Authors: Janelle Taylor
She went to the nursery adjoining her room and picked up her wailing son. She shed just as many tears as she entreated him to stop his, “Don’t cry, little love; Mama’s here now.”
She went to the rocking chair, sat down, and unbuttoned her dress. She placed him near the left breast. Instantly he began to suckle upon it, his distress gone. She sang softly as she rocked him, her gaze tracing his every feature.
More tears eased down her rosy cheeks as she murmured sadly, “Oh, Josh…I love you so much.”
Martha wondered at the despondency in her mistress’s voice and the sadness in her eyes as she spoke softly to her son Josh. Deciding she was merely lonely and worried for her husband whom she hadn’t seen since leaving America, she shook her gray head sadly and left Alex to herself.
Once sated, she placed the sleeping infant in his cradle, gazing down at him for a long time. Her dream had one point of reality: she could never forget the
man who confronted her each day through his son. No matter what had happened, she didn’t resent her child at all. She loved him with all her heart, as she did his father.
She ordered a tub of hot and soapy water. She needed to relax this tension in her mind and body. After soaking until the water was chilled, she got out and dried off. She dressed in a tea gown of soft yellow, enhancing her beauty and coloring. She pulled the confining ribbon from her amber tresses and brushed her hair until it shone with silky gold highlights. She dabbed on a cologne with a hint of wildflowers.
As she left her room, she told Martha she would be in the garden getting some fresh air and sun. She told the woman to bring a pallet and her son to do the same when he awakened.
Martha patted her shoulder in fondness. She softly encouraged, “He’ll be home soon, Lady Farrington. Don’t be so sad.”
Just before asking who she meant, Alex smiled and replied, “I know, Martha. I miss him so much.” Naturally the elderly nurse didn’t realize she meant Joshua Steele and not her husband. But until Spencer Farrington showed up and they talked, her life would never settle down.
Angry with him for this humiliating ignorance of her for so long, Alex resolved to give him a piece of her mind if and when he finally and graciously appeared! How dare that arrogant, selfish creature treat her this way! After all, he had needed this alliance as much as she had! Besides, if his reputation and that talk
overheard in Washington were accurate, he sounded to be the only man who could help her forget Joshua Steele. If fact, they sounded like the same man! Did she dare use him as a substitute for Joshua? Could she ever fall in love with another man?
So many questions! No answers could be forthcoming until she met this wayward husband of hers.
“Twice or thrice had I loved thee,
Before I knew thy face or name.”
—“Air and Angels,” John Donne
“What in the devil are you talking about, Jefferson? Me married to Lady Hampton? She claims we have a son?” Spencer shouted in disbelief and fury. What could that vain girl be thinking of to pull a ruse like this? There was only one female he would ever marry!
Bewildered by the wild rantings of Spencer Farrington upon his arrival home, Jefferson couldn’t make heads or tails of his behavior. “Where’s Will? If that old cuss has bound me to that witch, I’ll strangle him! How dare the old buzzard do this to me! For damn sure it isn’t legal! Just wait until I get my hands on that conniving vixen and my brazen grandfather!” Months of agony and denial tormented him.
“You can’t disturb him right now, Master Spence,” the elderly servant declared, grasping the infuriated man’s arm to prevent him from storming up the steps and verbally assailing the enfeebled lord of this estate. “He’s bad off, Master Spence. He’s growing weaker every day. I don’t think he’ll live to see next month.”
“He’s that low, Jefferson?” Spencer asked, leashing his temper. What had happened to his carefree life and
control? Angelique!
“I’m afraid so,” the aging servant sadly replied. “Lady Alex and the baby are the lights of his heart. They’re the only things which keep him going. He loves her like a daughter. They spend lots of time together. He’s sleeping now, but he’s having dinner tonight at Hampton Manor with your wife and son.”
“Darnit, Jefferson! I don’t have a wife and son! That’s what I’ve been trying to get across! I’ve never married any woman. But when I do, it won’t be that spoiled brat!” he thundered near exasperation. The strain and sacrifice of the past months savagely attacked him. He hadn’t been the same since Washington. How much longer would this bitterness, loneliness, and hunger plague him? He was still in love with a dream which couldn’t come true.
“But, Master Spence,” Jefferson protested, “it’s true.”
“Did Will and Charles dream up this proxy marriage?” he demanded suspiciously.
Baffled, he shook his head. “Lady Farrington came back from America already married to you. She’s been living with her father until you came home. You have a fine baby, named Michael,” the forgetful old man stated, using Spencer’s father’s name instead of the baby’s.
“She claims I married her in America?”
“She said you sent her home because of the war. She talks about you all the time. That girl surely loves and misses you.”
“I just bet she does,” he sarcastically sneered. So,
the haughty Lady Hampton got into trouble in America and was using him to save her name and honor! Well, the little tramp wouldn’t get away with this treacherous act! How dare she try to foist another man’s child off on him! Did she believe herself so beautiful and irresistible as to think she could cunningly enchant him upon his arrival and entice him to go along with this bold farce? Since she arrived claiming to be wed to him, her father and Will weren’t in on her little scheme. Just wait until he burst her bubble in her face!
