Something About Emmaline (29 page)

Emmaline nodded.

“My daughter?”

She hated to be the one to tell him. “No, my lord.” She nodded to Elton. “He’s my father.”

There were more gasps around the room, mostly from Lady Lilith, who took this news with a triumphant smile that seemed to herald Emmaline’s demise.

But it wasn’t to be so.

Elton heaved a sigh. “Oh, Button, I loved your mother with all my heart. Raised you like my own. But Eleanor was far gone with you when I discovered her in that cottage.” He nodded to Lord Haley. “That’s your real dah, not me.”

There was a stunned silence in the room. Emmaline backed away from Lord Haley. “This isn’t true.” Her gaze flew wildly to Elton, her hands over her heart. “I’m your daughter.”

“Oh, how I wish it were so, for I’ve never been prouder of anyone in me life as I am of you.” The old highwayman knelt before her. “But I’m not yer father, lass, and that I’ve always known.”

“How can this be?” Emmaline looked from Elton to Lord Haley.

“I suppose I am to blame, my dear,” Haley said. “I should never have married your mother, knowing that she wasn’t of sound mind, but I loved her. When she was sensible, she was the most golden of women, loving and passionate. But then she would fall into her spells, and there was no way to reach her.”

Emmaline nodded. That had been her childhood. Times when her mother was the most caring of parents and others when she was distant and vacant, barely recognizing her own daughter.

“The spells were coming closer and closer together and
they were getting more difficult to hide from society. My family urged me to have her sent to an asylum, and then tell everyone she was dead.” He shook his head. “But I couldn’t see her being put away, so I took her to Upper Alton and hired a woman to look after her. At least there she would be able to enjoy the flowers she loved. To hide her illness, I announced to one and all that she and I were going to Africa. And then I left without her. I left my Eleanor because I couldn’t face the inevitable end.”

He hung his head in shame.

“So you just left her?” Elton asked. “Just like that? If you loved her, how could you have done that to Eleanor?”

Lord Haley looked up at him. “And what have you to do with my wife, sir?”

“I loved her,” he said. “And I only left her when I had to, to keep food on the table.” He glanced around the room. “I had a different profession then. And from time to time had stayed at that cottage when I was in need of discreet shelter.”

No one asked the reason for this, for Elton’s past was well known, and Lord Haley was astute enough to guess the truth.

“I arrived one night to find the old woman dying and her being cared for by the most beautiful woman I’d ever spied.” Elton smiled. “She was a rare one, Eleanor. In the morning, the woman was gone, and Eleanor helped me bury her. By evening, I discovered why it was that Eleanor was taking shelter there as well. She went from an angel to a madwoman in a matter of hours.”

Elton bowed his head. “But by then, I couldn’t leave her. Her being so far gone with child and all. I stayed, as best I could.”

Emmaline felt the hot sting of tears in her eyes.

Lord Haley turned to her. “When were you born?”

“June 1773,” she said.

The man closed his eyes. “Dear God, what did I do? I left my wife, I left her carrying my child.” He made a strangled sound, so filled with anguish and guilt that it tore at the hearts of all who heard it. Well, all but two.

“I don’t believe any of this,” Hubert said. “You expect us to suppose that this imposter is in truth, your daughter?” He shook his head. “I for one will never believe it.”

Lady Sedgwick picked up her parasol and whacked Hubert over the skull.

“Grandmother!” he protested, rubbing his head.

“Don’t be so thick, Hubert,” she said. “I for one don’t need any further proof.”

“The word of a…a…” he sputtered, pointing at Elton, who glared at him so darkly Hubert’s mouth snapped shut. A few moments later he finished by saying, “A man of questionable character?”

Lady Sedgwick responded by hitting him again.

Emmaline shot a furtive glance at Lord Haley.
Her father?
She didn’t know if she could believe it herself. She looked up at Sedgwick and found him grinning from ear to ear. He believed it. Utterly.

So, it seemed, did everyone else in the room, with the likely exception of Hubert and Lady Lilith.

But she still had her doubts. “Why didn’t you come back sooner?”

“I wanted to, but when no letters arrived from the lady I hired, I just assumed Eleanor had…had gone on to her reward. And I couldn’t bear to come back to England and not have her here.” He paused. “But then Mr. Denford wrote to
me. Said his cousin would be interested in financing my scientific works if I was willing to return to England, so I decided to overcome my guilt and return.”

