Chapter Twenty-Seven

 

Six Years Earlier

 

 

Alice looked behind her as she and Thomas hurried through the gardens, their footsteps silent along the stone path. The sun shone down on them and its rich rays warmed Alice. Or perhaps it was the hand she was holding, the hand belonging to the man she loved.

“Hurry,” Thomas whispered, “I fear what will happen to me if we are seen.”

Alice giggled as they neared the outer edge of the garden and disappeared into a row of hedges. Coming to a stop, Alice smiled up at him, loving the way his hair hung over his forehead.

“I told you my father is out all day on business and Mother is busy with Emily,” Alice assured him. “We are safe.” It was always the same when they found a few moments to escape together, for they feared that, if they were caught, Thomas would lose his position or even be flogged for showing such great disrespect to the family.

“I’m sorry,” Thomas said once they were well hidden, “but you must realize you are everything to me. The thought of not being with you, or even able to see you, brings on such great sadness, I’m unsure whether I would survive.”

“I know,” Alice sighed. “I also suffer when we are not together. Please know, I will miss you.” She reached into the pocket of her gown and pulled out a bank note. “I want you to have this to help toward your suit.” When he tried to push her hand away, she added, “Please, take it.”

“No, you keep it,” he said as he closed her hand around the money. “I have saved my money and it’s that money that will buy the tailcoat and breeches that will impress your father.” His smile was so proud that Alice could only return the note to her pocket. Thomas cared nothing for station, nor did he care for wealth. All that concerned him was happiness, which was the exact opposite of her father. Today, Thomas was leaving for London to buy a new set of clothing from one of the best tailors in all of England. His argument was that, if he could look the part of a gentleman, perhaps her father would agree to allow them to marry. The thought of him going so far from home made her tremble with fear.

“I know what you are thinking,” Thomas said as he took her chin in his fingers. “But worry not. Your father will have no choice but to give me his approval for your hand. I have saved up all of my wages and have enough to get us started on our own. Granted we will not be able to live in a grand house such as this, but it is enough to rent a small cottage where you can grow your own vegetables and we can raise a few sheep.”

How she loved when he spoke of their future together. It was always with a confident voice and always was reassuring. This time, however, she could not help but doubt. “What if he does not accept your request?” she asked as she gazed up at him. “What then?”

“Then I will have my horse ready at midnight waiting outside for you. We will run off to Cornwall and live out our lives together as husband and wife.” He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips, a kiss that reassured her that everything would be all right.

“I should be going,” he said, though he seemed reluctant to release her. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I will return.”

Alice nodded and then raised up on the tips of her toes to give him one last kiss. “Something to remember me by until you return,” she whispered.

“Alice!”

“That’s Mother,” Alice said in a hurried whisper. “You had better go now before she finds us.”

“I love you, Alice,” Thomas said quickly.

She placed her hand on the side of his face. “And I love you,” she said.

“Alice! Where are you, child?”

“Now go! I will await your return.” Then Thomas was gone. Less than a minute later, Alice emerged from the hedge just as her mother turned a corner.

“Whatever are you doing?” her mother asked in an angry voice. “Did you not hear me calling you?”

“Yes, Mother, I’m sorry. I was just listening to a bird in that tree over there.”

Mrs. Huntington squinted in the direction Alice pointed and said, “Really, my dear, you should brush up on your birds. That is a robin, and its song is so beautiful…”

Alice stopped listening to her mother’s impromptu lesson on the virtues of knowing all there is to know about robins and thought on the long journey Thomas would be taking to London. She had tried with no result to make him purchase a tailcoat from a tailor in Exeter, but he insisted that only the best would do. Nothing she said would convince him otherwise. Although she felt great pride in the fact he wished to impress her father, she wished he had not chosen to ride so far from home.

How she would miss him, but she knew that once he returned, one way or another, they would be together…forever.

***

“I do not care if you wish it or not,” Mrs. Huntington snapped. “Lord Donaldson will dine with us, and you will attend. And there will be no more argument.”

Alice wished only to shout at her mother that there was no need for her and her father to have men over to dine with her, for she had already given her heart to another man. However, Thomas was not due to return from London for at least another week, and until then, she had to remain silent about their affections for one another.

“I understand,” Alice said in a low voice.

“Good,” her mother replied. “Now, we have just over an hour before he arrives, which gives us very little time to dress. I do not understand how you can make everything so difficult.” Her mother droned on and on, but Alice pushed her voice from her mind as she gazed out the window.

A cart came into view, and Alice looked down with interest. She had never seen the driver before and doubted very highly that the man was there to do business with her father, his clothes were much too simple. Curiosity got the better of her, and she left the room and headed downstairs, leaving her mother to stand gaping after her. It really was not like her to be so rude to her mother, but something pulled her toward the man and his cart.

Her father was already out the door and speaking with the man when she arrived to stand at the top of the steps.

“Right shame, My Lord,” the man was saying. “Highwaymen have no morals.”

Mr. Huntington nodded in agreement.

Alice’s heart began to race. “Father?” she said in a shaky voice.

When he turned back to look at her, his face was solemn. “Go back inside, Alice,” he said.

“What is wrong?” she asked as she took the first step down. Her body felt numb, and she felt as if bricks had been tied to her feet.

“It’s nothing with which to concern yourself, my dear. Thomas, the stable boy, I’m afraid he was set upon by highwaymen. He’s dead. Now, please, go back inside.”

Alice felt the world spin around her. She took the final steps to stand beside the cart. A long broadcloth sheet lay across what was clearly a body, and Alice could not stop herself from reaching out and pulling back the cloth. Staring back at her was the handsome face of the man she loved, his hair matted with dried blood and a deep bruise on his temple. It could not be Thomas! And yet, there was no mistaking his straight nose and trim jawline. There he lay, the man who had saved up enough money to go all the way to London simply to buy clothing to impress her father so he could impress the man enough to allow him to marry her.

“Alice!” her father yelled at her. “Get back from there this instance.”

Tears rimmed her eyes and she ran up the steps only to run straight into her mother.

“Come now,” he mother soothed. “Let us go inside.”

“Thomas is dead,” Alice sobbed.

“She has never been unfortunate enough to see anyone dead, let alone someone she knew,” her father explained to the man who had brought the body of the man Alice loved back home.

“Let it not bother you so,” Mrs. Huntington said. She kept her arms around Alice’s shoulders as they walked inside. “We cannot allow such a tragedy to spoil our dinner plans. It is a great loss, of course, but he was only a stable boy. Now, let’s finish dressing for dinner.”

***

A week after Thomas was buried, Alice found herself in the stable where she had first seen Thomas. In her hand she held a nail and she looked at her handiwork on the wooden beam before her. Through tears, she smiled at the two sets of initials she had left as a reminder of her love for a young stable boy.

“It is here that I first saw you and fell in love with you,” she whispered. “I am so sorry, Thomas. I am sorry for what happened to you, and sorry we never made it to Cornwall.”

Her dreams were now gone, taken to the grave with the man she loved. Deep down, she knew she could never love again.

“I make a promise to you this night. I will become a spinster, for no man will ever have my heart as you did.”