Bertie's Golden Treasure by Hetty St. James

Author:Hetty St. James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ellora's Cave Publishing Inc.
Published: 2012-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

In less than a week it was as though I had never been away. Oh there were some small differences—the daily presence of Malcolm and the absence of Nick and Joan’s children, who were off to visit with their maternal grandparents. I fell back into the easy, comfortable routine of Hadleighwoode and luxuriated in it.

I had been responsible for much hearty laughter as I regaled the aunts and Bessie and Malcolm with the tales of my abbreviated visit to London. From the vantage point of time, I was able to see for myself the hilarity in some of these tales and my own laughter helped to cleanse the unpleasantness from my memories.

Bessie was most disappointed that I had not visited that “holy of holies”, Almack’s, and I wondered if she was now wishing she had gone with me. Considering Bessie’s lack of polish, I felt that she might indeed do much better after marriage with Malcolm at her side.

There was only one small item to distress me. That is even too strong a word to explain the thoughts of the giant who occasionally wandered into my mind and, more occasionally, into my dreams. I tried to banish him but with not much success. Perhaps when Tyler and his friends came I should be able to find out who he was. His very size made him appealing and unappealing at the same time. My mind whirled with such mixtures of feelings that I became ever more determined to try to erase him from it.

In my short time in London, I had discovered that to most men, a woman was considered to be little more than an ornament and wives were chosen with this attribute as the most desired quality. The only exceptions were those where the dowry was uppermost. Nick would never countenance a marriage for me where my dowry was the prime consideration. I could not imagine myself as an ornament. Other than my brothers—and the giant—I had never seen any man whom I could serve in the position of an ornament, so with sadness I decided to learn to live with my renewed decision to remain unwed.

I should learn everything that I could from all of my aunts, the good and the bad and perfect for myself the art of being an aunt. It would be no hardship for me to remain at Hadleighwoode in that capacity and after a few days of such thoughts, I felt that I could successfully make such a life for myself. At least, I would try.

The more I saw of Malcolm the more I came to love him. It would have made no difference to Bessie, however, whatever my feelings should have been. She was so besotted with him she would not have cared if he suddenly sprouted wings or horns or a tail. He adjusted quickly to my size and within that week, became as dear to me as if he had always been part of our family. I could not think that Nick and Joan could find him unacceptable in any way.

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