Chapter Twenty-One

Twenty-One

“You don’t mean to tell me that you’ve already signed the lease?” Alex gave Teddy an incredulous look across the Finchley’s polished mahogany dining table before turning an accusing glare on Tom. “Did you know about this?”

“I did,” Tom said. “It was I who provided the introduction to the estate agent.”

The four of them were seated in the Finchleys’ dining room in Half Moon Street after having just finished their dinner. Two branches of half-melted candles flickered valiantly between them, illuminating the remains of their meal.

Alex crumpled his napkin and tossed it onto the table. “Good God, Tom. I wouldn’t have thought you’d be so careless.”

Jenny carefully folded her own linen napkin before laying it, very precisely, alongside her plate. “Tom is never careless. He always does the exact right thing.”

Tom met Alex’s glare with a wryly cocked brow. “I defer to my wife.”

Alex was in no mood for brotherly banter. His manner had been strained since the four of them had sat down to dine. He was brooding and preoccupied, and far from his usual devil-may-care self.

Laura had been similarly out of sorts. She sat beside Alex, the round neckline of her silk dinner dress adorned with a heart-shaped opal brooch her husband had bought her in Paris. Her eyes were unusually grave. “It isn’t right this time, Jenny,” she said. “Not with the news we had from Dr. Jepson this afternoon.”

Teddy’s eyes jolted to his sister. He was aware that she and Alex had visited Harley Street again today. Their carriage had been returning to Half Moon Street at the same time Teddy had been returning from seeing Stella in the park. At the time, he’d thought their second appointment the veriest commonplace. “What news?”

His sister gave him an apologetic look. “We were going to tell you all over coffee this evening. We didn’t want to spoil everyone’s dinner.”

Jenny regarded Laura with frank concern from her place across the table. Jenny’s plaited auburn hair gleamed like fine copper in the light of the candles. “Oh dear. Is it bad? You’re not—”

“No, no,” Laura said hastily. “There’s no imminent danger. Not if we do as Dr. Jepson tells us to.”

Alex ran a protective hand up and down his wife’s silk-clad back. “He’s advised us to return home without delay.”

Alarm bells instantly went off in Teddy’s head. He searched his sister’s face. “Why? What’s wrong?”

“He’s merely being cautious,” Laura said. “Considering the lingering effects of the scarlet fever on my lungs, and given my recent bouts of illness and how faint I’ve been feeling, he thinks it’s best I don’t travel in my condition. He says that, if I must return home, I should do it sooner rather than later to minimize the risk.”

“I’ve already booked passage,” Alex said.

“You what ?” Teddy stared at them both in astonishment. His wheeled chair was rolled up to the opposite side of the table from his sister and brother-in-law. The candles crackled and snapped, casting shadows over their faces. “For when?”

Alex’s normally roguish expression was grim with resolve. “Wednesday.”

Wednesday? They were meant to stay another two weeks!

Laura hurried to explain. “It was either that or remain in London until after the baby is born in August.”

“You could if you’d like,” Jenny offered. “We’ve plenty of room here.”

“I agree,” Tom said. “We’d be delighted to have you.”

The door of the dining room opened. The Finchleys’ dour housekeeper, Mrs. Jarrow, bustled in, a starched apron over her plain stuff gown. “Shall I serve the coffee in the parlor, Mrs. Finchley?”

“Not yet.” Jenny looked briefly at the old retainer. “Give us a moment, if you please, Mrs. Jarrow.”

The housekeeper cast a glance at the taut faces around the table and then, brows lifted and lips pursed, took her leave, swinging the door shut behind her.

“The business would never withstand it,” Laura said after the servant had withdrawn. “Alex is needed in Grasse, as am I. We’ve already left things too long with our foreman.”

Teddy scanned his sister for any signs of illness. She was absent the stark paleness she sometimes exhibited in the morning—that trembling, pallid demeanor that telegraphed the reality of her condition to the world. After having eaten most of her dinner, she seemed her usual healthy self.

“I thought your symptoms were normal,” he said. “That’s what you told me.”

“For the most part, I believe they are,” Laura replied.

“Then perhaps that Jepson fellow is overreacting?”

“Teddy has a point,” Tom said. “Some of the fashionable doctors in town don’t believe in women being active during their confinement. His advice might be a needless precaution.”

“Would you take a chance with your own wife?” Alex shot back.

Laura set a hand on her husband’s arm. “There’s no point us arguing about it. The fact is, we’ve already decided to go. All that remains—”

“Did you purchase a ticket for me?” Teddy asked.

Laura fell quiet.

Teddy turned on Alex, the muscles in his shoulders gone tense with anticipatory outrage. “ Did you?”

“We did,” Alex said. “For your sister’s sake.”

A cold fury roared through Teddy’s veins. “Don’t even begin to frame it that way,” he warned him. “You knew I’d decided to stay. Both of you did.”

“That was before,” Alex said. “Surely you must see that Laura needs you.”

Teddy opened his mouth, on the verge of pointing out the obvious. His sister had a husband. She had servants. She didn’t need Teddy in Grasse to look after her. She didn’t need Teddy full stop.

“It isn’t that,” Laura cut in before Teddy could give voice to his thoughts. “It’s just that I worry so about you staying here on your own. Alex is afraid it will affect my health.”

“What about my health?” Teddy retorted.

Laura gave a guilty flinch. “It’s not forever.”

