Peggy had a restless night as her mind replayed the scene over and over no matter what distractions she had offered it. She had taken a bath, attempted to read a book, and made several failed attempts at a letter to Marilee. She could not tell her friend what had happened, and merely writing a superficial update on the shop and her interactions with Adam seemed too cold and impersonal for the turmoil that she could not abate. Eventually, she wrote it all down, every last detail, before promptly burning the false letter. Afterward, she told herself she felt more settled, having purged the unwanted desire from her system. By that time the sun was beginning to rise, and there was no time for sleep.
She went below to open the shop, brewed herself a strong cup of tea, and braced for what promised to be a distracting day.
The boys showed up just as the first customers began to browse the shop. Peggy had already pulled the list of items that had been requested by several locals for delivery and sent them off to run. Each time, Adam returned with a grin. Everyone was so pleased with the opening that the boys had been well tipped and thanked for their efforts.
She had hoped to close up for a midday meal, but there were far too many interested visitors. Most made purchases. Others made requests for future items or asked when Peggy intended to allow ladies to settle in for tea and conversation. She had informed them that a wide selection of tea would be arriving shortly, and they could make their arrangements to begin the week next.
The Viscount and Lady Umberly made their appearance in the late afternoon along with their daughter and, to Peggy’s discomfort, their son. Of course, he would have to come with them, she reminded herself. It would have been strange had he not. He was, after all, the true owner of the shop. Still, seeing Lord Belton so soon after their embrace left Peggy on trembling legs.
Miss Nora flitted about the shop with excitement as she pointed out one thing after another to her mother.
“We shall hang the curtains here,” she said with a sweep of her hand, “to partition off the ladies from the rest of the shoppers. The color could be changed for the season, and with the wide windows to one side, I think it will soon become the place to be.”
The Viscountess had nodded and gone off with her daughter to muse about the décor that could be brought over from the manor to make the place more suitable for their patrons.
“A fine thing you’ve done here,” Lord Umberly declared when he had finished his perusal of the ledger. “When the other wagons arrive, you will have a full to bursting shop on your hands.”
Peggy nodded and explained that she had already engaged the help of two sprightly boys to keep the shop running.
The Viscount expressed his approval and was soon nearly trampled by those same boys as they came rushing back into the shop.
“I’ll show you what we’ve set aside for you to take back to Canton Point, My Lord,” Adam said with pride as he and Jemmy coaxed the elderly gentleman into the storeroom where stacks of parcels had been piled for the secondary storefront. “You’ll need a whole cart just for this, and there will be cartloads more within the week!”
Peggy could not help but smile at the boy’s exuberance. He had truly taken to the task and claimed the duty as his own. Her heart ached as she watched him.
She caught Lord Belton watching her from the corner of her eye and turned her back to him under the guise of straightening the ledgers. Now, more than ever, she needed to hasten her departure from this place, but she would have to wait for the rest of the stores to arrive. Still, things had become too complicated for her liking.
So it was that two weeks passed while Peggy studiously avoided contact with Lord Belton. The remainder of the deliveries arrived, packing the shelves from floor to ceiling. Peggy found herself busy from sunup to sundown, and she was thankful that the work gave her reason to decline several invitations to dinner with Miss Nora and her family. While she was certain that she could avoid a repeat of the encounter that had shaken her to her core, the fondness for dancing in the house was enough to give her pause. Even with other neighboring guests invited, she was hesitant to risk finding herself in the Baron’s arms for any reason. When the Viscount had finally arranged to have his mountain of goods collected and he and his wife returned to their new settlement, she no longer had to fear the invitations and was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Her friend still came for tea a few times a week, and Peggy sat with her when she could be pried from behind the counter. She was, after all, in her element as a merchant’s daughter, much as she wished to deny that parentage. She was more the daughter of a merchant by heart than the granddaughter of a baronet.
Adam, who surprised Peggy with his skill and knowledge of numbers, had been a quick study on the ledgers. She treasured the hours they had spent leaning over the pages, laughing and learning about one another as she taught him how to keep the records. So it was that whenever Miss Nora appeared and declared that Peggy must take a break, Adam and Jemmy were entirely competent to watch the store in her stead and keep the books if any purchases were made.
