Home. Anna pushed open the front door of Belles, set down her bag and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. She was home. There were no customers at that moment, nor any sign of Henrietta either, allowing her to look around uninterrupted. So much had happened over the past few weeks that she’d been vaguely apprehensive that things might have changed here, too, but everything was just as she remembered. The counters were gleaming, the tins neatly stacked and, judging by the empty trays on the shelves, they were nearly sold out of biscuits, too. It all looked and smelled comforting and reassuring—exactly what she needed.
‘Anna!’ Henrietta must have heard the bell because she came through from the kitchen after a few moments, rushing to embrace her. ‘You’re here!’
‘Yes.’ She hugged her back, feeling a rush of affection for her assistant. After Lady Staunton’s bristly companionship it felt good to be greeted so warmly.
‘I didn’t expect to see you for another week at least.’
‘I felt homesick.’ Anna smiled, looking Henrietta up and down in surprise. There was something different about her, as if she’d grown in stature. She seemed older and more competent, exuding a new air of confidence, too. Maybe a few things had changed after all... ‘You look very well.’
‘Do you think so?’ Henrietta smoothed a hand over her hair in her old familiar gesture. ‘My brother said the same thing.’
‘Managing a shop obviously suits you.’
‘I’ve enjoyed it. Not that I didn’t miss you, of course, but I was so pleased when the Baroness came and said you were going to marry Captain Delaney. I knew he was smitten with you. I could tell, right from the start. Is he back in Bath, too?’
‘No, he has business to attend to in Staunton.’ Anna shrugged her shoulders awkwardly, hurrying to change the subject as Henrietta’s face fell. ‘Now tell me everything that’s happened here.’
‘Oh... Well, mostly we’ve just carried on as usual, except that Nancy—you know one of Lady Jarrow’s maids—has been taking a basket around town every morning and we’ve made a small fortune outside the Pump Rooms. I think people want something to take away the taste of the water. And then some afternoons we’ve taken a basket to Pulteney Bridge, too...’
Anna listened with half an ear to the details, half pleased, half perturbed that everything had run on so smoothly in her absence. She was starting to feel discomfited altogether. As much as it all looked and smelt like home, it no longer felt quite the same. She didn’t feel the same, as if she’d somehow become redundant in her absence. Worse than that, she wasn’t sure she belonged there any more, either.
‘But that’s all business.’ Henrietta seemed to become self-conscious suddenly. ‘Isn’t your mother with you, either?’
‘No. She decided to stay in Feversham for a while.’
‘So she and your grandmother are reconciled?’
‘Yes, it all went very well. As well as we could ever have hoped for, really.’ She pressed her lips together as tears stung the backs of her eyelids.
‘Anna?’ Henrietta peered at her anxiously. ‘Are you all right?’
‘No.’ She gave a loud sniff and shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think I am. Oh, Henrietta, I don’t know what I’m going to do...’
Anna stood in the drawing room on the Circus, waiting for the Baroness to arrive. After pouring her heart out to Henrietta the night before, she’d decided to grasp the bull by the horns and report to Samuel’s grandmother before she heard what had happened and came to the shop herself. At least that way she could be the one to announce that her engagement was over and explain why it was for the best. She could try to defend Lady Staunton, too, although she doubted the Baroness was going to be much more forgiving than her grandson.
‘Anna.’ Lady Jarrow swept into the drawing room finally and pressed a kiss to her cheek. ‘How good to see you again, my dear, especially now that we’re practically family.’
‘Oh...’ She steeled her resolve at the unexpected welcome. ‘Yes.’
‘But something tells me my congratulations are precipitous.’ The Baroness fixed her with a steely eye. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘It’s just that we’re not...going to be family, I mean. I came to tell you that my engagement to Samuel is over. It was all a mistake.’
‘Ah. In that case you’d better sit down. Do you drink brandy?’
Anna threw a startled glance at the clock on the mantel. It was only just after nine o’clock in the morning. ‘No-o.’
‘Pity. I hate to drink alone and after the night I’ve had, I could do with something stronger than coffee.’
Anna took a closer look at the Baroness. Her features were pale and drawn and there were grey shadows beneath her eyes. ‘Is something the matter, my lady?’
‘I’m afraid that my husband’s condition has worsened since you left. He had another bad turn last night.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘It is how it is.’ Lady Jarrow sat down on the sofa beside her. ‘Now tell me what happened with Samuel.’
‘Well...’ Anna folded her hands in her lap and proceeded to give a brief, though she hoped sympathetic, account of Clarissa’s behaviour and the outcome.
‘So the foolish woman was pretending to be pregnant the whole time?’
‘I’m afraid so, yes.’
‘And Samuel took it badly?’
‘Yes.’
