Listen to the Moon by Rose Lerner

Author:Rose Lerner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: historical;Regency;servants;maid;valet;butler;small town;marriage of convenience;downton abbey;England;UK;upstairs downstairs;comedy
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
Published: 2016-01-05T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Sukey made an awful, heartbroken wheezing sound, staring down at the spreading stain. Her hands hung helplessly at her sides. John froze, torn between fetching a napkin and staying to make sure no one did murder.

“You bitch,” Sukey shrieked, and threw herself at Maria. “I’ll kill you!” She went for Maria’s eyes.

Fending her off with one arm, Maria pulled her fist back, clearly about to plow it right into the side of Sukey’s head.

John shoved between them, hoping he wouldn’t be badly damaged. “Maria,” he said, taking her wrists. “You’re drunk. You’re going to be mortified in the morning. Go away.”

“You’re right, I should have spilled my drink on you. Walk me to the punch bowl for another?”

Sukey charged around him. He let Maria go to grab his wife by the waist. Kicking his shins, she struggled and fought. “I can get the stain out if we do it now,” he said in her ear. “We’ll get it out. I promise.”

Maria looked greatly cheered. “This is what you get when you marry a child,” she said smugly, and swanned away.

Sukey yelled curses after her, still struggling in John’s arms—but more, he thought, as an outlet for her feelings than because she really wanted to get free. In a few more moments, she sagged against him. Her friends crowded around her, congratulating her and making nasty remarks about Maria.

“It’s ruined,” she whispered. Raising her fingers to her gown, she looked at them as if they were wet with her own blood. “I ruined it.”

“I’ll get it out,” he said again and kissed her ear. “Come into the kitchen with me.”

There, John introduced himself to the Lost Bell’s cook and gave her a shilling. “Hot and cold water, hard white soap if you have it, distilled vinegar and spirits of wine, and as many good clean rags as you can spare.” Another shilling, and the sink was theirs. “Come here.”

He felt for that first pin at Sukey’s shoulder. Not how he’d imagined the moment, but wishes, alas, were not horses. He drew the pins out quickly, sticking them in his lapel. She stood very still and let him do it. She did look young just now, young and lost and trying not to cry.

“Why did I say that? I’m so stupid. She wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t told her it was new.”

“It wasn’t your fault, any more than you fell out of that apple tree because you were clumsy.” John lifted the stained chemisette over her head. “I should have gone to talk to her before now. I didn’t think. I didn’t think she’d care so much.” He unpinned her sleeves.

“You forgot she existed,” Sukey said sadly, and he winced, thinking of her father. Then her eyes narrowed. “You did forget she existed, right?”

He stepped behind her to undo her buttons. “I did,” he admitted—or reassured her, he wasn’t sure which. “I’m sorry.”

Her outer petticoat was stained too. She slipped it off before it could soak through. “Of course, she doesn’t know you only married me for your career.

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