Husband Wanted (HC #1)

24: A Solution for the Troubled

There was a timid knock at the door, and he glanced up quickly to see a serving maid – Nancy – hovering in the doorway. She held a tray in one hand.

"Good evening, m'lord," she said softly, her gaze darting to Simon who was now snoring lightly, "Mrs Hackett said that if yous were still at it in the early hours, that I ought to bring yous this." She lifted the platter slightly.

Dinner had been many hours ago, and David nodded quickly. "That's very kind of you both." The maid stepped gingerly across the room, dodging piles of books and stacks of papers weighed down with books. "What is it?"

He needn't have asked, as the moment the tray was sat down it revealed a few small, yellow cakes that wafted a familiar scent.

"They is lemon and honey cakes, m'lord."

His lips twitched into a smile. "Indeed, they are."

Nancy shifted her weight to the other foot. "Is there anything else I can do for yous, m'lord?"

David shook his head. "No, thank you. Please turn in for the night, and tell any other staff that are still awake that I said they should retire as well. We can't all be exhausted on the morrow."

She bobbed a curtsy, her smile one of tired relief, and then made her way delicately out of the room. David called out to her when she was in the doorway.

"Nancy, may I ask..." he glanced down at the cakes and then back up at the young woman. "Do you know why cook made the cakes? Or why Mrs Hackett had them sent up?"

She shrugged slightly. "I don't rightly know, m'lord. Cook and Mrs Hackett and Lady Beth have been talking 'bout all sorts. I reckon this is one of the things they thought up for yous."

David couldn't help but smile. Of course, it was Beth. He dismissed Nancy with a smile, and settled back to enjoy his cakes as he began to carve up the Namby estate for new tenants.

Cakes was not the only thing Beth had been doing with her time. She and Mrs Hackett had almost daily conversations about the running of the house. In all honesty, the housekeeper ran a tight ship. The staff were well-trained and dutiful – and also had no complaints when Beth pulled a few aside to discuss things – there were just too few of them for a house that size. As she followed the woman, listening to her suggestions and criticisms of the state of Namby house, Beth found herself pulled into tasks that wouldn't normally be expected of her. She helped make a bed, rekindle a dying fire, and even tossed dough in the kitchen until she dropped one and the cook sent her scurrying. She was not unhappy with this development, as it served two purposes. The first was that it endeared her somewhat to the staff, and they were more willing to talk to her about the running of the house. The second was that it kept her far out of the way of Miss Holt.

Every morning, Lady Richards asked her son whether 'they' were leaving that day, and every morning David told her that 'the Humphreys' were still helping him. Then the lady would turn to Mister and Miss Holt and promptly invite them to stay another night. It would have been comedic if it wasn't so downright irritating.

As busy as she was, however, Beth had connived to spend only mealtimes with both women, at which times she would sit in silence, her gaze fixed on the food, and do her best to ignore their snide comments. Their behaviour was wearing thin, but each time she thought she should just return home, she saw David in her head standing between her and his mother and insisting that she was important. That she had purpose here.

She could not abandon him when he had such faith in her.

She could, however, abandon the house. And that was what she had done for the day.