More than one hot glance turned in Hubert’s direction. “I had every right,” he complained. “I saw Lord Haley’s name listed in the Manchester paper as part of a scientific report, and so I wrote to him.” His mouth drew into a thin line. “I had hoped…”

Everyone knew what he had hoped.

Lord Haley continued his story. “It was not an easy decision to make. For how could I return and not have Eleanor there to offer her accounts of the
ton,
of society? Your mother loved London and all the glitter. Why, she could recite from
Debrett’s
like some women can play a concerto.”

“
Debrett’s
?” Emmaline said.

“Yes,
Debrett’s.
Had an old battered copy. Called it her bible. When I left, she tore out the page with the Haley lineage and told me to keep it safe and bring it home to her in one piece.” He patted his jacket pocket. “I’ve carried it with me all these years.”

“May I see it?” Emmaline asked, her heart hammering in her chest.
It couldn’t be…it just couldn’t be.

He smiled and reached inside his jacket, pulling out a worn and frayed piece of paper. The ragged edge showed where it had been ripped from the volume, and the corners were worn, but it was still whole.

Emmaline’s breath caught in her throat. “Just a moment,” she managed to whisper before she excused herself and ran out to the hall. She caught up her valise where she’d left it and brought it into the room. Fishing out her copy of
Debrett’s,
her mother’s legacy, she opened it to the
H
’s and
showed Lord Haley a sight that made the man burst into tears.

“What is it?” Lady Lilith complained, as everyone crowded around to see.

Lord Haley took his page and placed it inside the volume, the ragged edge matching perfectly to the missing page in Emmaline’s volume.

“Eleanor,” Lord Haley whispered to no one in particular. “I’ve come home, my dear.”

There was, for some time, more confusion and laughter and hugs than even Sedgwick could contain. Everyone wanted to add their own congratulations to this miraculous reunion.

“Be this all as it may,” Lady Lilith said, her strident voice rising above the merriment, “that doesn’t explain how this woman came to London. If she didn’t know she was Lord Haley’s daughter until this afternoon, I would like an explanation of who she was before.”

This stopped the chatter in a moment and all eyes fell on Emmaline.

“How very astute of you, Lady Lilith,” Temple commented, though no one was listening to him.

But it was the Duchess of Cheverton who provided the answer. “Lady Lilith, I dislike your impertinence. Everyone knows that Emmaline was under my care. She’s been my dearest companion for lo, these past six years. Haven’t you?”

Emmaline gulped. She didn’t dare disagree with the lady, so she nodded. But she had to wonder if the lady was of a sound mind to come to her defense.

Lady Lilith turned on this information in an instant. “Miss Doyle? That woman is your infamous companion?”

The duchess’s brows rose. “The best hired companion I’ve ever had in my service.” She winked at Emmaline. “She’s kept me entertained like no other, and her wages were a bargain.”

“I never!” Lady Lilith declared. “Why, this is ruinous!” Then as she looked around and realized that all her dreams of Hubert ever being elevated were past hope, she fell back into her chair and began to cry.

Wail, was more like it.

“It is all for naught. Now we shall be relegated to obscurity forever,” she complained, weeping loudly and not caring who heard her.

Hubert knelt before her. “There, there, Lilith. Don’t cry, my dear.”

“All is lost,” she continued to sob.

“Hubert,” Sedgwick said, his voice commanding.

“Yes, cousin?” Hubert said, rising from the floor and facing his fate with a fortitude that was uncharacteristic of him.

“I have a proposition for you,” Sedgwick said. “While I should throw you out on your ear for plotting behind my back, your efforts have produced a happy ending, so I feel the need to reward you.”

“A reward?” Hubert’s eyes widened as if he couldn’t quite believe it.

“I have a plantation in the West Indies. I want you and Lilith to take it. But on one condition. That you not return to England for some time, and that what has been said in this room will never, ever be repeated.”

“Never?” Hubert said, sounding all too disappointed.

“Oh, Hubert, don’t be such a ninnyhammer,” Lady Sedgwick said. “Take the property and go. You’ll not get another chance like this.”

Hubert looked to Lilith. “We would have to leave your mother, your family.”

“For good?” she asked with a noisy sniffle.

He nodded.

