"And what did you tell them?"
"I told them that Scottish women held no more allure for me than their particular hairy breed of cattle."
"Jonathan!"
"'Tis true, Kate. Hairy and dirty and no bedfellow for me. Now you on the other hand are worth the wait."
As he talked his hand had strayed to her breast. His touch sent shafts of fire through her body.
"I thought you were tired?” Kate remarked.
"
Licence my roving hands, and let them go, Before, behind, between, above, below ...
” Jonathan quoted, illustrating his words as he spoke.
"Don't quote Donne at me. I've read all his poems.” Kate giggled as she wrestled with the roving hands. “Jonathan...” But he had silenced her with a kiss.
Outside the storm began to abate, while in the guest chamber the bed rapidly warmed as two people lay entwined in each other's arms, sated with love.
Jonathan sat on the low stone wall overlooking the brook that ran behind the house, tossing pebbles into the water. Beside him Tom watched the stones fall into the swiftly flowing water, swollen by the night's rains.
"I'm sorry about Robert,” Jonathan said at last.
"Mother says it gets better and that I'll stop feeling sad."
"It does, Tom. The pain will get better but you never forget the person who is gone. Do you remember how you felt when your grandfather Ashley died?"
"Yes, but that was different. He was old, like Sir Francis. Will you miss Sir Francis?"
Jonathan nodded. “I'll miss him very much. He was the one person in the world I could rely on to give me sound advice...” He trailed off. “Has your mother told you about Seven Ways?"
"What about Seven Ways?"
"That Sir Francis named you his heir?"
Tom's eyes widened in evident surprise and Jonathan quietly cursed himself. Kate must have had her own reasons for not telling the boy.
"What about you?” Tom asked. “Aren't you his heir?"
Jonathan threw a particularly large pebble into the water and it landed with a thunk before sinking.
"What would I do with Seven Ways? I get the title though.” He smiled at the boy. “I'm the third baronet now."
"That sounds very grand,” Tom said. He frowned. “Does that mean I own Seven Ways?"
"Strictly speaking not until you're twenty-one,” Jonathan said, “but, yes."
"If I own Seven Ways does that mean I can go and live there?"
"Well that's up to your mother. You wouldn't want to leave your home and your friends would you?"
Tom's face took on the pinched look Jonathan had noticed when he first saw the boy. “I don't have any friends."
"Of course you do,” Jonathan said and stood up. “Come, Tom, time to go back up to the house. I cannot dally any longer."
"Must you go?"
Jonathan nodded. “Yes."
"When will we see you again?"
"I wish I knew."
Jonathan put his arm across the boy's shoulders as they walked back to the house where Kate waited with a parcel of food and a flask of ale.
She knew better than to ask him to stay, and her silence was harder to bear than if she had screamed and begged for him to stay. At the end of the lane, he turned to see her standing by the gate, the letters from Giles he had left her for Nell pressed to her breast. He raised his hand and turned away.
Privately relieved that Jonathan had told Tom about Seven Ways, Kate still hesitated on a decision. Following Jonathan's fleeting visit, she had forwarded Giles’ letters on to Nell with a brief letter of her own, explaining the situation with Robert's death and her sister's need for her.
She read Nell's reply, and realizing the import of what it contained, Kate immediately rode over to consult with William and Suzanne.
In the warm, familiar parlour of Barton Hall, Kate read Nell's letter aloud.
Dearest Kate,
My heart bleeds for your sister over the loss of her son, so I do understand your delay. Oh but, Kate, what am I to do? We had barely buried Sir Francis before Colonel Price and his bullies from the County Committee were at our door. We explained that the property was now Thomas’ but they would not believe me. Price wants the Thornton land so badly, he will not leave us in peace, and every day one of his men are seen on our land. I have no one else to turn to. Please come and soon.
Yr loving Nell.
Kate laid the letter down and met her sister's agonized eyes.
"You're not going!” Suzanne exclaimed.
"I've no choice, Suzanne,” she said. “Firstly, I have a duty to see that Tom's inheritance is secure from the grasp of men like Price, and secondly Nell is my friend and she needs me."
"I am your sister,” Suzanne's voice was harsh. “I need you!"