Teddy’s fingers curled on the arms of his chair so tightly he felt an ache in his knuckles. If the wood had splintered into his hands he wouldn’t have been surprised. “You have no idea what leaving would mean for me. What I’d lose if I went now. My plans for my career—my whole life—”

“You’re four-and-twenty, Teddy,” Alex said. “You’ll have plenty of time to strike out on your own in the years ahead.”

“It’s not about my age! Though why that should weigh against me, I haven’t the vaguest idea. Prince Albert was younger than me when he married the Queen. By my age he’d already sired three children.”

Alex was unmoved by the argument. “As that may be, unlike the late Prince Consort, you have no entanglements that would necessitate you remaining in town. You’re at perfect liberty to return with us on Wednesday.”

“On the contrary,” Teddy said. “I have a house. A studio. And I’m an inch away from securing my model.”

“Miss Hobhouse is here?” Laura asked, briefly diverted. “You didn’t say.”

“She hasn’t agreed to sit for me yet,” Teddy replied. “But she’s going to. I can feel it. If you drag me away now—”

Alex scoffed. “No one is dragging anyone anywhere. I’m asking you to come, for your sister’s sake.”

“What about a compromise?” Tom asked.

Jenny smiled at him. She had absolute faith in her husband and had plainly been waiting for him to solve this dilemma so they might all retire to the parlor for coffee.

Alex’s brows lowered with suspicion. “What kind of compromise?”

“Teddy could stay with us,” Tom said. “If Jenny agrees?”

Jenny exchanged a warm look with her husband. “Yes, of course. That’s exactly what he must do.” She turned to Laura. “Would that put your mind at ease, dear?”

Laura’s face suffused with relief. “It would,” she admitted. “I know he’d be well looked after here.”

“ Looked after, ” Teddy repeated under his breath. He glared, first at Alex and then at Tom. “Are you serious?”

“Just as a compromise,” Tom said. “It needn’t be permanent.”

Teddy rolled himself back from the table in a burst of frustration. “Well, what am I to say to that? I can’t stop you from pushing me here or pulling me there. I’m in a wheeled chair, after all. I have no ability to walk out of here and wish you all heartily to the devil.”

Jenny moved to rise. “This is a family matter. We should leave the three of you to discuss it.”

Tom stood to pull out his wife’s chair. “An excellent idea. We’ll withdraw to the—”

“Why bother?” Teddy interrupted. “My freedom of movement is already up for debate. If that’s not an assault on my privacy—”

“I’m afraid for you!” Laura cried. She leaned toward him from across the table, her eyes shimmering with emotion. “Can’t you comprehend that? I love you and don’t want anyone to hurt you!”

The room went silent. It wasn’t like Laura to lose her composure. She was usually the most steady and rational of creatures. She’d had to be during their years in Surrey, stretching every shilling to meet their needs as she’d struggled to look after Teddy and their aged, dotty Aunt Charlotte.

Jenny slowly sat back down, and Tom resumed his seat. Their faces were vivid with concern.

Alex put his arm around his wife. He murmured something to her. Laura leaned into him, murmuring back. “It’s all right, love,” Alex said. “Teddy understands.”

Teddy felt a deep spasm of remorse. He knew he shouldn’t be upsetting his sister in her condition. Indeed, he didn’t want to upset her. At the same time…

He recognized all at once the full powerlessness of his position. There was only this thread—this thin, shining filament of independence—for the first time dangling within his reach. He had the sinking sense that, if he didn’t grasp it now, it would be lost to him forever.

“I do understand,” he said tightly. “You want me close. Either that, or living with someone who’ll keep me safe.”

Laura wiped a stray tear from her eye. “Yes.”

“And yet, I’m not an invalid. Despite all this”—Teddy motioned to his legs and his chair—“and despite the fact that Jennings must trudge after me everywhere like the dratted angel of death. There are gouty old gentlemen more infirm than I am, and they maintain entire estates, not to mention houses in town.”

Alex leveled a warning look at him. “Your sister and I have made our wishes plain. They’re not unreasonable. You can return to France with us on Wednesday, or you can remain in town with Tom and Jenny. I think their offer is more than generous.”

The whole of Teddy’s spirit revolted against the ultimatum. And the fact that Alex was the one issuing it! Alex, the very man who had encouraged Teddy to regain his independence, to find a French art teacher, and to live for a time in Paris studying with Gleyre, for God’s sake.

From the beginning, Alex had supported and encouraged Teddy in all his efforts.

But this wasn’t Alex now, Teddy realized. This was a husband and, soon to be, first-time father. A man who was, himself, scared and uncertain of what the future might hold. That’s why he was behaving so bloody irrationally, tossing out warning glares and infernal ultimatums. Because he’d do anything, sacrifice anything, to safeguard the well-being of his wife and his unborn child.

Deep down, Teddy understood that. It made the ultimatum no easier a pill to swallow.

Jenny smiled at Teddy encouragingly. “If you stayed with us, we could have our coachman convey you to your studio each day. It wouldn’t be too terrible, would it?”

“An existence by your leave?” Teddy asked. “By all of your leaves?”

“It’s either that or return to Grasse with your sister,” Tom said. “That seems to be the consensus.”

A consensus? Since when did a man’s freedom of movement require a consensus? It didn’t. It shouldn’t, regardless of his physical condition. Not if that man had reached his majority.

Teddy’s mouth twisted with bitterness. He rolled back his chair from the table. “Two whole options, and neither of them of my own devising.” He angled his wheels to leave. “I’m spoiled for choice.”

“I leave it to you to make it,” Alex said as Teddy rolled to the door. “The steamer departs on Wednesday morning. Unless you’ve come to a prior arrangement with the Finchleys, I expect you to be on it.”