‘What about you? Did you take the change in his circumstances badly, too? Is that why you ended the engagement?’
‘No.’ Anna bristled, offended. ‘I gave him my word that I’d marry him and I meant it, but he wanted to elope and be married in Scotland.’
‘And?’
‘And I couldn’t do it.’ She lifted her hands as if it ought to be obvious. ‘Not when I was hiding the truth about the Baron’s health. I know how close he is to you both.’
‘He would have understood that I’d sworn you to secrecy.’
‘No.’ Anna shook her head. ‘He told me that he valued my honesty. It would have been hypocritical of me to marry him while I was keeping such a big secret.’
‘Pshaw!’
‘But that’s not the only reason.’ Anna lifted her chin, annoyed by the other woman’s dismissive tone. ‘When I said that I wanted to marry him in Bath he became quite dictatorial. Just like an aristocrat.’
‘Or a naval captain, perhaps? He’s accustomed to giving orders.’
‘They weren’t just orders. He threatened to throw Lady Staunton out of the house and to dismiss all of the servants who’d helped her.’
‘So you broke your engagement over a few foolish words?’
‘No, he did. He walked away. The last I saw of him he was drunk and brawling in the local tavern.’
‘I don’t believe it. Samuel never drinks to excess.’
‘Well, apparently he’s changed now he’s the Earl of Staunton.’
‘I see.’ Lady Jarrow stood up and walked across to the window. ‘By the way, I received your correspondence. I wrote back and gave you permission to tell Samuel everything. You probably passed the letter on your way here.’ She sighed. ‘In light of what’s happened I wish I’d replied sooner.’
‘It doesn’t make any difference now that he’s shown his true colours.’
‘One night of foolishness doesn’t make him his father.’
‘No, but it’s a start. In any case, our engagement is over and I’ve come home. My mother is happy staying with her family for a while, but that’s her life, not mine. I should never have left Bath in the first place.’
‘And you intend to have nothing more to do with my grandson?’ Lady Jarrow turned to face her again. ‘Is that what you’re telling me?’
‘I think it would be for the best.’
‘I see. You didn’t love him, then, when you agreed to marry him?’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘But you can’t have, to walk away so easily. I never thought of you as defeatist before.’
‘It wasn’t easy.’
‘Yet you chose the easiest option of all, running away as soon as things became difficult. I’m disappointed. I thought you were the kind of woman who could face a challenge, but you’ve simply reverted to all your old prejudices. Personally, I don’t believe that a woman in love would ever do such a thing.’
Anna leapt to her feet, stung by the words, especially the grain of truth behind them. Was that what she’d done? Jumped on the first excuse she could find to flee back to Bath? She didn’t want to think so, but then she hadn’t given herself much time to consider. She’d left Staunton as soon as she’d got back from the tavern without giving Samuel a chance to explain himself. Without even waiting to find out if he was all right. Now that she thought about it, the fight might have been dangerous. Was he all right?
She tossed her head at the Baroness anyway. ‘That may be your opinion, but you’ve no right to say so.’
‘I have every right. I’m his grandmother and I shall speak as I find. It seems to me that he’s had a lucky escape. After everything he’s been through, Samuel deserves someone who’ll love him no matter what.’
‘I do love him!’
‘Good.’ Lady Jarrow’s accusatory manner fell away instantly. ‘I thought it was about time you said so. Now sit down again, my dear, and let’s start at the beginning. You accepted my grandson’s proposal when you didn’t know whether or not he’d inherit, is that true?’
‘Yes.’ Anna subsided back down onto the sofa. ‘We were preparing to come back here together when we found out about Clarissa.’
‘That must have been a terrible shock.’
‘Yes, but Samuel’s behaviour afterwards...’
‘Was irresponsible, but perhaps understandable given the circumstances. He found himself trapped in a future he didn’t want and doubtless afraid that you might have changed your mind about marrying him. People can behave out of character at such times.’
‘Well, yes...’
‘As for his threat to throw Clarissa out of Staunton—did he go through with it?’
‘No.’
‘And the servants who went along with the deception?’
‘No.’
‘Then it seems to me his behaviour consisted of a few angry words and some foolishness in the local tavern.’
‘You weren’t there.’
‘No, I wasn’t.’ Lady Jarrow’s voice softened. ‘And I’m not trying to condone his behaviour either, but before you come to any decision, tell me, what do you know of Samuel’s childhood?’
‘His childhood?’ Anna drew her brows together. ‘Not a great deal, except that his father left his mother for another woman and was killed in a duel.’
‘That’s true. He and his mother came to live with Hector and me afterwards, but I’m afraid it was a difficult situation. I don’t like to criticise my daughter, but she wasn’t the most attentive of mothers. She felt humiliated by the scandal, you see, and Samuel looked so much like his father that she found it hard to be around him. Consequently, she spent most of her time in London. That’s where she met her second husband, Lord Hammerton. They were married a year after she was widowed and went straight to his estate in Cumberland. Samuel wasn’t invited to join them.’
