Today's Embrace (4 page)

Silence—then thunderous applause!

Evy stood, bowing in all directions, but saw two faces in the crowd that brought her delight. Her
father
, Anthony, and another very old face, Great-grandfather Brewster. He had risen to his tottering feet with the aid of his cane, and with his free hand was wiping his eyes with a large white handkerchief. Anthony was looking at him with a smile, as though to say, “See? Do you now really
see
my daughter?”

Rogan returned the violin to its master, inclined his head to acknowledge the applause, then, turning to Evy, took her arm and led her from the ballroom. The applause continued as they departed.

As they entered the hall he said, “
Now
, darling, I'll take you home as requested.”

Grimston Way, England

Rookswood Estate

Autumn

The rest of their honeymoon was spent in Paris, and Evy was discovering that marriage to Rogan was anything but dull. She thought she had known him, but marital intimacy opened doors to many surprises, some of which showed a romantic but rather mischievous disposition on his part—like awakening her at the light of dawn by tickling the bottoms of her feet! When she threatened to get even, he stated that he had nothing to fear, since he was confident she was incapable of awakening before him. She got her revenge, though. One evening at Rookswood she planned a surprise; she asked the servant boy to arise early next morning to collect a bucket of ice from one of the shallower ponds and had one of the maids quietly smuggle it up to the bedroom. Evy had gleefully shocked Rogan awake, dumping the ice over his bare chest before he could stop her. Oh! What
fun
to get the best of him!

Though Rogan occasionally eluded her understanding, most of the time he behaved just as she had dreamed he would: he was a sympathetic and protective husband—sometimes so tender she likened him to the groom of Song of Solomon. He accepted her weaknesses and idiosyncrasies with amazing liberality, and, of course, was the exciting lover she had anticipated.

A month after their marriage, they returned home to Rookswood. The weeks raced by. The joys of fall were yet riding the tame winds, rustling the green leaves of elm and sycamore trees in Grimston Woods, blowing through Evy's heart as well. By autumn the difficulties and surprises of newly married life visited Evy with a suddenness that left her in a quandary. She had become pregnant far sooner than she expected, bringing her smoldering coals of uncertainty back to a fiery glow. In fact, the development of her and Rogan's baby might easily appear to fit into the schedule of Lady Patricia's gossip. Evy was afraid, and dazed by it all.

If only Aunt Grace were alive! She and Vicar Edmund Havering had raised her at the vicarage with the same love and dedication as though she had truly been their blooded niece. When Aunt Grace was on her deathbed, Evy had told her that she was the only mother she had ever known. If only she, or even Uncle Edmund, were here now. So far she had not said a word to Rogan because of South Africa. This would give him even more reason to want her to stay behind at Rookswood while he voyaged to the Chantry gold mine on the Zambezi. She knew he was anxious to go—and without her.

On one of those afternoons after another inconclusive discussion about accompanying him on the voyage, Rogan told her he had to go to London without her.

“London? But why?” She looked at him, puzzled.

“Anthony wired me this morning. He's asked that I pay him a visit at the diamond business in London.”

“He's still in London? How odd. He was to sail for Capetown weeks ago, soon after the dinner ball at Brewster House.”

“Something has delayed him, obviously, darling. Don't worry. He didn't sound as though anything was particularly wrong. Just asked me to meet him later this evening at his office.” He came up to her, taking her by her forearms. “Look, sweet, it will be late when this meeting is over. I don't think I'll have time to return tonight. I'll stay at the townhouse and return in the morning.”

Rather startled, she had no answer at first. He must have noticed. He regarded her tenderly.

“Do you mind terribly?”

She did. “You never decided to go away overnight before.”

His eyes glinted and a smile loitered. “I didn't realize you'd miss me so much.”

Rogan gone overnight? The thought of the dark bedroom without him was suddenly unthinkable. How had she lived all those lonely nights without his arms around her? It was especially troubling that the idea did not appear to be a great concern to him. Was this a way to begin putting some distance between them so that leaving for South Africa would seem less startling?

He scanned her face, then lifted her chin. “I'll take the first train back in the morning.”

Evy was quiet as he strode into their bedroom to pack a few things he'd need. It took her awhile to digest the news. What could have kept Anthony in London when he'd been so anxious to get back to Camilla, who was ailing?

