Lady Revealed (17 page)

“I think enough has been said for one night,” the dowager stood and came forward. “We should discuss it tomorrow, after we have rested and had time to think about the situation.”

Bentley sighed and relaxed. “You are correct, Rose.”

Juliette seemed to calm as well. “Thank you for sending your physician. I promise to pay the debt as soon as possible.”

The others in the room stood, prepared to take their leave. Acker rushed to Juliette’s side. “How did you arrive here this evening?”

“A hackney.”

“Let me drive you home. It is too late for a lady to be out alone or traveling in a common hackney.”

“Thank you,” she answered.

“Should I send a maid to chaperone?” Jordan asked.

Juliette glared at him before taking Acker’s offered arm. “Of all the people in this room, it is Lord Acker who I trust the most at this moment.

Juliette settled back against the squabs of Acker’s carriage. Her mind was still trying to come to terms with everything she learned tonight. Though exhausted she knew she would not be able to sleep once she arrived home. It was almost too much to take in.

Acker settled in beside her and placed an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. It was almost Juliette’s undoing. She had stood up to Bentley, assuring him that she and her sisters did not need their assistance when in truth she was tired of worrying.

Maman had been ill for so long and did not seem to be getting any better. She suspected what the illness was but refused to give it a name. To do so would mean her mother would not be with them much longer.

Tears sprang to her eyes and Juliette blinked them away. The pressure of needing to work so she could help provide for the family and add funds to the family’s dwindling coffers was enough without maman being ill as well. Now she had a family, twice as large as what she was used to and they planned to dictate her life. It was all too much.

Acker squeezed her shoulder and it was all she could do not to burst into tears. It would be so nice to let someone else shoulder the responsibility for once, but to do so would mean giving up control of her own life.

“Your brothers aren’t so horrible, you know.”

Juliette shrugged. It was a determination she could not yet make.

“I’ve known them all my life and though they appear a bit domineering, they are not so bad.”

“They wish to send us to the country and hide us away.”

“No,” Acker insisted. “Bentley would like everyone to go to the country, get to know each other and determine how to face society together without it damaging Madeline or Rose.”

“Who is Rose? Another sister?”

Acker laughed. “She is young enough to be, but no. Rose was your father’s third wife and mother of Madeline.”

Oh yes, she was the one who married at the age of fifteen. If father was as cruel as everyone says then Rose’s life would have been a nightmare.

Though she hated being told what to do by anyone, Juliette had to remember that she and her sisters were not the only ones who would be affected if Society learned of their existence.

“I don’t see why we cannot go along as before,” she said after a moment. “Nobody else has to know who we are and they can pretend we don’t exist.”

Acker chuckled. “Bentley will never allow that. He and his brothers have been looking for you and your mother since he learned you never died.”

Juliette pulled back and looked at him. “To what purpose?”

He cringed and she already knew the answer.

“They wanted to make sure we never stepped a foot in England and ruin their lives.” Tears formed again. They didn’t want their sisters even before they had met.

Acker pulled Juliette close again. “At first, yes. Madeline had not yet married and they didn’t want her branded as a bastard before she was settled.”

Juliette let out a sigh. She understood those reasons. Even in the world she was from, the ballet and theatre, bastards were looked down on, as if the child had any say in the matter.

“Now that she is married, everything is different,” Acker explained.

“I just want everything to go back to the way it used to be. I want to teach students in the day and dance at night. It is the world I know and where I am comfortable.

“I am sorry, Juliette.” He kissed her brow. “You are now a lady and I am afraid you may not ever be able to dance again. It is simply not done.”

She stiffened. Nobody was going to tell her if she could dance or not. They were not going to take the one thing she loved away from her. “We shall see,” she said a moment later. “I need to dance. It is everything that I am.”

“Not everything,” Acker insisted.

“It is all I’ve ever known. I don’t know how to be anything else and certainly not a lady.”

“That I can assure you is not true.” He turned so that they were facing one another. “You are a beautiful, talented woman. But you are also a lady with standards and morals.” He clutched her hands in his. “If you weren’t you would have become my lover and made me the happiest man on earth.”

Juliette fought the urge to break eye contact. It was embarrassing discussing being intimate. Did he have any idea how close she came to being that very thing? Had they not been interrupted in the school room she would have lost her head and allowed Acker to do anything he wished. She would have been ruined.

“I am also grateful Bentley found you.”

“Why?” Juliette didn’t see how this situation could possibly benefit Acker. If anything, her brother’s alone would stop him from making her his mistress.

“You can’t disappear on me again,” he smiled. “Bentley will move heaven and earth to find you should you go missing.”

Juliette seriously doubted Bentley would do such a thing, yet she didn’t know him all that well.

“They are taking me to the country, or have you forgotten.”

“No, but I will be there as well.”

His announcement surprised and pleased her. It would be nice to have someone she trusted. She wasn’t sure she could trust the newest members of her family. “Is your estate close?”

He chuckled. “No. I will be with you because you are going to invite me.”

She stared up at him.

“I don’t intend to be parted from you again, even for a fortnight. And, I want to be present each time you tell Bentley to go hang,” he laughed.

“I thought he was your friend.”

“He is. A very good friend in fact, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy him being brought down a peg or two.”

Juliette snuggled back against Acker. Facing her brothers in the country did not seem so daunting now that she knew Acker would be there as well. She didn’t know why he wished to be with her or what any of this meant.

“I know you don’t wish to go to the country but I think it is best for your mother.”

Juliette hadn’t considered this. She was too caught up in being told what to do and the fear of being sequestered away, out of sight of the
ton
.

