Belmary House 5 Page 12

  It would only take a few minor spells to fix all the chips and cracks. Or better yet, find a nicer place in a better area and use her oodles of money to pay for it. Would they be offended if she offered? She decided to wait. There was plenty of time to get to know them first.

  Drummond explained the situation with wee Carver and Gloria rolled her eyes. “Bad boy. But still, you’ll need to go rescue him. That farmer will break his bones if he catches him this time.”

  Gloria motioned for Ariana to help herself to the tea and then left with Drummond, to Ariana’s disappointment. She was hoping to see the transport spell for herself. In moments, Gloria returned and poured herself a cup.

  “That was so fast,” Ariana said, nibbling on a seed cake.

  “It’s not so much the distance as the fact that the boy keeps going forward so far. He likes to poke about at the machinery in that time, and last time he was there, he broke something. Now the farmer’s out for his hide. But Drummond’ll get him, don’t worry for that idiot boy.”

  “How far forward?” Ariana asked, transfixed at the easy, open way they spoke of such things.

  “What is it, Milo?” Gloria asked.

  “Twenty-first century. I’ve never been able to get so far myself. How about you, Lady Ariana?”

  Ariana started at being included. She couldn’t help the pleased blush that flowed up her neck and cheeks. “This is the first time I’ve done it. I came from 1832. This is very much the future to me.”

  “I’ve got you beat,” Gloria said with a laugh, which turned into a cough. “I was born in 1702. I like this time much better, so made it my home. This was as far forward as I ever could go, though. I have to admit I would have liked to see even further. No, we really can’t blame wee Carver.”

  She rubbed at her throat and drank a large swallow, then grimaced as if she were in pain.

  “Are you ill?” Ariana asked, leaning forward. “I’m really very good at healing.”

  She reached out her hand and rested it gently at the base of Gloria’s collar. She wanted to belong, for them to like her and keep including her. She put so much effort into healing Gloria that normally she would have felt weak and shaky. She realized she felt perfectly fine.

  It must have been because she was surrounded by such a strong magical presence. Two fully grown people who’d been practicing their talents their whole lives were that much stronger than Owen and her muddling along in secret. She couldn’t imagine the strength even greater numbers of them might have. The things they could accomplish.

  “Oh, that’s absolutely lovely.” Gloria rubbed her throat and smiled. “The scratchiness is completely gone and my breathing is clearer than it’s been in ages. Thank you, Lady Ariana.”

  Milo twisted up his mouth and furrowed his brow. “You wouldn’t mind, er, having a try at my gout, would you? Bartholomew was our old healer but he gave up the ghost last spring and no one else is very good at it. They can help it, but it never really goes away. And as you might have noticed, we’re rather strapped for coin to see a regular physician.”

  The last thing Ariana wanted to do was look at Milo’s gouty foot. No, the last thing she wanted to do was touch the thing. But they both looked at her with such admiration. Pride. Acceptance. This was what she’d been longing for.

  “I’d be delighted to,” she said. She held her breath as he eagerly undid his boot laces.

  Surprisingly, his feet were the least smelly thing about him. The poor man probably cared for the sick foot better than he cared for any other part of himself. Indeed, it was quite an angry case of gout. She ignored his yellowing, overly long toenails and placed a finger on the reddened bulge. Within seconds it shrank back into his foot and feeling especially confident, she softened up his heel calluses while she was at it. He sighed and sank back into the armchair, a look of bliss on his face.

  “Anything else?” Ariana asked. “The doctor is in.”

  They assured her they didn’t need anything else while thanking her profusely for what she already did. They filled her in on some of the other people who passed through their grubby little headquarters, and when the light outside the small window was completely dark, Gloria offered to fix up the bedroom for her.

  “I’ve been sleeping at a tavern down the way,” Milo said. “You’re not putting me out, so may as well take Gloria up on the hospitality. It’ll be dangerous this time of night.”