‘He said he was sent to boarding school.’
‘Yes, and spent his holidays with Hector and me, though I believe he was deeply hurt by his mother’s rejection. When he was sixteen he ran away from school and went to find his father’s family in London.’
‘Oh?’ Anna leaned forward, intrigued. ‘He never told me that. What happened?’
‘According to Samuel, nothing. When I asked he said no one was at home so he went to a gambling club and forgot all about it. In reality, he spoke to his grandfather.’
‘But why would he lie?’
‘Because of what happened next. His grandfather offered him money, a sizeable amount, to go away and never darken his doorstep again. He suggested that he go to the colonies, I believe. Naturally, Samuel refused both the suggestion and the money.’
‘But that’s awful!’ Anna’s heart wrenched at the thought. ‘How did you find out?’
‘Because his grandfather wrote to me, expressing his outrage at my having allowed the boy, as he called him, to visit him. There were other comments, which I shan’t deign to repeat. Suffice to say, Samuel never attempted to contact his father’s family again.’
‘And you’ve never told him you know what really happened?’
‘No, he was miserable enough. I let him keep his pride, but I believe that Samuel has been made to feel second-best and rejected for most of his life. By his father, who ran away with some silly woman, by his mother, who chose a fresh start over him, and by the whole of the rest of his family who didn’t want him.’
‘You didn’t reject him.’
‘No. Hector and I did our best to make him feel wanted and loved, though he was quite a handful at first. There were times when I feared he might follow in his father’s footsteps after all, but he had the strength of character enough to choose the opposite path. He determined to find his own place in the world and to prove his worth without help from anyone. As much as I disliked him joining the navy, it gave him something he’d never had before: a sense of self-worth and belonging. He found a place where he wasn’t judged for being his father’s son. When this inheritance situation arose it must have felt as though his family were trying to take that life, the one he’d striven so hard for, away from him. But then he met you and you gave him a reason to want to stay on shore.’
‘But our engagement happened so quickly.’ Anna had to swallow the lump in her throat. ‘Maybe it was a response to all of that? Maybe he was just looking for a distraction?’
‘Nonsense. My grandson may be impulsive, but he always knows what he’s doing. He inherited that trait from me.’
‘Yes, but...’
‘However, if you really can’t abide the thought of being a countess, then you’re quite right to say so now. And don’t worry about Samuel turning out like his father, either. He has more backbone than either of his parents, I’m relieved to say, only I hate to think of him feeling rejected again, or of you ending your engagement just because you were both too much in shock to know what you were doing.’ A grey eyebrow arched upwards. ‘By the way, what did your mother think of all this?’
‘I...’ Anna looked to one side sheepishly ‘...I don’t know. I left a note, but I didn’t see her before I left.’
‘Because you were in such a rush to get away?’
‘Yes. I wanted to come home.’
‘Because you panicked?’
‘I did not panic.’ Anna thrust her chin out. ‘I never panic.’
‘Goodness me—’ Lady Jarrow rolled her eyes ‘—you really might be the most stubborn woman I’ve ever met, Miss Fortini, present company excepted, of course. Once you get an idea in your head it seems remarkably hard to dislodge it. Now that you’ve run away, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if you’ve talked yourself into doing something dramatic and final solely for the purpose of justifying your decision for years to come.’ She pursed her lips speculatively. ‘Travelling to Italy, perhaps?’
‘No, actually.’ Anna dropped her gaze at the thought of Thomas Etton. She had been planning on visiting him first thing that morning, only somehow she hadn’t been able to go through with it...
‘Then what?’
‘It doesn’t matter. I didn’t come here to be insulted.’
‘Then why did you come here?’
‘To tell you that my and Samuel’s engagement was over.’
‘Or perhaps you were hoping I’d talk you around?’
Anna opened her mouth to retort and then sighed. ‘Maybe I was. I do love Samuel, but maybe love isn’t enough.’
‘Your mother thought that it was.’
‘I’m not my mother.’
‘No, you’re not.’ Lady Jarrow’s tone was kindly. ‘To be honest, your mother was a young and foolish girl with romantic notions. She was lucky your father turned out to be the man that he was. Not everyone who follows their heart is so lucky. You have a great deal more common sense, I’m pleased to say, but you do have a similar choice to make. If you follow your heart, then it will mean turning your life upside down, leaving your shop and starting all over again. It will be difficult. A lot of people will say you can’t do it. Some of them will call you names. So tell me, Anna, do you love my grandson enough to stand by him whatever the future brings? Can you be Countess of Staunton?’