“The air is better and may do her good,” he added.

She could only pray that it was so.

*

Juliette waited in the parlor with her sisters and Lord Bentley while the physician examined mother. What was taking so long? He had been in there for an hour. Surely it didn’t take that long to diagnose a condition and prescribe the proper medication.

Just as she was about to go into mother’s bedchamber and demand answers the man exited and closed the door quietly behind him. He looked grave and Juliette sank into her chair as Bentley came to his feet.

“What is it?” Bentley asked.

The doctor glanced at the three women in the room. “Is there a place we could talk?”

Genviève stood. “She is our mother.”

“What you say to me can be said to her daughters,” Bentley advised the man.

The physician pursed his lips and sighed. “She has consumption.”

Genviève fell back into her chair. All early indignation gone. Juliette wished she could be surprised at the diagnosis but she was not. Once she had seen the blood stained handkerchiefs she knew, even if she hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself.

“Is she strong enough to travel to my estate?”

The man nodded. “The fresh air might do her good. But…”

“What?” Hélène demanded when he said nothing further.

“The disease has progressed far. I don’t expect her to recover.”

“Maman is going to die?” Juliette found herself asking in a quiet voice.

The physician nodded. “I can give you medicine to make her comfortable but that is about all I can do.”

A weight settled on Juliette’s chest and it became difficult to breath. They could not loose maman. She was all they had. “There is nothing that can be done?”

The man slowly shook his head. “The country air may be a benefit and prolong the inevitable but I doubt she will be with you at Christmas.”

Tears stung her eyes. He had to be wrong. They needed to move maman to the country where she could get better and prove this physician wrong. It no longer mattered that she would be away from the theater and dancing or that they would be exactly where Bentley wished to send them. The only thing that mattered was that maman got better. She could not lose her.

“Thank you for coming, Dr. Phelps.”

“I just wish I had better news.”

Bentley escorted the man to the front door and Juliette looked to her sisters. They both appeared as shocked as she. Hélène swiped a tear from her cheek and Genviève balled her hands into fists. None of them were used to feeling as helpless as they did now.

Her brother returned to the room a moment later. “I am sorry,” he said and Juliette believed the sincerity of his words. He too looked as if he were hurt by the news.

“When can we travel to your estate?” Juliette asked as she came to her feet. The sooner they had mother in the country the quicker she would recover.

“I will have one of my traveling coaches here in the morning.” He glanced about the room. “I will also send servants to pack your things and see that the lease is terminated.”

Juliette nodded, thankful he was here to see to the details because she could not at the moment, nor did she suspect her sisters could either.

“We will be ready, Lord Bentley.”

A sad smile came to his face. “I wish you wouldn’t address me as such.”

“It is your name,” Juliette reminded him.

“No. It is Clayton,” he pointed out. “I am your brother and whether you like it or not, I intend to take care of each of you.”

Juliette stared at him. Right now she didn’t mind the taking care of part. As long as he didn’t try to rule their lives she would allow him to watch over them and maman.

“Very well, Clay—” she stopped. She had never called him anything but Clay.

A smile pulled at his lips. “Clay is fine as well Julia. It is what you called me before Adele took you away.”

The memories flashed in her mind, small snippets but nothing she could grasp. “Jodan.”

“Yes.” He chuckled. “R’s were difficult but Matthew and John were said easily enough.”

She remembered nothing else nor should she expect to. She had just turned or was about to turn three when mother ran away. But, she remembered saying their names and something in the back of her mind gave her comfort. She had loved them then. Would she be able to feel the same in the future?

“I’ll take my leave. Eleanor will send servants over shortly to help with the packing.”

With that he nodded and quit the room. Juliette sank into a chair beside her sisters. They looked at each other and when the door clicked shut, they burst into tears, and hugged each other.

*

Acker pushed his breakfast plate away and took a sip of tea. His mother was also just finishing her meal. Little had been said between them this morning and he suspected each were lost in their own thoughts over what had occurred last evening.

“I plan on going to the country with Juliette.”

“Her brothers may have an objection.”

“I don’t really care,” he assured her.

“I wish to call on Adele this afternoon.”

“Do you think that is wise? She is very ill from what I gathered when I was there last night.”

His mother laid her fork beside her plate. “But I’ve missed her so. We were so close once.”

Acker reached over and grasped her hand. “I planned on calling on Juliette this afternoon. If her mother is up for visitors I will send the carriage for you.”

“Thank you.”

He rose from the table and kissed her cheek. “But first I need to resign my position with the Home Office.” Only his mother knew of his diplomatic service and the reason he traveled to the continent last year. Others thought he simply had a position on a board at the request of others because of his title.

“Why?”

“It is time that I paid more attention to my estates and my future,” he advised her.

“Do you plan on marrying Julia?”

He was not used to Juliette being referred to as Julia but knew he would need to become accustomed to it. To him, however, she would always be Juliette. “I am not sure. I know I wish to take care of her, but I have never been given the chance to know if we would suit for life. All I know is that for the moment, I hate every moment I am away from her.”

His mother smiled her approval.

“However, don’t you dare tell anyone. I would like to keep my feelings private for the moment.”

“Of course, dear,” she said with a mischievous grin as she lifted her cup to her lips.

The meeting did not take long and Acker was glad to be done with the position and responsibility. He wouldn’t have been free to travel to Bentley manor, or his own estate for that matter, had he remained with the Home Office. It wasn’t as if they needed him. Any number of gentlemen could fill his position and he had more important matters to attend to such as courting Juliette.