  “Yes, do stay. It’s no trouble at all. I’ll just bring out some extra blankets and then whip us up a small supper.”

  Ariana’s imagination went into high speed, picturing bedbugs, rats, spiders, and any other crawling thing that might live there. She thought of her lovely room at home and for the first time since she started her grand adventure felt homesick. What were her brothers doing? Was Owen still mad at her?

  If her spell worked, they wouldn’t even know she was gone. She could flounce back into the room as if she never left and make it up to them with cakes from the kitchen. Thinking of home made her think of Belmary House in this time. If her spell didn’t work, she’d much rather spend the night there.

  “That’s so kind, really,” Ariana said. “But Mrs. Hedley is expecting me back. She’ll go mad with worry. And my brothers…” she trailed off. “If you’ll just get me a carriage or send round for someone at Belmary …” she stopped again, realizing how imperious she sounded.

  Instead of being offended by her obvious desire to leave, they seemed somewhat relieved to not have to wait on her. Milo went out to find her a carriage and Gloria made her promise to visit them again as soon as she could.

  “I’m going to see if my spell works to get me home,” Ariana said. “The portal is pretty unreliable.”

  “If you have troubles with your spell, you come and see me right away,” Gloria said. “I’ll get you where you need to go.”

  “Thank you. I’m so glad to have met you. I can’t wait to meet everyone else you spoke about. I can’t wait to come back, but I do have to go home.”

  “Of course, dear. Family’s family after all.” A look of sadness passed over Gloria’s wrinkled face as she patted Ariana’s hand.

  Milo yelled from the door that he found a cab. He dug in his pockets for coins but she hurried to tell him she had plenty from Mrs. Hedley. Without thinking, she stood on her toes and kissed his weathered cheek, no longer caring about his porky odor. These were her people. He looked shocked and raised his hand to his face.

  “Thank you for your hospitality,” she said.

  She ran to the carriage before she had a chance to feel embarrassed. The whole way back to Belmary House she happily let her mind drift over the vast possibilities that lay before her.

  ***

  “That was her, right?” Milo said.

  He settled into his armchair and put his feet up on the table. Gloria scowled at his poor manners but didn’t bother to admonish him or shove the feet off. He was the sort who didn’t learn and didn’t care. And she was the sort who loved such a clod. That was the way of things and she’d accepted it long ago.

  “Yes, that’s her.” She didn’t like how things had turned out. Were turning out.

  “About time, then, isn’t it? The King will be mad pleased we finally found her without having to interfere in her own time.”

  Gloria snorted derisively. “The King. Bah. Why you still call him that is beyond me. I thought we agreed to let it all go.”

  “Yes, and the next day she turns up? That has to be one of those signs you’re always looking for, no? So, the original plan’s back on.”

  “She healed your foot, Milo. And my throat. She’s a sweet girl, not how I remember. Why do we have to continue on fighting for something I barely recall and that you never knew in the first place? You heard a few stories and now want to chase after that pompous lordling and fall under his spell, which is a joke since he can’t do a lick of magic on his own.”

  “Which is why he needs the girl. Listen, I’m sick of living in that rat infe
sted tavern. If there’s real riches to be had, shouldn’t we go after them? You’re the one who told me how fine everything used to be. Aren’t you tired of this place?”

  With a sigh, Gloria flopped onto the settee and put her face in her hands. She felt the wrinkles against her fingertips and wanted to scream.

  “What I’m tired of is living in this limbo. I want to move on. Look how old I’ve become and yet not a day has passed? And you as well. Should you even have gout at your age? We should be young and letting the days go by outside us as well as in here.”

  “Love, if I could have figured out how to pause it in here as well, I would have, believe me.”

  “But you couldn’t. And now I’m going mad not knowing what’s right. And having to trick everyone who comes in here. It wears me down so I can barely stand. Eventually someone will see through us, see how we’ve aged. I’m surprised Drummond hasn’t noticed already.”

