Chapter Twenty-Three

To the Theater

Ester followed me down the stairs. I felt pretty, but I wondered how this night at the theater would go.

We walked arm and arm into Mama’s parlor.

“Ruth, I still don’t approve of him, but I approve of you.”

I didn’t need Ester’s blessing to go with Wycliff, but I was grateful for it. I put my arms about her and gave her a hug before sitting on the windowsill to wait for Wycliff’s carriage.

“You have a good time, Ruth.”

I smiled, but my nerves raged. This should be an amusement, but I feared what tricks Adam’s killer would do at the theater. I nodded at my sister. “I will, Ester. I deserve to enjoy myself with Lord Wycliff.”

“That is very good to hear, my dear.”

Ester groaned. “Your footfalls are too silent. And this is a private conversation.”

Wycliff came fully into the room. “But how else will I hear all this wonderful chatter?”

I folded my arms. “Don’t get a big head about it. I can change my mind.”

“It’s your prerogative. It’s mine to enjoy you. Methinks you are growing more convinced of partnering with me? My lonely life needs you.”

Frowning, Ester tugged on her shawl and walked close to the baron. “Please prove my suspicions wrong.”

She left, slamming the door behind her.

“You deserve a good time with me. I like the sound of that, Ruth.”

Mrs. Fitterwall poked her head in with Chris in her arms. “Ma’am, he was insistent in coming down.”

I went to Chris and kissed my son’s head.

He jumped up and knocked off my glasses, but Wycliff caught them.

“Sorry, Mama.” His golden face was a little red. He went to Wycliff and hugged him about the knees. “I’m so glad you came. I saw a frog in my book. I put my puppet on it.”

I watched him pick up my boy and swing him about. His new heeled jet slippers made no squeaks, but I imagined the soles knocking against the floor. I’d love to hear the rhythm to know when he was about, to learn it, to look for him.

“Son, have you been good to your mother?”

“Yes, my lord, but it’s only been a few days.”

“I’ve been thinking about you, and how we still didn’t find any live frogs. I was sure we’d see one at Hyde Park. I hate disappointing people I love.”

He lifted a package wrapped with a red ribbon.

My gut twisted. Those ribbons had come to mean rejection. My hands were out as if to block the gift from Chris. “You didn’t have to do anything. You’ve been too generous.”

“Not generous enough. I’ve missed at least three birthdays. Here, my boy.”

“It’s not my birthday.” Chris turned away and ran to my leg.

Wycliff went on his knees, wrinkling his onyx-colored trousers. He cast a confused squint to me.

“Baby, you’re not shy. And Lord Wycliff is your friend, our friend.”

“He’s given me too much. I don’t need more, like you, Mama. No need anything.”

Wycliff rubbed at his chin. “I need things, Christopher, and I’m big. I like to give gifts.”

Chris rotated a little toward the baron. “I help by taking this?”

“Most definitely, son.”

He’d said son again. It was intentional to signal that his offer was for Chris and me. We were a pair, and he wanted the pair.

My boy didn’t take the gift, instead he went and clamped onto the baron’s neck.

Wycliff grunted a little, like Chris had hurt him. “Open it.”

My Chris released him and took the gift. Wildly tossing white paper bits and the ruby ribbon, he unwrapped a wood-carved frog, shiny with emerald lacquered paint.

With a gleeful laugh, Chris grabbed the carving, then he tossed his arms about Wycliff’s neck again. “Frog. He can be friends with the other one.”

Wycliff scooped him up and twirled Chris around like a bird. “A fine young lad needs lots of frogs. I have a question for you. You are my friend?”

“Yep. Rib-bet.”

“Do you think you’d mind if I was more of a friend to you and your mother?”

“Chris can’t answer that.” My words were rushed, but Wycliff was rushing me.

“Yes, I can say. Don’t make my mama cry. And listen when she says don’t play in the pond.”

Mrs. Fitterwall and Mama came into the parlor. “Chris, let Lord Wycliff alone.”

“Yes, Master Wilky. It’s time for you to go to bed.”

“Look, Gama, Mrs. Fit. Frog.”

“More frogs,” the housekeeper said, and she took the boy and his frog hopping out of the parlor.

“Ruth, you look lovely. Such a handsome pair. Going to the theater?”

“Yes, Mrs. Croome. It’s a lovely diversion as I settle back in to London. I must continue to lean on Mrs. Wilky.”

“Good, but don’t you think Ruth should wear jewelry? She’s so unassuming. I want her to borrow my pearls.”