Peggy’s heart grew lighter with each day that her son seemed to welcome her more fully into his life. She was given the opportunity to explain where she had been for the last four years, and to her relief, he accepted the tale for the truth that it was and the knowledge that she had not abandoned him of her own volition. He would greet her each morning with a hug about the waist and bid his farewell with a kiss upon the cheek. Several times, when he had come across some flowers, he had brought her the blooms so that she might keep them in a vase on the counter. It was not unlike the collection that she had once noticed upon Mrs. Finch’s windowsill. She would look upon them several times a day and allow herself to hope.
Still, whenever the conversation would turn to their leaving, the boy would resist with tear-filled eyes, and she found herself less and less able to bring up the topic. The shop was doing so well, and he begged her to stay, begged her to make a life in Riversbend where she seemed to have fit so well. Peggy wanted to consider it, and in truth, she might have done so if she had not made such a mess of things with a particular local lord, her own business associate no less.
Besides, Adam was still returning to the Finch home every evening with Jemmy and had given no indication of wishing to stay with her. She refused to make a home here only to maintain the current arrangement. It was as if he knew if he took that final step, it would mean that they would make their exit shortly thereafter. He was not wrong.
Peggy was torn with the wish that that day would come and the sadness that she had muddied things so thoroughly that staying seemed an impossibility. But every encounter with the gentleman reminded her of why she needed to leave. Nothing had happened between them. Not since that night. The problem was entirely within herself. He behaved as a perfect gentleman ought to whenever he stopped in to look over the ledgers and see if she was in need of any more funds or repairs to the shop. He had sent a footman to hang the curtain wall and provided three circular tables with four chairs each for the tea room, which had become such a success that Peggy was required to keep no less than three kettles brewing each afternoon.
He had sent another footman to oil the squeaking doors and even arranged to have the lock replaced to the storeroom when Jemmy had misplaced the key. He made no overtures toward her, and it was clear that not the smallest suspicion had arisen, even from his watchful sister. Yet every time she was near him, her blood burned hot. She felt her breath constrict and her thoughts fly away, unable to focus on anything but his nearness. It was infuriating that he could do nothing and yet bother her so. If the Baron felt the same way, he gave no indication of it. He was as steady and controlled as ever, kind and prudent, if a little distant for her own sake.
Peggy found herself enjoying a late cup of tea one afternoon with Miss Nora in the corner of the shop. The other ladies had finished, and there had been just enough hot tea left for the pair to sit down and enjoy. Jemmy and Adam had finished their deliveries, and for the first time since opening day, the shop was blissfully empty. Peggy locked the door with a sly grin.
“I think we can close early for one day,” she said with a smile as she settled herself into a chair across from her friend. Then, as if feeling quite bold, she stretched her legs across another chair and sank into the cushions with relief. Her feet were aching, and she declared that she deserved to rest.
“Right you are!” Miss Nora agreed with a crisp nod. “You ought to come to the manor for supper. You haven’t been in ages.” The complaint was valid, and Peggy had no proper excuse save her own untrustworthy nerves. She must have grimaced or revealed something in her features before covering her mouth with her cup and taking a long draught, for Miss Nora’s eyebrows shot upward.
“Unless there is some other reason you have been avoiding the house…” she mused with a half grin that was so terribly like the one that could often be seen upon her brother’s face that Peggy cursed the deep blush she felt race over her cheeks. “I knew it!” Miss Nora threw her napkin down upon the table. She stood up and began to pace, her mouth in a wide grin, until all of a sudden she slammed her hands upon her hips and rounded upon Peggy with a scowl. “Well, what is the matter then? You do not care for him? Well, that cannot be true. I saw it well enough with my own eyes the way you went all rigid and soft at the same time when the two of you danced. And you blushed then as well!”
Miss Nora continued on without need for air or for Peggy to speak as she held a conversation quite with herself. “And he did the same. Looked like he’d seen a ghost. I’ve never seen my brother so out of sorts. So, then, what is the problem? He is far too well-mannered to have said anything untoward. At least, so far as I am aware, and he is certainly no rake. He works too much. Even Father says so. And I would kill him if he were ever to hurt you so.” She twirled a curl about her finger as she continued to try to make sense of the puzzle.
Peggy was still too shocked that she had been outed to be able to speak.
“And you,” Nora continued. “You are so kind and gentle that I just know you would make the perfect match. I said as much to mother in my letter that first week.”
“Me?” Peggy protested. “I am a merchant’s daughter. He is a baron, one day to be viscount.”