  Milo reached over and squeezed her shoulder, moved his hand up to massage her neck. He’d been so young and handsome once. So dashing and full of adventure. She relaxed a bit at his touch.

  “Well, now she’s turned up, we can stop living in this limbo at least. And it’ll be done with once he meets up with her. Then we can hop forward, take up where you say it all left off. Figure out what happened and fix it all to our liking.”

  “Our liking,” she said scornfully.

  “The King’s liking, then. But we’ll be rewarded. Have I ever let you down, love?”

  Thousands of times, she thought.

  Instead of speaking, she got up and nestled onto his lap in the armchair, trying to recapture some of the feelings that had led her to giving up her youth. Trying to remember what reasons she had for betraying a young girl who’d shown her nothing but kindness.

  Chapter 16

  Owen couldn’t keep his eyes off Maria. She was charming in everything she did, but watching her frolic in the kitchen garden with Ariana’s brothers and his mum’s yappy little dogs made his heart sing.

  Maria’s cheerful attitude and quick forgiveness of her old friend’s capricious moods dissolved any irritation he felt towards Ariana. Really, it had been bad of her to stomp off like that. At first he was determined to rat her out as soon as their mothers came home, but now he was having so much fun he didn’t think it could have been this nice if Ariana had stayed.

  Grayson said something that had Maria laughing so hard she leaned over and grabbed her stomach. It wasn’t the dainty drawing room laughter he was used to hearing from her, but a raucous, snorting wheeze.

  “I’m sorry,” she gasped when she noticed how taken aback he looked. “They’re too funny, though. You must be so disturbed at that noise that just came out of me.”

  On the contrary, he wasn’t disturbed at all. He felt something that made him stagger to the nearest bench and plop backwards onto it. He rubbed at the back of his neck as he watched her continue to dart about the small, walled in area with the boys, all of them shrieking as if they’d never been happier. And at that precise moment, Owen realized he had never been happier. The prickles on the back of his neck, the odd tugging in his chest, the way he felt like he just rolled down a steep hill and couldn’t catch his breath. He really had never felt better in his life.

  He searched his memory. All the brilliant times he shared with Ariana, especially their quest for magic. The successful hunts where he’d been able to not only bring home game for his family but have enough to share with his neighbors. Skipping classes with schoolmates and not getting beaten for it. Swimming in the river on the rare days it was hot enough. His mother’s warm smiles whenever he didn’t screw things up too badly. Every lovely memory he had couldn’t compare to that moment as he watched Maria pretending to be an owl perched on the low garden wall.

  He loved her. He knew it when she hooted and swooped off the wall, going after Nathan who pretended to be a terrified mouse. It was different from every other love he’d known. The pride of his father, the tenderness of his mother, the camaraderie and secrecy with Ariana. Even the way he tolerated his three little cousins was a kind of love, he knew that. And of course he loved his horse and dogs.

  This new love he felt for Maria was different from all those. The others hummed while this love sang, shouted, danced. It refused to be ignored and he didn’t want to ignore it.

  “Savages,” he shouted. The boys didn’t fear him the way they feared Ariana, but they still stopped their flapping and hollering. “Give her a bit of rest, will you? Pick some flowers for your mother, but don’t go past the olive tree, got it?”

  They scrambled over the low wall to the more formal flower garden, little Nathan promising he would also pick some for Aunt Serena.

  “Oh, they’re so lovely,” Maria said, out of breath and fanning herself as she settled next to him.

  “Don’t let them fool you,” he said. “They can be right nasty wee things sometimes.”

  He smiled at her rosy cheeks and the few tendrils of hair that had escaped its pins and now clung to her neck. He wished he could brush them away for her.

  “Children always love someone new, though, don’t they?” she asked mildly. He marveled that she couldn’t see his feelings as clearly as if they were written on his skin. “Honestly, I don’t come over here much. It’s always Ariana who visits me. Lord Ashford has never been anything but kind to me, but I think he values his privacy.”