“Or she could wear these.” He reached in his coat and tugged out a velvet box. “I was going to save this for later. Or if I said something stupid, I thought this could get me out of trouble.”

Watching Mama release a seldom-seen full smile, I shook my head. “A proper bribe, my lord? That was unnecessary.”

“I’ve missed your birthday, too. Open it.”

The box felt smooth in my palm. I opened it. Diamonds. One hung on a gold chain. Two smaller ones dangled from eardrops. All lay against a smooth black satin lining.

Mama looked speechless, but I felt a little like Chris. “I don’t need this. I will enjoy this evening without a bribe. I’m spending time with you. That’s my reward.”

The dimples showing in his beard went a little pink. “If you want it as a loan, perhaps we could arrange terms. You know me to be in finance.”

Mama cut him a sharp look, and he lifted his hands. “That was a joke, Mrs. Croome.” He stepped closer to Ruth. “I would like you to have these. Try them for the night. See if they fit. Diamonds for a diamond.”

“Good night, Lord Wycliff, Ruth.” Mama looked back one more time then left the parlor. I think she was grinning.

Wycliff held up the necklace and twirled it. “Your neck is lovely, would you do me the honor of wearing these?”

“No. Not the necklace.” The words spilled out fast, too fast, but the thought of having something about my throat was too much. “Sorry. I haven’t worn any necklaces since Adam.”

“I’m not good with things about my neck, either.”

I poked at the eardrops, watching the shimmer of the gold, the fire of the jewels. “Are they an heirloom? Did they belong to yours or Adam’s mother?”

“No.” He was silent for a moment. “All she had has been looted, ransomed off to pawns.”

He lowered the necklace onto the satin and helped me put on the eardrops.

“These are new. Something I had crafted after the garden party.”

“Why? And why then?”

He fingered the arch of my throat. “I noted how lovely and lonely your neck looked.”

“It’s a bribe?”

“Yes, and I need something to pretend to look at as I stare at you tonight. Shall we leave?”

I put the box on the table. “It will be fine to stare at me. I’ll stare at you. You’ll be the only thing in focus.”

He took my arm and led me to the door.

It seemed like a lifetime passed to get my shawl and gloves, his hat and cape, then we descended to his carriage. My hesitation lessened. I’d become better at going outside, but only with Wycliff.

It was dark, but the baron had a lantern lit. The minute the carriage moved and we were away from Nineteen Fournier, he jumped onto the seat next to me.

I bumped his arm.

The big man winced.

My fingers were on his shoulder before I could stop myself. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

He stilled my hands then drew each palm to his lips. “Good to know you care.”

“What happened? Don’t spare me. I’m not fragile when it comes to your safety.”

“You are a rosebud but made of the strongest metal. You are a survivor.”

“Then tell me what happened. It wasn’t the men from last night.”

“No. I met a disgruntled patron at a brothel.”

“You went to a brothel?” A sick feeling went to my throat. It burned, but what should I expect? Wycliff had accepted a platonic arrangement.

Logic didn’t matter. I was ill.

Wycliff lifted my chin. “I see you care a lot more. Let me answer what you won’t ask. Lawden received a tip about a girl matching Cicely’s description. It wasn’t. I interrupted a peer, an earl with particular tastes and a willing participant. I did not go for my own gratification.”

“You didn’t. I mean, it wasn’t Cicely?”

He started to laugh. “It was actually stupid to go. It was an in-town brothel, but it could’ve been a trap by one of my disgruntled associates.”

“You mean one of those men from last night?”

“Let’s not talk of this, Ruth. It’s not theater talk.”

“My poor Wycliff, you don’t need someone to tell you how stupid that was. You need care.” I settled against him, looping my arm about his tense one.

“He took me off guard. That won’t happen again.”

“I can contact Madame Talease. She would know if Cicely has been taken in. She knows the underbelly of the city.”

“No. No more thinking of brothels. That’s part of that list of things we don’t talk of. We have an appointment at the theater.” He kissed my fingers. “Tell me how you missed me.”

I had to try again. I could help, and I started rubbing his arm. “Lord Wycliff, I can be of help with a number of things. I know Madame Talease.”

“That’s not theater talk. The theater, my dear. We go and enjoy. Tonight, we pretend to be normal people out for entertainment.”

“It’s never a normal occasion for a Blackamoor to be out in Society on the arm of a peer.”

“Well, we should change that. London will have to get used to my good taste in ladies.”

I wanted to ask what had happened last night, the names of the voices, to see if my mind recalled things right, but I didn’t. Nothing mattered about the past as long as no one threatened him anymore. We had to survive the theater.

