Dinner that evening was a trial for Amy. Monsieur Laroque was his usual ebullient self and talked endlessly between courses about how well her designs were doing in Paris.
‘Once our families are merged there will be no stopping us,’ he told Mr Forrester, slapping him firmly on the back. ‘Why, with Aimée’s talents, our name will become known all over the world. There will be no other milliners to touch us.’
Amy let the chatter pass over her head. François was unusually quiet, and every once in a while she caught him looking at her from the corner of his eye, which caused colour to flood into her cheeks. He was still charming whenever he addressed her, but she began to get the distinct feeling that his father was far keener for their marriage to go ahead than he was.
The chance to speak to him alone finally came when Monsieur Laroque and Mr Forrester retired to the study after dinner.
‘Would you care for a brandy?’ François crossed to the cut-glass decanter on the small table in the drawing room.
‘No, thank you.’ Amy’s hands were folded sedately in her lap as she watched him pour out one for himself. Once he was seated she swallowed nervously and began, ‘François, there is something I must speak to you about.’
Raising an eyebrow he remained silent as she went on, ‘I realise that seeing me like this must have come as a shock to you.’ She held up her hand to stop him when he opened his mouth to deny it. ‘Of course it must have been a shock. I know I told you of my leg and the scar in my letters, but nothing could have prepared you for the reality. And the thing is … well, you are a very attractive man and I would quite understand if you wished to end our engagement.’
‘I would never do that,’ he blustered. ‘How heartless would I appear if I did such a thing? And you know we have fine surgeons in Paris,
ma petite
. People who may be able to improve the scar with surgery.’
‘I do not wish to have further surgery.’ Amy’s chin lifted stubbornly. ‘I have already spent many months being attended by doctors. I almost died, and am just grateful to be alive. I am assured that the scar will fade in time but I repeat, if you do not wish to go ahead with the marriage, I would quite understand. There would be no reason whatsoever why we could not still work together.’
‘That is quite enough of this talk,’ François told her sharply. ‘Our wedding is set for the sixteenth of May and unless
you
wish to cancel it, it will go ahead as planned.’
‘Very well.’ Amy longed for him to come and take her in his arms and tell her that he still loved her, but François stayed sitting where he was and she felt the divide between them. They turned their conversation to other things and Amy was thankful of an excuse to escape to her room when the two gentlemen joined them a short while later.
‘Good night, my dear.’ Her grandfather kissed her cheek as he saw her to the door and after inclining her head towards the other two men, Amy slowly climbed the stairs to her room. She was already in bed, exhausted, when Nancy joined her after helping with the mountain of dirty pots in the kitchen.
‘Right.’ She bustled cheerfully into the room without knocking. ‘I’m dead on me feet an’ my Billy’ll think I’ve got lost if I don’t get ’ome soon. So what was it yer wanted to ask me?’
Amy grinned. At least Nancy never changed. ‘Actually, I was going to ask you if you would be my bridesmaid.’
Nancy was in the process of folding the clothes Amy had laid across the back of the chair, but now her mouth dropped open and she swung around to stare at Amy incredulously. ‘But I thought yer were gettin’ wed in the Midlands? ’Ow am I goin’ to be a bridesmaid from ’ere?’
‘You would come and stay with us until after the wedding is over.’ Amy chuckled. ‘Billy would come with you too, of course, if he can get the time off work. I have already asked my grandfather about it and he is all in favour of the idea, so what do you say?’
‘Would it mean me ’aving to go on a train?’
‘I’m afraid it would,’ Amy admitted. ‘But I’m sure you’d enjoy it. They are not nearly so frightening as they look, I assure you. In fact, they’re very comfortable to travel in and I would pay all of your travelling expenses. It would be like a little holiday for you. You certainly deserve one.’
Nancy dropped on to the end of the bed as she scratched her head. The Midlands sounded like the other side of the world to her. ‘Yer’ve taken the wind out of me sails good an’ proper,’ she said. ‘It’s just about the last thing I ever expected.’