“Don’t tell Will I’m home yet, Jefferson. I’m going to Hampton Manor and find out what that little tart is up to. She’d better have one good story to tell,” he scoffed angrily.
He changed into buckskin riding breeches, a blue linen shirt, and a fawn colored riding coat. He headed for the stables and saddled a horse. He rode like an obsessed man until he reined in before the stately manor belonging to his neighbor.
He knocked loudly and persistently upon the door. The head servant opened it and looked inquisitively at him. “Lord Spencer Farrington to see Charles Hampton,” he stated icily.
The man beamed with pleasure and stepped aside. “Come in, come in,” he repeated cheerfully. “Mistress Alex will be so happy you’re finally here. She’s been so worried about how long you been away, sir.”
He grimaced. “I’d like to speak with Charles first. I would prefer you didn’t tell Alex I was here just yet,” he mysteriously stated, his eyes and voice carrying a
vivid hint of annoyance and coldness.
The befuddled man led him toward the library where Charles was engrossed in paper work, wondering why this man was acting so odd. He tapped upon the door and waited for Charles to ask, “Yes, what is it?”
He opened the door and informed him, “Lord Farrington’s here to see you, sir.”
He jumped up and hurried forward to grip Spencer’s hand and shake it. As the servant closed the door, Charles raved excitedly, “It’s good to finally have you home, Spencer. I can’t tell you how pleased and surprised Will and I were to hear about you and Alex. Have you seen her yet? I’ve never seen any girl so much in love. The way she carries on, I expected you to be ten feet tall by now,” he jested as Spencer remained silent and sullen.
“Alex doesn’t know I’m here. I thought it best you and I talk first,” he declared in a voice of deadly and chilling steel. His blue eyes carried those same metallic qualities.
“But she’s been worried sick about you, son. Let me fetch her, then we can talk later,” he offered, curiously alarmed by Spencer’s strange and chilly manner.
“First, I’d like a little information. Would you mind telling me how I came to be married to your daughter?”
Charles looked at him oddly. “Is this some joke, son?”
“I can assure you I’m deadly serious, sir. This is the
first I’ve heard of such an incredible tale. Not only am I not married to your deceitful daughter, but I’ve never even met Lady Hampton. As for the child, the bastard isn’t mine,” he sneered contemptuously.
Appalled, Charles inhaled sharply and paled. “How dare you speak of your wife and son in this offensive manner! Do you forget, sir, they are also my daughter and grandson! What is the meaning of this outrage!” he shouted, his face flushed with fury and shock.
“That’s what I’d like to know! I just arrived home to be greeted with congratulations for a marriage and son I know nothing about. Whatever your sly daughter is up to, sir, I am no part of it. I have never laid eyes or a hand upon your daughter. Since she arrived home claiming to be my wife, I can assume this daring charade is all her idea. You can rest assured the law will deal severely with her devious lies!” he threatened icily.
“I don’t understand. What’s going on between you two?” he demanded, utterly bewildered by this alarming scene.
“Nothing, and nothing ever has,” Spencer added arrogantly.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, Farrington, but it won’t work,” Charles snapped, heading for his desk. He withdrew the marriage parchment and shook it in Spencer’s defiant face. “Can you deny that’s your seal and signature?” he harshly challenged his irrational son-in-law.
Spencer yanked the blue ribbon off and unrolled the crisp ivory page. He stared at it in utter disbelief.
When Alexandria Hampton went after something, she certainly took pains to make it credible! How had she managed this?
“Well?” Charles demanded a reply.
Puzzled and vexed, Spencer snarled, “It’s my signature and seal all right. But how the hell she got them on this paper, I’ll never know until I ask her! I tell you in all honesty, sir; I did not marry your daughter or father her child. It will be easy to prove I was at sea on July fifteenth, as well as for weeks before and after!”
Her uncontrollable curiosity getting the better of her, Martha listened to this preposterous debate going on inside the library. She hurried to alert her beloved mistress to the storm brewing and heading her way. She raced to the garden, pale and nervous.
Alex was sitting upon the pallet beneath a shade tree, playing with her son. Martha rushed over to her side. “Trouble, milady. Lord Farrington’s here and he’s arguing violently with your father in the library. It’s terrible! He’s shouting and ranting about not being married to you. He claims he’s never even met you! Your papa’s furious. They’re quarreling something fierce. He’s calling you awful names and vowing he knows nothing of this marriage. Forgive me for repeating such crude words, but he called Josh a bastard. Perhaps I should take him upstairs until you settle this matter,” she suggested.
Alex paled. She shuddered. My God, she thought, what is he doing? If he wants the marriage dissolved, he should have come to her. How could she possibly
explain his actions and words? As her thoughts flickered here and there in search of some logical meaning to the situation, her father’s voice spoke from behind her, “Martha, leave us alone for a while.”
The distraught woman instantly obeyed. “Alex, Spencer Farrington here claims you two aren’t legally married. Would you care to argue the point? He also denies he’s Joshua’s father.”
