly crumbling apart. They exited the carriage, leaving Goliath, and followed Annamaria's directions to her flat. Annamaria poked her head out from behind a ramshackle door.

"Oh, I, um, I should have probably just met you at the hospital."

She opened her door to invite them into the smallest drawing room Elena had seen, smaller than the rooms of many of the poorest families in her village in Dobruja, and unfortunately, Dobruja knew its share of poverty. As she took in the parameters of the room, Elena realized that it was not a drawing room but Annamaria's entire living space. Because of her daughter and the change in circumstance, she likely could not live in one of the women's boardinghouses Elena had heard about, which might have been safer.

Annamaria nodded to the crib. "I'm sorry, I think we'll have to whisper."

Elena glanced at Sophie, whose expression was unreadable.

"Please have a seat. W-would you like some tea?"

"Do not trouble yourself. We are quite well without it," Elena said quickly. She did not want to have Annamaria go through the bother, and she knew how Sophie felt about tea.

"This is my aunt by marriage, Miss Sophie Plemmons."

Annamaria gave a small curtsey.

"Ma'am. I'm Annamaria." Elena sensed something odd about how Annamaria said her name without her surname. It was not how the English introduced themselves.

"How did you come to live here, Annamaria?" Sophie finally asked as she looked around the room. As Elena expected, Annamaria responded with her usual blunt honesty. Mayhap she and Sophie were well-matched.

"My family put me out. I fell in love with the wrong kind of man."

"Which is?"

"According to them, an Irishman, ma'am." Sophie sat on the too-small loveseat. Elena squeezed in next to her.

"And where is this Irishman now, may I ask?"

"Transported, ma'am. Australia, I think, but I don't know."

A flash of something, possibly pity, crossed Sophie's face. They sat in silence for a moment until Elena felt compelled to move the conversation along.

"Annamaria speaks and writes in multiple languages. My aunt," she turned to Annamaria, "manages part of the family business, which is mostly importing wine and spirits."

"Oh, how, uh, in-industrious." Annamaria stumbled over her words briefly as if unsure how to respond.

"Can you do mathematics, Annamaria?" Sophie asked.

"I can add and subtract and do some basic arithmetic. I've had to manage my own finances all alone these last few years."

Sophie looked reluctantly impressed.

"And if I were to take you on as a secretary, what would you do with the child during the day?"

"Well, my neighbor—"

"But surely you would want to move from here." Coming from Sophie, it was a statement, not a question.

"Well—"

"I will help her," Elena said firmly. "If she cannot leave her daughter with a neighbor, I will hire her help. And we will find a new place for her to live. On some occasions, she could leave her with myself and Irene."

Sophie looked over at Elena. She had not realized how badly she wanted this for Annamaria until this moment, but she had to make this work. She did not want Annamaria to be in danger of any more broken bones or dislocated shoulders.

"You are very quick to offer Irene's services." Sophie's expression was stern, but Elena sensed she was reluctantly impressed with Annamaria.

"When she is old enough, she could teach her daughter how to play. Irene would like that."

"If you're sure, Elena, that was my biggest concern," Sophie conceded.

"Not my background?" Annamaria whispered.

"I could not give a tuppence for your background. Do you think you could do the work?"

"Yes." Annamaria set her jaw firmly.

"And Elena or you will see to your child. Then I think we can come to an arrangement." Elena tried to hold in the smile that was building inside her, as she knew Sophie detested big displays of emotion. Annamaria's eyes filled with tears, but she also seemed to have understood this about Sophie and merely bobbed her head.

"Thank you." Sophie rummaged in her reticule, pulling something out.

"Let us discuss when you can begin."

Elena felt like she could leave the two women to negotiate, knowing she ought to go check on Goliath. As she walked back to the carriage, she felt as though something lurked in the corner of her eye, just outside her vision. As she picked up her pace, she did the old trick she had taught herself when she had been alone and watched her shadow, searching for anyone or anything behind or around her. Just as she looked down, Goliath burst forth from the carriage, snarling and barking at something Elena could not see. She looked around, standing behind Goliath, her back to the building. For a moment, she was sure something or someone was there, a presence waiting for her and her alone. Suddenly, Goliath's barking died down as if he seemed satisfied that whatever had been watching them was gone, and he turned back to the carriage with a huff. Elena looked down at Goliath and carefully helped him get back into the carriage to wait for Sophie.

While she and Sophie rode back to Grayston House, Elena stroked Goliath's fur absentmindedly. She wondered if it had been a real threat or if Goliath was being his overprotective self. Even though she was half convinced she had imagined everything, she could not shake the strange yet familiar sense of dread that had swept over her before Goliath leaped down to defend her. She weighed mentioning it to David, but since nothing really happened, she decided to keep it to herself and sat listening to Sophie discuss her new plans, satisfied with the day's results.

****

After they had returned, Elena left to change for the opera, but David was able to find Sophie before she retired to her rooms.

"You are satisfied with this young woman?"

"Do you doubt your wife's judgment?" Sophie looked up at him from her favorite chair with an implacable expression. Why did this feel like a test?

"No, never. I just know that you can be particular."

"I am. But Elena understands me. Despite her good heart, she would not have tried to bring us together unless she thought we would be a good fit. And I think it will be. Not only does the girl speak Italian, but I found she also knows some Sicilian."

"That will be helpful with the Marsala accounts."

"That's what I thought. You did yourself a service marrying Elena."

"I know." He paused, wanting to say something he had never had the chance to articulate to his aunt before. "I appreciate how welcoming you both were to her. Many among the ton might not have approved of my marriage. While I have no regrets, I hope it did not hurt the business."

"Nephew, do you realize that most people who purchase alcohol for their households, gentry or aristocrat, are women?"

"I had not, no." He felt his skin heat in shame for a moment. He probably should have been aware of this, as it was his business, too.

"Either these women care more for the quality of their wine and sherry than the marriage of the wine merchant, or they think you were terribly romantic. It has not diminished our sales, rather the opposite in fact." Sophie paused and pulled out a pair of spectacles that she began to clean. "But the times are changing, and we need to change with them. New laws will come soon, and we need to understand how it will impact the business."

David was struck by Sophie's skills, not only in business but also in understanding how outside forces would impact the business in finding new markets and buyers. They all would have been lost without her. Of course, he could never directly tell her that, for Sophie had that wonderfully English allergy to compliments.

"Thank you, Aunt Sophie. For everything while I was gone. I know you despise the aristocracy."

"Oh, I may think myself vastly superior, but that does not mean I mind taking money from them." Sophie wore a self-satisfied smile as she set the spectacles on the bridge of her nose.

"Good sport, you are." He felt his lips quirk and looked away.

"Yes, well, now you have returned, I'll have you know you are taking over the accounts at the gentlemen's clubs. Aside from you, I only want to correspond with women for a while. And I'm still not sure about you. Though we should probably go over the accounts together at some point."

He smirked inwardly. She was never one to mince words. "Yes, we should rather. Do you have time now?"

As the opera was not until much later in the evening, he spent the rest of his afternoon with Sophie, who, he was quite sure, would someday rule them all.