She was standing where Rogan had left her when he came out with a small overnight bag.

“I wouldn't have minded going with you if you'd told me in time to prepare,” she said too casually.

“You're quite right. I failed to take into account that you might want to come with me. But this is strictly business, and all that. Probably quite boring. Must be something about the diamonds. Cutting, polishing, grading … though Anthony didn't explain.” He set his bag down and came to her, his arm going firmly around her waist. He drew her to him. “Look, darling, we'll go again in a few days, or whenever you like. We'll do it properly, take in dinner and the theater. All the things you enjoy.”

She wondered uneasily if there was some reason he didn't want her to accompany him. Why hadn't he mentioned it in time?

He kissed her. “It's not as though I wanted to leave you.” He watched
her; she remained silent. “All right,” he said suddenly, “I'll tell you. Anthony asked me to come alone.”

Her brows lifted. “Did he? I wonder why?”

“He didn't say.” He enfolded her in his embrace. He started to say something and apparently changed his mind. After touching her hair softly and lingering over a kiss, he turned and was gone.

The door shut, and she was left standing there, her heart full of unresolved questions.

A moment later she walked across the carpet of muted pink roses in burgundy, past the Chippendale furniture, to a window offering a view to the front of Rookswood. She pushed aside the burgundy drapery and peered below. The wide front garden hemmed both sides of the long drive down toward the great iron gate. The gate opened to the road that wound past Grimston Woods with many paths branching off into the thick trees. The road ran past the rectory of St. Graves Parish where she'd grown up, and into the village of Grimston Way and, for Rogan, the train junction.

Puzzled and disquieted, she watched him leave.
Will something come between us?

London

South African Diamond Enterprise

Lord Anthony Brewster was waiting in his office at the family diamond exporting business in London when Rogan arrived on the five o'clock train. It was customary, if not a duty, to have family “sons” work for a year at the business before going to the mine in Kimberly. Parnell had put in over a year to please Julien. Rogan, too, had worked here, but he had left before his year was finished, enraging Julien, who deemed himself the family monarch. Afterward, Julien had shown up uninvited at Rogan's camp on the Limpopo River insisting that the British South
Africa Company had rights to any gold discovered with Henry Chantry's old map, a map willed to Rogan as a boy upon Henry's untimely death—untimely because he'd been murdered at Rookswood.

Lord Anthony's luggage was packed and sitting in a corner of his office. He stood from behind his large desk and nodded when he saw Rogan looking at his bags.

“Yes, my ship for Capetown leaves in the morning. My bags will be loaded aboard my cabin tonight.” He explained his delayed departure by pushing an envelope across the desk toward Rogan.

“This is why I called for you to come privately. I'm worried about recent events. This letter is from your brother.”

“Parnell?” Rogan was surprised. Somehow he had expected that troubling news would be from Sir Julien Bley, and why would Parnell send it to Anthony?

The letter had been sent from Bulawayo. As Rogan slipped it from the envelope and started reading, he realized it contained information that could be damaging to Julien. Rogan now knew why Parnell had not sent it to him. Rogan was independent enough to question Julien's doings, and Parnell was still trying to please him, just as he had when he was working for him in Kimberly at De Beers's mining and claims office. It disturbed Rogan that his older brother was still committed to Julien's cause above all else, as though being hitched to Julien's wagon would strengthen Parnell's position in the family and also his chances of marrying Julien's granddaughter, Darinda. Why couldn't Parnell see the obvious? Rogan doubted if his brother would ever be permitted to marry the beautiful and independent Darinda Bley.

Rogan honed in on a section of the letter that troubled him and read it again slowly, thoughtfully.

Rogan looked up from the letter, and Anthony spoke.

“The Matopos Hills—aren't they near Bulawayo?”

“Yes. You can look off and see them from Lobengula's kraal.” Rogan remembered his visit there with Rhodes's delegation when Dr. Jameson and Frank Thompson were negotiating with Lobengula for right of passage through Matabeleland to dig for gold. What Lobengula had not
known was that Rhodes's Royal Charter Company intended to begin a colony farther north in Mashonaland. Rogan, however, was not particularly sympathetic to Lobengula because the chieftain, though a cousin of the Zulus, had invaded land that was not his—the land of the Shona tribe—and enslaved them all.