  Owen chuckled at the understatement. According to his mother, his uncle had been the worst curmudgeon before he met Aunt Tilly and he still didn’t overly care for society.

  “Life is different here, that’s certain,” he said.

  “I’d love to see your farm, Owen,” she said earnestly. “The place where you found the book. It must be so full of … wonder.”

  “It’s perfect in every way. You must definitely see it,” he said.

  He only felt a mild pang that he led his new friends in the London ton to believe the land his father managed for his uncle was really theirs. That it would be his one day. And why shouldn’t it be, even if he was just the caretaker? It was clear his uncle had no desire to live there full time, and he didn’t see Ariana moving there after she got married, though the land would eventually go to her.

  The thought made his mood shrivel a little. He wasn’t sure if it was the thought of Ariana marrying or getting “his” land. She had never once lorded it over him. In fact, he often thought she forgot about it completely most of the time.

  “We never go to Scotland,” she admitted. “I don’t know how I ever could.”

  Her big, dewy eyes were full of hope, and he threw caution to the wind. “Maria, I know this may seem sudden.” He paused and tentatively reached for her hand. To his relief, she didn’t pull it away. “I hope it won’t come as a shock to you. What I mean by that is, I hope you can see my feelings.”

  He paused again and her cheeks turned the most beautiful shade of bright pink he’d ever seen. After a hesitation that he thought might kill him, she blinked and nodded. Just one tiny tip of her chin was all it took to seal his happiness forever.

  “I-I feel quite the same,” she whispered.

  He cut a glance to the twins who were pelting lemons at Nathan. Safe from their prying eyes, he scooted closer to Maria.

  “Then please let me speak to your father. I’ll arrange to stay longer if you’re amenable to it. I only know I can’t leave you. I love you, Maria.” His heart raced at saying her name. He thought he’d be ready to fall off the bench with fear at that point but the look in her eyes gave him courage. “I want to marry you.”

  He meant to say more. Give a convincing argument. But a sharp gasp stopped him. A gasp that most definitely didn’t come from Maria. He dragged his gaze from his beloved and met Ariana’s horrified glare. Where had she come from so suddenly? She was mussed and looked tired beneath her outrage. Had she heard everything? Maria shoved away from him as if he was on fire.

  Ariana’s glare skated over them and landed
on the twins who were still torturing the little one.

  “Stop it at once, you murderous heathens,” she screeched, running to guard Nathan with outstretched arms. An undersized lemon bounced off her forehead and the twins seemed to turn to stone when they realized who they just hit. They looked behind them, judging the distance to the hedge. “If you run, you’re dead,” she said.

  Owen’s blood froze at her tone, glad he wasn’t the source of her ire. At the same time he was relieved she hadn’t overheard his confession to Maria. She must have given him the filthy glare for not watching her brothers. He sniffed with disdain. If she dared bring it up to him, he would remind her who had stomped off in the first place.

  “I’m terribly sorry, Ariana,” Maria said, standing. “I didn’t see them.”

  Ariana ignored her and turned to Nathan. “How many did they hit you with?” she asked, running her hands over his cheeks and shoulders. Satisfied he would live, she knelt and gathered all the lemons that were on the ground around her.

  “At least a hundred!” her littlest brother wailed, clearly playing up his victim status.

  There was a gleam of vengeance in his eyes and he also dropped to the ground and began picking up lemons.

  “I warn you to stay still and take your punishment now,” Ariana said to the twins. She lobbed two lemons at once, hitting each of them square in their chests. “If you don’t, it’ll be much worse later.” They covered their faces as Ariana and Nathan let loose a volley of citrus fruits at them. “Don’t you two beasts try to protect yourselves,” she hollered.

  “He got to protect himself,” Christian protested.

  Ariana threw the next one harder. “Did you dare just say that?”

  Nathan laughed maniacally as he hurled lemon after lemon. Owen thought he should step in before someone got hurt and realized the twins were now laughing as well.