"You have William. You have your children,” Kate replied. “Nell has no one. She is utterly alone, trying to run a house and an estate that is legally my responsibility now, whatever my feelings on the subject. I'm sorry, Suzanne. I must go."
"I wish I'd never advised you to go to Seven Ways in the first place,” Suzanne said bitterly. “The devil take the Thorntons. All of them!"
"Suzanne!” Kate took a step toward her sister, who shrugged off her hand and walked over to the window where she stood with her back to the room, her arms wrapped defensively around her body.
Kate turned back to William. “You understand don't you, William?” she asked, her voice shaking.
"Aye, lass. You and Thomas have to be seen to take possession of Seven Ways. I've no love for these damned Committees. Too quick to feather their own nests most of them and this Price sounds no better than any. I think mayhap I should come with you and deal with the man myself."
Kate hesitated. It would be so easy to allow William to take control and deal with the likes of Colonel Price in his forthright Yorkshire manner. William was right when he said Seven Ways was a man's job. However it was not his fight, and Sir Francis and Jonathan both had confidence in her ability. She did not want to betray that confidence to them or to herself. She glanced at her sister's stiff back and slowly she shook her head.
"No, William. You're needed here. I'm on my own,” she said.
William frowned. “Is there no one you can call on for help? Surely you cannot be the last living relative of the Thorntons."
Kate frowned. “There is an uncle in London. Nathaniel...” She grappled for the surname, wondering now if Jonathan had ever told her. “He was a lawyer."
"Nathaniel Freeman?” William sat up in his chair.
Kate shook her head. “I can't remember."
William slapped his knee. “It can be no other. That's how David Ashley met Elizabeth Thornton. Nathaniel Freeman! His sister had just wed a Thornton. He and David were at Cambridge together and when David sat in the Parliament, he would stay with Freeman. Ah, lass, you don't know it, but you've a powerful ally there. Freeman has done well for himself under this rule."
"You mean he took Parliament's side?"
William nodded. “Lost a boy in one of the early battles if I remember rightly."
Kate shook her head. “I don't recall David ever mentioned him."
William shrugged. “They'd not have met since the last Parliament was dismissed in ‘41. Now it's none of my business, but you get this lass, Nell, to write to her uncle and ask him to come to Seven Ways to meet with you and between the two of you, you'll set this man Price on his ear."
Kate nodded. “I'll do that.” She stood up and walked over to her sister, laying a hand on her shoulder. “I won't be gone long, Suzanne. My plan is to see the estate settled. The bailiff at Seven Ways is a good man. I trust him. I will shut up the house and bring and bring Nell and the bairn back here."
"A papist in Barton?” Suzanne said, without moving.
Kate took a steadying breath. “Jonathan's sister. Tom's cousin ... a person who needs help, Suzanne.” She turned back to William. “I'll take Ellen and Dickon with me again, if they'll come, and if I need anything I'll send for it. God willing we will leave by week's end."
Suzanne gave a strangled cry and ran from the room.
William watched the door as it slammed shut behind his wife. “Well, lass,” he said, “you'll have your work cut out for you but you've a good head on your shoulders.” He paused. “And don't you fret for Suzanne. She'll come round, you'll see."
That night Kate sat in her own parlour and penned a letter to Nell, assuring her that she and Thomas could be expected within the next few weeks, depending on how long it took to arrange her affairs in Yorkshire and the state of the roads. Kate also asked Nell to send for her uncle as William suggested. She sanded the letter and sealed it neatly.
She stood slowly and walked over to the window. The window faced north, north to Scotland. Instinctively she wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, willing her mind to reach out to Jonathan, wondering if he had returned. She had been lonely after Richard's death but the loneliness of uncertainty was worse, far worse.
She opened her eyes and thought of the journey she and Tom would make. Strangely, now the decision was made, she had no regrets. It was as if she had cast herself off from her old, familiar, safe life and was sailing like a Drake or a Raleigh into strange waters. She felt no fear, only a sense of exhilaration and freedom that had nothing to do with the Ashleys or the Thorntons but came entirely from within herself.