‘I dare say it is, but
please
say yes,’ Amy implored. ‘It would mean the world to me, to have you standing behind me at my wedding.’
‘In that case, ’ow can I refuse?’ Nancy was beaming from ear to ear. ‘An’ just wait till I tell my Billy. ’E’ll be like a dog after a rabbit.’ She threw her arms around Amy, but something didn’t feel right. Amy didn’t seem as excited about the wedding as she should have been. But then, Nancy told herself, the poor gel had gone through the mill over the last few months, so that was probably why.
‘Wild ’orses wouldn’t keep me away,’ she promised Amy now, and after saying their good nights she floated home to tell Billy the good news.
The next few days passed in a blur of visiting Mr Forrester’s shops and talking to the seamstresses for Amy. François accompanied her on many occasions and as always showed great interest.
Eventually it came to the eve of the Laroques’ departure, and as they all sat at breakfast, Mr Forrester suggested, ‘Why don’t you and Amy go to the theatre this evening, François? You have both worked so hard this week and it is your last evening in London. I am sure I could get you a box if you tell me which play you would like to see.’
‘That is most kind of you,
monsieur
,’ Francois told him with his most charming smile, ‘but forgive me for declining your most generous offer. I have actually arranged to visit some friends this evening.’ He now turned to Amy and said apologetically, ‘I do hope you do not mind,
ma petite
? I have only just recalled that I had made these arrangements and meant to tell you before.’
Amy was actually feeling very peeved but she bestowed her warmest smile on him as she assured him, ‘Of course I do not mind.’ She’d had no idea that François had any friends in London. But then she decided that she was probably just being unreasonable. She could not expect him to spend every minute with her, after all.
Once the meal was over, Amy planned to ask Nancy to pop upstairs to fetch her coat and bonnet. She and her grandfather had yet another appointment with the seamstresses today, who were putting the finishing touches to a very elaborate wedding gown before the bride-to-be came in with her mama for her final fitting later that afternoon. It was easily the most expensive gown that they had ever made, and Amy wanted it to be absolutely perfect. The bride-to-be was the daughter of a lord, and her father had also commissioned Amy to design the bridesmaids’ dresses, all eight of them. The bridesmaids would be each coming for their final fittings too, so it looked set to be a very busy day.
It was as they were all about to leave the table that Mr Forrester wiped his mouth on his napkin and told them, ‘I have a little surprise for you both.’
Both Amy and François gazed at him curiously as he went on, ‘The thing is, I know that Amy has expressed a wish to spend the majority of her time in England once you are married. And so this got Mrs Forrester and me to thinking. A newly-wed couple should have their own place in which to begin their married life. And so, even as we speak, the grounds of Forrester’s Folly will be swarming with builders that I have appointed to build you your own home.’
‘Why,
monsieur
, that is most generous of you,’ François told his host.
‘Your residence will be built some way away from The Folly,’ Mr Forrester continued.
‘And I assure you, it will be built with your privacy in mind. It will have its own drive, and internally there will be all the usual downstairs rooms as well as five good-sized bedrooms on the first floor. The second floor will be the servants’ quarters, and, dare I say – the nursery, should you require one.’
‘Oh!’ Amy blushed and seemed momentarily lost for words. This latest kindness was just too much.
‘And I thought perhaps, seeing as how you get on so well, you might wish to ask Nancy if she would like to live there as one of your maids,’ he went on. ‘Billy could choose to work either in the gardens or in the stables. There will be adequate servants’ quarters for a married couple to live in, should they wish to, that is.’
Amy let out a deep breath as she tried to imagine what Nancy would say to this suggestion. She knew that Nancy was more than happy living with Billy’s mother for now, but this would be a wonderful opportunity for both her and Billy should they choose to take it. A chance for her to get away from the smoggy streets of London to good clean air. But how would Nancy feel about becoming her maid when they were friends? Amy herself would have no problem with the arrangement but she would have to ask Nancy what she thought of the idea. It was certainly worth considering.
