Stephanie and the Wicked Deceiver (Wild Marchmonts #2)

16. Momo

Chapter 16

Momo

T he lady who was driving the carriage was doing so gingerly, for this was much later than she was usually on the road. Thankfully the moon was full, but her eyes scanned the road immediately in front, not quite trusting her excellent pair of blacks to negotiate the country road by themselves. Her bonnet was veiled in white muslin, but so lightly as to allow her to see clearly.

The groom beside her was also alert, occasionally calling her attention to an obstacle or a deeper pit in the road. ‘Do you hear that, ma’am?’ asked the groom.

‘I do, Jed,’ the lady replied calmly.

It was the sound of a horse being driven at speed on the road and coming towards them. The lady pulled up somewhat to give herself time to meet the idiot who was riding so, but then she heard a dreadful noise: the sound of a horse falling hard and a female yelp in accompaniment.

‘If you don't stop now, ma'am, you won't be able to turn the horses. It be too narrow ahead,’ said the groom urgently.

But the lady had already stopped and thrust the reins into the groom’s hand. ‘Turn ’em,’ she said briefly and jumped down.

She ran forward quite a way until she saw the ominous shadow of a horse on its side; the echoing sound in the gloom of its laboured breathing seemed impossibly loud.

A girl was sobbing and kicking her feet free of a stirrup, as well as trying to free a portion of her driving pelisse caught beneath the horse. She yanked it free, still crying, saying, ‘Strawberry, Strawberry!’ which the lady inferred must be the name of the collapsed beast.

A groom, who had obviously fallen behind his mistress during her too-speedy ride, caught up. He jumped from his horse and said, ‘My lady!'

The crying girl was free by the time the veiled lady got to her and helped her up, just as the groom did too from the other side.

‘You see to the horse, man,’ the lady said. ‘I will aid the lady. Can you walk?’

‘Yes,’ the girl wailed. ‘Oh yes… But Strawberry...!’

‘The groom will know what to do,’ said the lady in soothing tones, taking her elbow. ‘Where were you headed? I will drive you.’

‘Hardcastle.’

‘Oh!’ said the lady in a strange tone. ‘Come then…’ She sounded more cheerful. ‘Thank goodness the horse fell on the side opposite your legs, or both would have been crushed.’

It was evident that the girl had an injured ankle but not a break and that she was weak from distress and shock. The veiled lady led her back to her phaeton, arm about her waist, and said to the groom, ‘No, do not get down, Jed. You drive and we will squeeze beside you. To Hardcastle.’

The groom, about to say more, merely murmured, ‘Ma'am.’

The lady murmured gentling words to the young girl as she almost swooned in her arms. The gates to the hunting box were not far away; just as the pair stopped before the tall oaken door, they heard a loud crack in the still night air.

The girl sobbed, ‘Oh no! Strawberry!’

The lady pulled her close by her shoulders and the girl sank against her as though it were the most natural thing in the world,.

There seemed to be some hesitation as the butler, opening the stout door at the groom’s rap, called, ‘Madam! And is that Lady Cressida?’

The lady jumped down and helped the girl into the house. ‘I will just see the young lady comfortably established, Si— eh, my man.’

‘Yes, ma’am. I will call a maid to her and send to inform the duke.’

‘No!’ said Lady Cressida, roused by this.

‘No need to call the duke now,’ said the older lady soothingly. ‘But some tea and some liniment seem in order.’

The girl, still dazed, was divested of her bonnet and coat and laid in the room where a fire had no doubt been lit in case she returned and wished for some tea before bed. ‘All my fault, all my fault,’ she was mumbling.

‘Now, now,’ calmed her companion inconsequentially, but the girl felt comforted.

Capable hands felt her ankle and she moaned a little, but the soft honeyed voice of the lady was particularly comforting as she said, ‘There, there! It is not broken; you have just twisted it. I’ll apply some liniment before I go, and then you should go to bed with the help of your maid.’

‘You … you…?’ Suddenly the shocked girl seemed present and enquiring in her tone.