Spencer’s eyes had briefly touched upon the baby named Joshua with dark hair lying upon the pallet before his amber-haired mother. His stormy gaze shifted to Alex as she looked up while speaking.
“Spencer, I can explain ev…” She halted in alarm and disbelief, gaping at the man towering above her. Joshua Steele! Here? Claiming to be Spencer? “What are you doing here?” she demanded fearfully. For revenge? For the baby? He knew her name and home…
He stared at her as the letters upon her note flashed before his mind’s eye: “A.H.”…Alexandria Hampton? Before he could utter a single word, she swooned. Spencer instinctively dropped to his knees and caught her limp body before it could fall upon their child. Their child! His startled gaze flew to the baby wriggling upon the ground. Joshua? His softened gaze returned to Alex’s colorless face. Angelique was Alex? His lost love was claiming to be his wife? Why had she chosen Spencer Farrington to entrap? If she had accidentally discovered his identity, she certainly seemed shocked to see him.
“Would you mind telling me what’s going on!”
Charles shouted, more confused than ever, as was Spencer.
“Only a terrible misunderstanding, sir,” he muttered, wondering how to explain this incredible, but pleasing, situation.
Charles squatted and pressed, “Are you two married or not?”
Spencer’s eyes touched upon the pin on Charles’s lapel: a small lion’s head with ruby eyes. Stunned, he glanced up at the distressed man and stated clearly, “A lion’s eyes grow red in winter.”
A look of caution filled the older man’s blue eyes. Observing Spencer closely, he replied, “Only when taken from the jungle.”
“Could be the English fog which irritates them,” Spencer parried. Hampton, his contact? Alex, his wife? If she hadn’t put the facts together, why had she lied about a marriage to him? Then again, the license looked valid. A crafty proxy? By whom? How?
“Or the heat of a new battle,” Charles completed the code. Disregarding the implications in their brief discourse, he asked sharply, “Did you or did you not meet Alex while she was visiting Henry Cowling in America and marry her? Henry claims he was at the wedding himself, as does President Madison. He even gave her a safe escort and letter of protection when you sent her home. If she’s never met you, how could she describe you and your affairs so accurately?”
With the mention of those facts, Spencer suspected what must have taken place and how it was carried off. “It’s a long story, sir, but Alex and I are obviously
married and that is my son.”
“Then why the unforgivable act upon your arrival?”
“I need to talk with her first and settle some matters. Briefly, Alex met and fell in love with Captain Joshua Steele. She was travelling under the disguise of Angelique DuBois when I met her. We fell in love and sort of lost our heads for a time. Evidently Henry took matters into his own hands when he discovered her condition and married us by proxy. Rest assured we are very much in love, sir. As you can tell from her reaction, she learned my true identity at the same moment I learned hers. I had no idea my Angelique was Lady Hampton, nor did she have any inkling Steele was Spencer Farrington. In view of how we met, you can see why we never exchanged accurate names,” he related the facts to the astounded man beside him. “If I had known sooner, I would have married her without Henry’s assistance. Evidently Henry didn’t tell her Steele and Farrington were the same man.”
It was clear to him now that the message on the petticoat which had created their misunderstanding was being passed between Henry and Charles. Spence dreaded to recall his treatment of her during their encounters. “I haven’t been ashore in months. The fighting at sea has been heavy. I was coming to see Will once more before I attempted to barrel through the British blockade. I had no idea what went on there after I left. Alex must have told Henry who the father was. Since he knew me so well, he took matters into his
own hands. Thank goodness he did. If you don’t mind, sir, I’d like to explain everything to Alex in private. She’s also in for a big shock or two.” Would she despise and fear him? Would she demand a divorce?
“After which, you and I have some more talking to do.”
“In light of my conduct, I hope you don’t mind having me for a son-in-law,” he hinted to test the slightly calmed Charles’s feelings.
“Not if you truly love Alex and the baby,” he fenced.
“More than I thought possible, sir. Naturally with these new responsibilities, Steele will have to retire.”
Charles smiled. “I fully agree. Too bad. Henry says your services have been invaluable.” He patted Spencer’s shoulder and left.
Spencer tenderly caressed Alex’s cheek and lovingly ran his fingers through her silky hair. At last, his agony and search were over; she legally belonged to him, and he would never free her. He chuckled as he realized he had been the wealthy man whom she had planned to marry. How would she feel about him once the truth was out? “Alex,” he called her name, shaking her gently, wondering at Henry’s silence at their last meeting, that same fateful day. Clearly she was no spy! Would she ever forgive him for their troubled past?
She moaned and moved. Her lids fluttered and opened. In panic, she stared at him. “What are you doing here, Stephen? You’ll ruin everything! What must Papa be thinking now? Whyever did you tell him
you’re Spencer Farrington and claim we aren’t married? I told you I was getting married! I did; I married Spencer that next day by proxy. Papa’s met Spencer several times, so you didn’t fool him! Why are you doing this to me?” she wailed sadly. “Why use that name?”