She brightened immediately. “Take it, Hubert,” she told him. “Sign whatever Sedgwick demands. I’ll pack our things.” She pursed her lips. “I must own that my mother is a bit overbearing, and this way there will be no worries that she’ll come to live with us once Oxley weds. Whenever that might be.” She forced a smile on her lips. “While I had hoped to one day be a baroness, I thank you, Sedgwick, for your kindness.”

He nodded to her.

“Lady Lilith,” Temple said, “don’t dismiss the notion of elevation so quickly. Have you ever considered serving your country?” He took her by the arm and was saying something about her “sharp mind” and introducing her to “Mr. Pymm. I believe he has need of a new contact in the West Indies.”

Hubert trotted along behind them, like one of Lady Sedgwick’s ever-present pugs.

With Lady Lilith and Hubert gone, the Duchess of Cheverton turned to Emmaline. “Miss Doyle?”

Knowing there was no use denying it, Emmaline nodded.

“I knew it,” the old woman snapped. “When that new footman declared that you had won a fortune last night playing parmiel, I knew you had to be her.” Then, to Emmaline’s shock, the woman came forward and hugged her like a long-lost daughter. “You don’t know the hours of amusement you have brought me!”

“What?” Emmaline asked. “You aren’t angry?”

“Angry? How could I be?” The lady took her and led her to the settee, sitting down and patting the seat beside her. “My husband was the last Cheverton. When I die, the title and all will revert back to the crown. For nigh on thirty years, I’ve lived a lonely life. I may have the Cheverton title, but it carries no power with it, not like it once did.” She sighed. “That is, until Miss Doyle arrived in my life.” Her eyes sparkled. “Oh, the letters I’ve received on your account, the visits I’ve entertained. How I have loved hearing of your escapades, defending your character to those outraged fools you’ve gammoned. I’d be a lonely and bitter woman if it wasn’t for you and your Miss Doyle. I thank you, my dear.”

To Emmaline’s shock, the old lady began to cry and hugged her anew.

Then, when the duchess regained her composure and looked around the room, as imperious and haughty as ever, she announced, “Here me well. From this day forth, Lady Sedgwick’s character is never to be questioned again. Or the bearer of such tidings will have my displeasure to deal with.”

With such an edict, there was no doubt that Emmaline’s future was assured.

If only…

She looked up at Sedgwick.

“Hawthorne,” he said quietly.

Elton’s head spun at this. “That bastard,” he replied. “What has he got to do with this?”

Tears stung at Emmaline’s eyes. She was Lord Haley’s daughter, she was Emmaline. But she couldn’t take the one last step that would make her happiness complete.

“Elton, as long as I am…” She leaned over to him and said softly, “Married to Hawthorne, I cannot wed Sedgwick.”

“That foul bastard,” Elton said in a voice so cold, it chilled the blood to hear him. Then his lips turned in a devilish tilt. “Never fear, Button, I believe I can relieve your mind on that account.”

“Old Mam paid to have his throat cut?” Emmaline had tears in her eyes at the very thought of it. Elton’s mother was more tight-fisted than Hubert, and for her to have made such a gesture…well, it was heartwarming.

“Oh, aye, lass. But then again, you were always her favorite,” Elton said fondly.

“And he’s?” Emmaline didn’t like to sound hopeful that Hawthorne had met such a grisly fate, but really, the man was the devil’s own.

Elton relieved her mind by saying, “Dead. Dead as they come, Button.”

Lady Sedgwick gasped, her hands going to her throat.

Elton glanced over at her and shook his head. “No, ma’am, it wasn’t like that. Before Blighty could do the rotter in, a freight cart ran over him. Blighty was awful mad for losing his fee, but your grandmother was ever so delighted to have saved her money that she went so far as to buy a round that night, to toast his soul into hell.” He turned a sentimental eye on Emmaline. “And I’ll have you know, we all offered a few up for you that one day you’d find your way home.”

“And so I have,” she said softly, looking from the father she loved to the one she had yet to get to know. Then the truth of the matter hit her. “I’m a widow?”

“As merry as they come,” Elton told her proudly.

“Sedgwick!” she said, rushing to his arms. “Do you know what that means?”

“Yes, I’ll have to have your name changed on the special license. I don’t know how I’ll explain this to the archbishop. Do you know how much it is costing me to marry you?” Then he grinned and kissed her, deeply and thoroughly.