The lady interrupted as she went towards a side table. ‘I’m sure you are not accustomed to spirits, my dear, but tonight I suggest just a little brandy against the shock.’ She brought back a glass and held the girl up while she sipped it and coughed.

‘You … you…?’ the girl said again. Her voice held a question and something else.

The lady stood a little more quickly than her smooth movements before. ‘I must go now. Think of nothing tonight, my dear. You may think of things tomorrow, if you will.’

She turned, but an urgent hand grasped her wrist. ‘You …!’ ejaculated Lady Cressida, then more quietly and formally, ‘May I be permitted to see the lady to whom I owe so much?’

The lady seemed to hesitate.

‘Are you…?’ Lady Cressida said. ‘Oh, please be….’

The lady, after a moment’s hesitation, lifted her veil and turned to look down at the semi-prostrate girl.

‘ Momo ! It is my Momo!’ Lady Cressida cried and sat bolt upright, pulling the lady to her. Somehow the lady managed to sit and found herself embracing the girl who was now weeping half joyfully, still half in shock.

‘My little Cressida. My own sweet,’ said the lady named Momo, taking the girl’s face in her hands and crying herself.

The lady’s maid arrived, but no sooner had she entered than Cressida said, ‘Leave us!’

‘Miss!’ But the maid knew that voice and left swiftly.

‘Oh, Momo!’ said Cressida settling better into the arms of the lady who removed her bonnet to aid to their comfort.

The butler entered with tea and a glass of hot punch. ‘Thank you!’ the lady said.

‘Yes, ma’am. Will there be anything else?’

‘No. Do not tell His Grace, not yet at least.’

‘Very well, ma’am.’

‘Simons knows you!’ discovered Cressida. ‘Wait! The road! Were you coming from here? Were you visiting Papa?’

‘It is a little complicated, Cressida. Perhaps not tonight… You should really go to bed.’

‘When I have just found my Momo? What if you should disappear again?’

‘I shall not.’

‘Did Papa know where you were all along? I asked him to find you when he came back.’

‘And he did find me, working in a girl’s school. I missed you very much.’

‘Then why did you not come to see me?’

‘I saw you many times but you did not see me.’

‘And you have been in touch with Papa all the time … he knew. It is not like him to…’ Cressida seemed to have an amazing thought. ‘Wait! You come here, Simons knows you… The room next to Papa’s that I could not use because they have mislaid the key. That is your room? You and Papa…? You are his…’ Her eyes were saucers, shocked but somehow not judgemental.

‘I am his wife, my dear,’ Momo interrupted quickly to halt this shameful notion. ‘His duchess, but I live here as Mrs Taunton.’

‘ Oh, Momo ! And you did not want me to know? How could you…?’

‘My dear, it is complicated. Your papa and I … we grew very close when we brought you up after your mother died. We became dear friends, but of course we would never… He would not insult me so. Eventually, some years after your mama died, he spoke to me of marriage but I knew the old duke would never permit him to marry the governess , although my own lineage… Well, I am from an old family, though a poor one.’

‘And then Papa went to war.’

‘He felt it his duty, and no one expected that the French would be so difficult to overcome. The Spanish branch of his family made him feel his duty more. And then he thought that if he left you with me, and with the supposedly nominal presence of your aunt, all would be well.’

‘But she hated you!’ Cressida protested. ‘I was only ten years then and I could not understand why you asked me to show you less affection when we were before her. After she sent you away, I understood. She called you “pushing” and hated the way the servants looked to you for orders.’

‘I had run the house for so long, according to your papa’s wishes, and they were used to me doing so. But I could never imagine she would send me away. I wrote to your father and, after some weeks when the mail was finally found, he said he had sent word to your aunt that I should be restored to my position. When I went to the house, she had forbidden me admittance.’

‘Oh, how dreadful! How I missed you!’

‘I too. I used to stand for hours, waiting for you to play in the square just to catch a glimpse of you.’

‘But why not let me see you, too? I should have been so happy!’