‘Th … thank you, Grandfather,’ she stuttered. ‘I shall put your offer to her this evening.’ Mr Forrester then went into a lengthy description of the house he had ordered to be built until it was time for them to leave for their first appointment and Amy said a hasty goodbye to François before limping out to the waiting carriage on her crutch.
For the rest of the day she was so busy that she barely had time to think of anything but what she was doing, and when she finally arrived back at the house that evening she was tired – then disappointed too, when Nancy informed her that François had already left for his evening out. But then, she consoled herself, she would see him the next morning before he and his father left to return to Paris, so it wasn’t the end of the world.
When she put her grandfather’s proposition to Nancy later that night just before she set off for home, the girl just gawped at her.
‘
Stone the crows
!’ she choked. ‘Yer full o’ surprises, ain’t no doubt about it. But to
live
in the Midlands … I’ll ’ave to ’ave a serious talk to my Billy about that. I ain’t never set foot out of London before so it’d be a big wrench. An’ I don’t know how Billy’d feel about leavin’ his ma.’
‘Of course you would need to talk about it. I understand that,’ Amy said sympathetically. ‘I can remember how nervous I was before my first visit to London. I felt as if I was going to the other side of the world. But I do hope you will both at least consider it, Nancy. The way of life is so much more peaceful where I come from. And I’m sure you and Billy would be happy there, if you would only give it a chance. Think how nice it would be for your children when they come along – to live in clean fresh air with fields about them rather than the murky streets of London.’
‘Hm.’ Nancy frowned. She would have a lot to think about in the days ahead. Hoisting herself off the bed she walked towards the door where she paused with her hand on the door handle to ask, ‘It won’t stop us bein’ friends, will it? If me an’ my Billy decide not to accept yer offer, I mean.’
‘Of course it won’t.’ Amy shook her head. ‘
Nothing
would ever stop me thinking of you as my friend,
ever
.’
Nancy skipped back to give her young mistress a quick hug before leaving the room, her mind a whirl. She would certainly have somethin’ to tell Billy tonight, that was for sure.
‘So, this is it then.
Au revoir, ma chère fiancée
.’ François took Amy’s hands in his. ‘The next time I see you will be when I return to England for our wedding in May.’
She nodded numbly. It still seemed unbelievable that in a few short months’ time they would be married.
He had arrived back very late the evening before and when she had heard him on the landing outside her room she had gone out to bid him good night. He had started guiltily when he saw her and, as she had leaned towards him to kiss him, she had thought for a moment that she had caught the scent of a woman’s perfume on his coat. But then, tucked up in bed again, she had convinced herself that she must have been mistaken.
Now, he leaned to kiss her gently on her unmarked cheek and she realised then with a little shock that he had barely kissed her a handful of times during his entire stay. And then it had only been to peck her chastely on the cheek as he was doing now.
‘Goodbye, have a safe journey,’ she whispered, and then he was striding away to the carriage that was waiting outside and she waved until it was swallowed up by the smog.
Sighing, she hurried away to pack her own small valise. It would be time for her and her grandfather to leave in less than an hour if they were to catch their train home.
Seth snapped his braces into place and slapped his wife’s bottom soundly as she stepped past him with a large pan of porridge in her hands.
‘Do that again an’ yer might find yerself wearin’ this,’ Winifred warned him as she plonked it on to the table, but for all her harsh words her voice was soft. Seth seemed to have been happier these last few months than she had known him to be for years. But then as she thought of the terrible secret that he had been forced to keep for Master Adam she wasn’t surprised. She just wished Master Adam would snap out of his melancholy now. The way she saw it, poor Miss Jessica was gone an’ there could be no bringin’ her back. The sooner Master Adam realised it and put the past behind him, the sooner he could get on with his life. After all, how could he have known, all those years ago, that refusing to speak to the master on his sister’s behalf would have such tragic consequences? It was common knowledge that Adam had adored his sister and no one believed that he would willingly have done her any harm. He had just had his head turned by that minx, Eugenie – who, word had it, was now in the final stages of her illness in an asylum in Leicestershire.
‘The master an’ Miss Amy are due back from London today,’ Seth informed her as she ladled some porridge into his bowl.