Never Land the First Fish

Chapter Thirty-One: Part 2

Maddox found Emily on one of the window seats in the great vaulted room on the nursery floor. On her own, for once. Most of those staying in the house were down in the courtyard, farewelling those who were leaving, among them Sally Wellbridge, her husband, and his mother and sister. Also Sally's parents, his father's cousin Haverford and his duchess.

The ducal entourages had been staying in Chipping Sodbury, the nearby market town, but were taking the train back to Bristol tonight. Other guests were travelling all the way back to London, most of the older ones still probably commenting on the speed of travel in this day and age, as they had been since they arrived.

This room was at the back of the house, looking out over the garden and to the farmlands beyond. Maddox down beside Emily to take in the view.

"It's pretty land, isn't it?" Emily commented. "I can see why you would like a house somewhere near here."

Maddox shrugged. "I've seen more splendid landscapes, but this is familiar."

Emily glanced at him, smiled, and reached for his hand. "How are you?"

"My father left me his travelling chess set," Maddox blurted.

Emily turned so she was facing him, her brows raised in question. "That is nice?"

She didn't understand. He'd have known, even without the words in the Will. "I have given much thought about what to leave to my third son, Joseph Redepenning, Baron Maddox," Father had written.

"He has always been the most self-sufficient of my children. Indeed, he had made his first fortune before he left school, and has increased it many times over in the years that have followed. I leave him my blessing, of course. I am proud of the person he is and the life he has built for himself. As a token of my love, I also leave him my chess set. I hope he will one day play it with his own children, and tell them the stories of my travels and his that we shared when we played. May it see many more countries in his hands."

Maddox tried to explain some of this to Emily. "It is the set he took to Canada with him, when he left to find his fortune. We used to play each other whenever I returned home. He said he hoped it would see many more countries. With me."

She understood. "He expects you to keep travelling."

"He knows that I will, and he gives me his blessing," Maddox agreed. He lifted her hand and kissed it. "There's something else." He pulled the box out of his pocket. "Mama gave it to me. She said Father wanted me to have it, to give to you." He opened the box, displaying the contents: a silver wrap ring, shaped into a raven's head at one end, with stylised feathers and tapering down into a tale. The raven's eye was picked out in a chip of turquoise.

Emily reached for it then caught her hands back.

"I've never seen anything like that. Your father wanted me to have it?"

"You know that I am named for his first wife?" Maddox reminded her. "Marie-Josephe, her name was. She was Métis—an Indian, our neighbours would have called her, if she had lived to come back to England with Father. Part French and part native Canadian. This is the wedding ring he gave her. You understand, don't you, Emily? My father accepts the bride I have chosen, and wants her—you—to have the wedding ring he gave his own wife. She had not a drop of English blood, and he was much more likely to inherit an earldom than I am, with two brothers in front of me and one of them already married and breeding."

Emily was shaking her head. He'd lose her if he pressured her. "It's yours with no strings attached. Father wanted you to have it. If you decide to marry me, I would love for you to wear it as your wedding ring. If you want to, that is. But whatever you decide, keep it to remember me by. And my father."

He closed her hand around it, and she frowned down at the box. He had better change the subject.

"I had another letter from Gills today, waiting for me when I arrived back at the house. Here. You can read it. But the main thing is that he wants us to reprise our New York performances together. He thinks London will love it, and after that, Vienna, and on through Europe. What do you think, Emily?"

Emily turned again to face the window. "I got a letter, too. My family is planning to travel to Ireland to visit the estate there, and then on to Paris."

"Ah." Was she planning to join them, then? Was she leaving him?

She put him out of his suspense. "Can we be in Paris, Maddox? In eight weeks? Will that fit in with the performance in London?"

In his relief, he agreed straight away. "Yes, of course." Never mind what Gills was planning. If Gills wanted them, he'd have to make the timing work.

"Then we'll get married in Paris, so my parents can be there," Emily said.

Stunned, Maddox had to replay the words in his head to convince himself that she had really agreed to marry him. "In Paris? Yes. Yes, darling. That would be wonderful." He pulled her into his embrace, and she kissed him with an almost desperate passion before pushing him away.

"There is something else I have to tell you. I have known for a few days, but I wanted to wait until after the funeral."

Her frown worried him. "What's wrong?" Maddox asked. She wasn't ill, was she? Or in some kind of trouble?

"Nothing bad. Or at least, I think it is good. You will too. Or I hope you will."

Her hesitancy was not reassuring. "Darling, you are making me nervous," he told her.

Emily grabbed both his hands and squeezed. "I want you to know that I have wanted to marry you for weeks. Practically since we first..." she wrinkled her nose. "You know."

"Began our affair?" Maddox offered. "You never said."

"I thought anything permanent between us was impossible. I still think I am too old for you, and too foreign, and too scandalous." She grimaced again. "I know you say none of that matters."

"It doesn't," Maddox insisted.

"No. It doesn't matter as much as the reasons in favour of marrying you," Emily agreed.

"Because you love me," Maddox exulted.

"Yes," Emily agreed. "And because you love me. And because I am with child."

Maddox gaped at her. "You what?"

"I think you heard me," she replied, her voice stiffening, her eyes wary.

He could feel a grin spreading across his face. "You are with child."

"Yes," Emily agreed.

He rephrased it. "We are with child," he exulted. She was having his baby. She was going to marry him, and she was having his baby.

"Yes." She was still cautious. "I plan to keep playing, Maddox. And travelling. Other people manage to be mothers and performers. Will you..."

"We will make it work," Maddox promised. "As long as we are together."