Never Land the First Fish

Chapter Twenty-One: Part 2

Lord Longford had greeted Emily pleasantly enough, but she had heard his whispered aside to Maddox. "Mad, you can't bring a woman like that home to Mother!" Perhaps she had been meant to.

Maddox growled a low response that she couldn't hear, and Longford's twin nudged him with his elbow. "Be nice, brother."

The brothers were both viscounts. Longford was heir to the brothers' father, the Earl of Chirbury. But Lord Chirbury's wife was a countess in her own right, having inherited one of the few earldoms that passed to a daughter if no son survived in the direct line. The Chirburys had petitioned the king when the Countess of Chirbury and Selby had twins, and the younger of the two was made her heir, rather than the elder inheriting both titles. Stocke would, when his mother died, become Earl of Selby.

Emily had little time for aristocrats who were pompous about an inherited title, especially a courtesy title that came with rank and no responsibilities. Maddox had at least earned his barony.

The twins regaled their brother with family news. Maddox interrupted them several times to explain relationships and background to Emily, and Stocke, to his credit, took the hint after a while and apologise. "This must be boring for you, Miss Kilbrierry. Perhaps we should talk about something else?"

Maddox didn't give her a chance to reply. "Emily is no doubt be interested to hear about the family I have asked her to join."

Honestly! Men! She had not expected Maddox to make his proposal, which she had not accepted, part of a shoving match with his brothers. Her look at him must have hinted at her ire, because he added, "That is to say, it is my earnest desire to make Emily my wife, though she has not yet agreed. I trust you will make her as welcome as we made your wife."

Longford glared at the reference to his own scandal; Maddox had told Emily, in confidence, that he had married his long-time mistress bare hours before she gave birth to their daughter. The lady's origins had been obscured for public consumption, but the family knew the truth and accepted the young viscountess.

"Longford will be on our side," Maddox had confidently predicted.

But Longford's wife was English and well-born, even if she had been seduced and abandoned before she even left the schoolroom. Just as well Emily had not expected him to welcome his brother's choice—a part-Indian base-born public performer with a string of previous lovers. He did not reply to Maddox's comment about his wife. In fact, he didn't speak at all for the next half hour, instead brooding in his corner, his whole attention to the countryside that they passed.

Stocke and Maddox conversed quietly, while Emily looked out of the other window. She had promised Maddox she would accompany him home and meet his parents, but if she was to be met with such hostility, she would not stay above a night.

Longford waited until after they changed the horses and were on the road again before sending sent Longford waited until after they changed the horses and were on the road again before sending sent her a and addressing his brothers.

"Mad, Stocke, you need to know before we get to Longford. Father had another apoplexy."

Maddox fumbled for Emily's hand, clutching at it as if to anchor himself. "He's not..."

"Not dead. It's bad, though. He's lost most of the movement on one side. He struggles to talk, even to eat."

Stocke rubbed his hand over his forehead and into his hair. "What does the doctor say?" Longford's voice dropped almost to a whisper. "To send for all the family. He hadn't recovered fully from the one last year. The next one will kill him, the doctor says."

Emily squeezed Maddox's hand and leaned into him, hugging his arm. He rested his head on hers for a moment, but addressed his brother. "When?"

"Last week, Mad. You must have been at sea already. We had your letter saying when you expected to arrive."

Maddox turned to Emily, his eyes anguished. "I shouldn't have waited. I should have insisted on sailing with Stocke arrived." Emily patted his arm, not bothering to argue that his presence would have made no difference.

"You had a contract," Stocke pointed out, "as you were at pains to point out to D'Alvieri." "Arse," Maddox commented. D'Alvieri, Emily assumed, rather than his brother.

"You're here now," Longford soothed. The glance he shot at Emily was a touch less hostile. "Miss Kilbrierry, I should warn you that most of our family is either staying in the house or visiting regularly. I hope you enjoy chaos."

"Who has come?" Maddox asked.

Longford shrugged, and managed half a smile. "Who hasn't? Daisy and Tom with three of their brood, including Margaret and the grandchildren, Aunt Kitty, Aunt Susan comes over most days." He carried on listing family members—sisters and their husbands, and children, cousins and their families, many of the younger generation with children of their own.

Maddox, in asides to Emily, explained how each person mentioned related to him and his parents, and soon Stocke, and even Longford, began doing so as well. They moved on to stories of other family gatherings, and Emily was surprised at how quickly the time passed.

"We're here," Longford said, as the coach turned into a carriage way. Through the window, Emily could see a lodge keeper hurrying to open a pair of gates. The second half of the journey was nearly over.

Soon, the carriage way began to descend into a valley, and Emily had her first glimpse of Longford Court, on the valley floor. From this elevation, she could see that it was built in a square around a central courtyard, three stories high—four on one side, where the land dropped away.

"It is Jacobean," Longford said, his voice warm with pride. "Built by our ancestor, the first Viscount Longford. His grandson was the first Earl of Chirbury, and brought other estates into the family, but Longford Court was our first."

"I should stay in the village," Emily whispered to Maddox, but his grip tightened and he begged, "Please come." Why he thought he needed her when he had all his family, she didn't know, but she could endure the Redepenning family's contempt and condescension if it would help Maddox.