‘Because I did not wish you to hate her any more than you did, dear one.’ She soothed Cressida’s hair. ‘There was nothing we could do about the situation, and so you needed to live in that house as happily as you could. At least I knew that the servants cared for you – and I think your aunt did too, in her own way. She was simply jealous of me.’

‘She was too opinionated to truly care as you cared for me. But she was not exactly unkind to me,’ the girl mused. ‘But I longed for you. How did you cope?’

‘Your father had sent some money to my London lodgings. He told me later that he tried to send more via Mr Studhorn, his lawyer, but I had moved. I took up a position at a girl’s school in Dorset.’

‘To be near me in the country?’ asked Cressida, sounding very young indeed.

‘Yes. Whenever I could, I travelled to the park and watched you play. You looked lonely, but you grew so fast.’

‘Did you correspond with Papa while he was in Spain?’

‘I did not … it was better that way, I believed. You were thriving and not in need of me.’

‘Oh, I did need you! I needed you so much. I cannot believe you are here. And then what happened?’

‘Five years later your papa returned and found me. He said it was easy for he knew I would be somewhere near you.’

‘Oh, Momo! But then Papa married you but did not bring you back to me.’

‘He wished to, my dear, but I forbade him. You were fifteen and about to make your come out as a young lady. Having a new duchess who was once your governess could be made much of by the tattle tales. Your aunt once hinted that you were not in fact your mother’s child but my own. Nonsense, of course, but I could not have even the slightest talk besmirch you. We agreed, His Grace and I, that we would all meet again after your marriage when I hoped you would be happy to see me.’

‘Oh, Momo, when we might have been together these three years! I am so cross with you.’

‘It is still better for you this way.’

‘Who knows of Papa’s marriage?’

‘A few close friends – and the servants, of course. Your papa would not have the servants treat me with less than my full due of honour, so he says, the foolish man,’ she said affectionately. ‘Lately he has wished me to come forward for he fears your aunt had taught you some…’ the duchess’s voice became gentler to soften a blow ‘…bad habits.’

Cressida flushed. ‘Arrogance, you mean? This has been a most horrible evening but I think I have been cured of that, at least. I saw myself as Hedley and his friends see me, and I have been scorched by it, Momo. And now I have even murdered Strawberry! I am perfectly foul!’

The lady rocked her but did not respond with platitudes.

‘If you knew how awful I have been, Momo, you would hate me!’

‘I could never hate you, my sweet, never, never, never. And I know the true Lady Cressida who was kind and joyful and who, when she threw a tantrum, was always sorry afterwards.’

‘Aunt Foggarty felt my tantrums to be justified, even when I knew in my heart they were not. She said they were proof of my superiority and breeding. She said I was skittish, like an Arabian stallion, a thoroughbred, and it was only natural to be so. The others were all hacks and carthorses and could not compare to the likes of me.’

‘The woman is a fool. Why compare you to beasts? Your father is of excellent breeding, very superior in rank, and he is the epitome of manners and good humour. Much better to take your cue from your papa.’

‘Yes, but he was not there at first, and then only sometimes when he returned from war. And neither was my Momo. After you were both gone, I think I was in a temper most of the time. I felt so abandoned.’

‘Oh, darling.’

‘But it does not excuse me. Hedley made me see it.’

‘You liked him and he made a break with you?’

‘I thought it was because of the Marchmont girl who has strange eyes, but he said it was not at all. That if she had never existed, he would never be with me. He was angry a little and said more than he would have. He said that I was pretty and intelligent and rich and talented, but that because I did not like myself I had tried to force myself on someone who did not want me. I told him that I had chosen him because he was the best … but he said – he said…’

‘He should not have been so unkind.’

‘He was not really unkind, only telling the truth. And his friends were there. I saw that even though I was told by everyone that I was the prize of last Season and I had so many offers, none of those gentlemen – Hedley’s friends, I mean – would want me either. I felt so … so … ugly!’