Raising his arms to stretch, he kicked out his legs. “Are you a free woman yet, Ruth? I’d love to come out of the shadows with this affair we are having, especially since it seems other women and bawdy houses upset you.”

He twiddled his sjambok and lay it across his lap. He’d had it last night when he’d gone out to meet the loud visitors. Now he had it in the carriage.

My reticule hung from my arm. I was ready, too.

I tweaked my spectacles and examined Wycliff. Handsome in an ivory damask waistcoat, a crisply-starched cravat and shirt, in a very fine dark tailcoat under his mysterious cape.

His sore arm flexed against me. A second glance at his face revealed a tight jaw.

This jovial manner was a disguise. “You can tell me. I know you are upset. This is more than a bawdy house.”

“You were always perceptive. You always knew…when Adam was bothered.”

For a moment, Wycliff was more Adam, more the high-strung boy in want of a brawl.

“I think that you needn’t stare but rest those eyes. Please feel free to hand those spectacles over to me at any time.”

“Is this how it will go? You always shielding me from darkness?”

“You are my lady of the light. Tonight, you shine—no frets, nothing to be concerned about. No need to look for trouble.”

“What did you say?”

“That you must be mine.”

“No, Wycliff, before that?”

“Lady of the light.”

“Adam used to say that.”

“Is that bad?”

I put my head carefully on Wycliff’s shoulder. I didn’t want him hurt. “No.”

“No one should face what you two did. You should be loved again.”

“Says the man who wants me to marry him but has not told me what he feels.”

He threaded his fingers with mine. “My father used to say something about actions shouting and the cheapness of words. Or was that my mother, the poet?”

“Easily said for the man who likes danger and carries a whip.”

“Tonight, I will show you more of the pleasures of the world that Adam was too stupid to appreciate. We can discuss my whip later.”

“I don’t need to be swayed by your wealth. My family has means.”

“Yes, they do. That’s why peers dip into the merchant class for brides like you, with dowries, like your barrister. Excuse me, your former barrister.”

“Marriages of convenience are common, even among peers.”

“As I said in your father’s study, our marriage shouldn’t be of convenience but of passion, lots of passion.”

“Passion can be scary. It can be violent. I don’t want that.”

Wycliff kissed me on the nose. “You are wearing me down, Ruth. You are going to make me a eunuch. I’m almost to the point of breaking and agreeing to a marriage of convenience. But I am going to stay strong for you. Strong and irresistible.”

I touched my temples.

“What is wrong?”

“I’ve strained too much trying to stare at you. Why must you be so fascinating? What will you do when my vision finally fades?”

He put his hand about my back and drew me to him.

“Wycliff, I’ve never admitted that I’m frightened by it. I don’t let myself wallow or be angry. I know that you are trying to bring justice to those who hurt Adam. I figured that out when I heard those voices last night, those familiar voices.”

Wycliff turned away and stayed silent.

Had I upset him? I had crossed that invisible line about not talking about his business.

“Ruth, I will see them tonight before intermission. I will be safe in this public place. It’s the only way to keep them from Blaren House or Fournier.”

My chest pounded, but I held on to my composure. Wycliff had just shared his deepest concerns. He thought me strong enough to know.

I wrapped my arms about him and gently tucked him to my bosom. “Don’t wrinkle my gown. I want to look well on Lord Wycliff’s arm.”

“This deep blue is so lively. So sweet on your figure.”

He traced the long scar on my face. “This wound, blunt and jagged, was caused by a heavy blow. It almost killed you. It’s surely responsible for the decline of your vision. But that didn’t stop you. There is such strength in you.”

My nails dug into his shoulders. I stayed away from his neck. I’d seen him wince once too often when Chris hugged him there. “Nice of you to notice.”

“What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger?”

“You keep sounding like Adam.”

“Ruth, never doubt how strong you are. I desire your strength, but if I keep something from you, it’s not because I don’t trust you.”

“I want to help. I want to be someone you can count on, Wycliff.”

“Because you are falling in love with me, Ruth?”

I didn’t know what I felt, but it was deep and strong, and it scared me. It was as if I’d known him forever, but we’d known each other barely three weeks. “Maybe.”

“I have to keep working until you are desperately in love.” He kissed my nose again. “I do understand you, Ruth. I think you understand me.”

Listening to him breathe, that raspy, throaty noise, I closed my eyes and enjoyed this simple moment.

I purposed to be present right now and enjoy it. For no one could keep all the dangers away. Not even Wycliff.