As the little party of travellers crossed the gravelled forecourt, Kate looked up at the familiar windows of the rose-coloured house. She smiled and waved at Nell, who stood watching for them at the parlour window. She saw Nell briefly raise her hand then turn away from the window. They clattered across the bridge and into the cobbled courtyard.
Nell all but flew out of the front door and hardly waited for Kate to dismount before she threw her arms around her neck, half-sobbing. “Kate, Kate, I can't believe you have come!"
Kate gently disengaged the girl and took a step backwards. Nell seemed a shadow of the bright, lively young woman of a year ago. Her black dress and plain white collar accentuated her pallor. Her fair hair, drawn back severely from her pale face, had lost all its lustre.
"Oh, Nell,” Kate said, “I had no idea how hard it's been for you."
Nell put her hand to her mouth to stifle the sob. “I've had no one to turn to,” she said. “I've been so alone."
Kate slipped her arm into Nell's and walked her into the house and to the upstairs parlour where Nell subsided onto a chair.
"It is all such a mess,” Nell said, the tears bright in her eyes.
"Well,” Kate said soothingly, “I am sure things can be put to rights."
Nell looked up at her. “No, it is worse than you can imagine,” she said. “You don't know the whole story. I can only compromise you."
"What do you mean?"
Tears started trickling down Nell's face. “Kate, you have to know. I'm a Catholic."
"I know that,” Kate said.
Nell sniffed. “You know?"
"Jonathan told me. It makes no difference to me, Nell. You're still welcome here. This is your home. Now,” Kate said briskly, changing the subject. “Tell me everything that has happened."
Drawing in a great, shuddering breath, Nell began, “Sir Francis was barely cold, when Price came with three others of the County Committee. They had a paper with them, an order to sequester the house. I refused to admit them. I told them that they were mistaken and that according to Sir Francis’ will the estate was now the property of one Master Thomas Ashley of Barton in Yorkshire."
Nell allowed herself a small smile. “I told them to verify my story with the family lawyer in Worcester and ascertain the truth of the situation before making such wild assumptions."
"And did they?"
"Oh yes, but Price returned a couple of days later.” Her face darkened. “He threatened to burn the house down over our heads and that this Thomas Ashley would regret the day he inherited Seven Ways."
"Did you write to your uncle as I asked?"
Nell nodded. “And he wrote such a kind letter in reply. He cannot get away from London but he has written a letter, verifying Thomas’ claim on the estate and threatening Price with action should he pursue any claim for sequestration. He's a powerful man in London these days, Kate. I don't know why I never thought of turning to him before."
"You had no reason to."
Nell shrugged. “I suppose so, but the real reason is that Uncle Nathaniel, like David Ashley, sided with Parliament. None of us would have had contact with him these ten years past.” She sighed heavily. “Kate, I'm so very tired of this war and these estrangements."
Kate held her close. “The gaps are closing, Nell. Now my plan is to settle matters here and take you and Nan back to Barton with me."
Nell's eyes widened. “You'd do that?"
"You've nowhere else to go and I'm not leaving you alone in this big house."
"You wouldn't stay?"
"Barton is my home, Nell."
"I understand,” Nell said, “just as Seven Ways is mine."
Kate stood up and walked over to the window. The green fields, the Thornton lands, rolled away, fringed by the woods. How could it all seem so peaceful? Without William or Suzanne to turn to, and no Jonathan, Kate had never felt so utterly alone in her life.
Her first action the following morning was to send for the bailiff of the estate, Jacob Howell. She had met him once on her last visit and then only fleetingly. She recalled that he was a quiet, almost taciturn man with a long, mournful face. His father, and his father before him, had been bailiff for the Thorntons.
Obedient to Kate's command he waited patiently in the downstairs parlour, with the estate books tucked under his arm. Sir Francis had relied heavily on Jacob in the last few years and Jacob was well liked and well respected by the tenants. In short he was a good bailiff and a fair man. However, Nell warned, he was also extremely reticent in his dealings with women, having never married, and despite Sir Francis’ recommendation he viewed the new mistress of the house with the greatest suspicion.
Kate smiled at him as she swept briskly into the parlour. “Master Howell—” she indicated a seat at the table “—please sit down. Are those the books?"