Momo laughed so genuinely at this that Cressida’s self-hatred was defused somewhat. ‘Your papa blames himself for leaving you with your aunt. She’s a witch, and witches should not bring up children. But though your father spoke to you, he could not seem to get through. He wanted me to come back but it was impossible.’

Cressida was afraid once more, afraid that this meant her Momo would leave. ‘Will you sleep with me tonight, Momo? Please? I am so exhausted, but I cannot bear to let you go. I am going to be very angry with you tomorrow for not coming back to me when Papa found you, but for now I just want to hold you as I used to when I was afraid in the night.’

Momo hugged her. They went to bed then, the butler leading the way and smiling to himself. What the duchess could not make better in this world did not exist, in his opinion.

The duchess was brought one of her night robes by a maid. It was made of silk, not cotton trimmed with embroiderie Anglais , as Cressida’s was. The girl giggled. ‘ Just like a duchess!’ she blushed. ‘Do you really like Papa so much? He is very old .’

‘Only ten years older than me. And he is handsome and quite wonderful. It is just that anyone over forty looks ancient to such girls as you.’

They snuggled together, spooning as they used to, still swapping stories for some hours more.

When the duke came down to breakfast next day, harried a little by his man who had been harried previously by the butler, it was to see his wife and his daughter seated at the table sipping chocolate and chatting happily. He stood stock still on the threshold as the butler said, ‘Coffee or chocolate, Your Grace?’

‘He’ll have coffee, Simons!’ instructed the duchess. ‘He already has toothache.’

‘Yes, Your Grace,’ he replied.

‘My dears!’ said the duke. ‘How happy! What is this?’

‘It happened last night. It was a dreadful night, Papa, and I killed Strawberry – but then it was the best night because I’ve found my Momo again and she will never leave us.’

‘But…? How?’

‘Cressida said we were silly and has come up with a splendid plan,’ explained his wife, smiling at him, her eyes dancing in contrast to her calm tone.

‘Yes,’ said Cressida accusingly. ‘You have both been very stupid but I do not intend to scold you yet. If Momo really feels that your marriage would cause talk that would hurt me – and why you did not know that losing my Momo was much worse than losing my reputation, Papa, I do not know—’

‘You promised you would not scold, dearest!’ responded her stepmama.

‘No, but you are both shamefully idiotic …! But now I can bring Momo back to London and Dorset with ease. I can say I found my old governess and that I have brought her back to be my companion. She will arrive in her plainest clothes, whereupon I shall pretend to dress her beautifully and we can send for her trunks.’

‘My own clothes,’ explained the duchess, to her husband.

‘And she will live with us and go everywhere with us and then, when I get married, what would be more natural than that you will marry because you are lonely?’

‘Brilliant!’ said the duke. He turned to his wife. ‘But, my love, is this enough for you? You will not have the respect...?’

‘To live with my own dear girl will be heaven, my love!’

‘Of course it will. And if I do not marry, or if we get bored by it all or if…’ Cressida said naughtily ‘…you achieve an interesting condition, my Momo…!’

‘I once did so and we thought we must tell you all, my dear, but the child died and the physician said that it may be difficult…’ Her stepmother stopped a little sadly.

‘I think you will have a boy to put Uncle Foster’s nose out of joint. And my cousin Kenneth’s. I truly despise Kenneth,’ said Cressida with relish.

‘He is only a trifle spoiled,’ said the duchess. ‘If I remember.’

‘Well, so am I, I suppose. I have been quite terrible, Papa, I see it now. I always knew I was awful but I could not seem to stop myself. But now that Momo is back, I promise I will be good.’

The duke smiled at her and said gently, ‘What I most feared, Cressida, was always for you . Arrogant people do not see the world clearly and do not know how to have a happy life. I just wanted to see again the little girl that I left before I went to war.’

‘Oh yes, Papa!’ said Cressida fervently. ‘She has been hiding and afraid, Momo says. But she is still here.’

‘I do not think,’ remarked the duke heartily, ‘there can be another man so happy as I in a hundred miles.’

There was one man who might have disagreed with him, if he had but known.