“Oh, pish posh,” Nora said, waving a hand in the air to dispel the difference in their station. “And didn’t you say your mother was a baronet’s daughter? You are not common.”
But Nora did not know the half of it. She was no blushing maid but an unwed woman with a child. “After meeting you, even Mother agreed,” Nora said between sips of tea. “We were certain that if we thrust you together enough, some spark would come of it.”
Spark? Conflagration, more like, Peggy thought, but kept her peace.
“But no, nothing,” Nora continued undaunted. “Not a word. It has been weeks, and we’ve not had the slightest hint that you are in love. Except of course, for Nash’s melancholia.”
“That is because we are not in love!” Peggy protested, but her cheeks reddened even further, and she felt the traitorous color spread to her neck. “We cannot be.”
“Ah-ha!” Miss Nora snapped her fingers. “Denial! The first stage.
“The first stage of what?” Peggy asked, but her mind skittered to her other revelation. Lord Belton was melancholy? Could it be because of her absence? It did not matter. There was no future for them. The future with her own son was more sure than one with Lord Belton, and that was certainly still on shaky ground.
“Mama told me. Well…” Miss Nora flung herself back into her chair and stared at Peggy with anticipation. “Has he kissed you yet? At first, I did not wish to know, his being my brother and all. But if he hasn’t at least tried to kiss you then he is a bigger fool than I would have thought, and I shall have to tell him straight out what I think of him dragging his feet.”
Peggy merely stammered with terror as the sudden heat of a blush filled her face. “Nora… I…”
“All right… so he has.” She looked pleased. “Then why have you two been behaving like you barely know one another?”
Peggy released a slow breath. She could hardly keep up with Miss Nora’s path of conversation, and yet the lady seemed to have covered it all in record time.
“Peggy, darling, what went wrong?” Miss Nora’s voice calmed, and concern for her friend’s feelings took precedence over any plotting. “You can tell me.” She reached across the table and grasped Peggy’s hands in her own. For a moment, Peggy was transported away as she remembered the Baron’s hands—Nash’s hands—holding hers in just the same way, pronouncing them partners in a way that meant much more than a business relationship.
Peggy groaned and pulled her hands away. She covered her face with them and felt the heat of her cheeks. She was blushing profusely. She had to give Nora some explanation. “It was me,” she admitted. “It is me. I put him off, and for good reason. No, nothing he did, I assure you, so you can quit looking like you want to pelt him. There is nothing at all he could have done. I have my reasons and… they shall remain my own.”
“But—” Nora began.
“No!” Peggy interrupted sharply.
Miss Nora nodded, understanding at once that Peggy would explain no further.
“Answer me this,” she asked in a tone that implied that she would put the conversation to rest as soon as this one question had been answered. “Are you in love with someone else? Is that why you have been traveling? Are you trying to outrace a broken heart?”
At this Peggy offered a soft and sincere smile. This she could answer and with full honesty. “No. There is no one else, and I haven’t suffered a broken heart.”
Miss Nora appeared relieved but irritated. “Then why?” she began again as if she could not help the questions from bubbling out.
Peggy gave her a look intended to remind her that she had only been permitted one question and she had already received her answer.
“Drat,” Miss Nora huffed. “You are right. I need to keep my curiosity at bay. I was just so certain…” She bit her lip. “Just one last. Then I cross my heart that I will not speak of it again. Do you really not like him?”
“I like him just fine,” Peggy admitted with sadness. “If my life had been very different or we had met at a different time in my life, I am sure I would have liked your brother… very much indeed.” It was the truth, and it saddened her deeply. If things were different… but they were not, and she could not risk her heart for Lord Belton. One lord, an unworthy prat, had wounded her once, but she had mended. She was sure that her heart could not take another such blow, but more than that, Lord Belton deserved better than one such as she. Better than an old maid with a child by another man. She could not tell him of the indiscretion, and she could not keep such a thing secret. Even if they were not divided by class, this divided them. Irrevocably.
They finished their tea, and Peggy let Miss Nora back onto the street with a kiss to her cheek. If the world had been very, very different, this wonderful creature might one day have been her sister. But that world was not kind. The world that Peggy knew was cruel, and this sweet bliss here with her son was not to last. She could feel the impending doom in the air. Never mind the wish that she could make a life with Lord Belton. No. She should gather her child to herself and leave. This instant if she could. Disaster was on the horizon with the coolness of the coming autumn.