Freddie frowned. How did Edward know about that?
‘You leave the drawings all over the house,’ Edward explained. ‘They are good, by the way; we all think so. You have a remarkable talent.’
‘They are just sketches,’ Freddie mumbled, not quite ready to believe that someone other than himself or Emily saw any merit in his creations.
Tobias stood and made his way out of the room without saying anything, the topic of Freddie’s drawings clearly not holding his interest. Which was fine. Obviously. Tobias was a busy man who wasnot his father; there was no reason for him to talk about Freddie’s sketches or his impending wedding. He gazed down at the bottle of brandy by his feet, his fingers twitching with the urge to put the bottle to his lips.
Before he could spiral into another rambling monologue, the sound of Tobias’ clipped heels sounded in the corridor outside, as if he was returning to the Blue Lounge.
Sure enough he returned, carrying a rolled-up piece of paper under one arm. He made his way over to a larger table towards the back of the room, which was surrounded by dimly lit lamps. Tobias rearranged some of the items on it and spread out the large piece of paper, smoothing out the edges carefully. He gestured for Freddie to join him; Edward and Christopher followed close behind. When Freddie caught sight of the paper, his heart constricted before beating painfully. It was Freddie’s garden, the one he dreamed of and the one he had drawn that day in the library, the day Emily had first touched him.
Tobias pulled a lamp closer so that they could all see the details. Freddie said nothing as he peered at it critically. The brandy was slowly seeping out of him, but it was still making him fuzzy on the details. This was his creation, a part of his mind that he had kept hidden from his family, or at least, he had assumed he had. He hadn’t quite known what to expect from them. He’d only ever been ridiculed for his attempts at work before and he hadn’t wanted that for this. It was far too important to him. His fingers ran over the depiction of squirrels he’d hidden amongst the roots of a large tree, the ones that had so impressed Emily, the first person to see his drawings and to make him feel as if they had merit, as if his efforts weren’t a joke. The echo of her words was the only thing stopping him from opening his mouth and making light of the whole situation. If she thought theplace was magical, then so did Freddie and making a joke at his own expense would only sully it.
Tobias tapped the paper twice. ‘Make this happen.’
‘Yes,’ said Edward, moving his hand to a section of the drawing. ‘I want to sit here with a brandy and take in the magnificence of this place.’
‘It does not exist,’ Freddie countered, something large taking up a place in his chest.
‘It should,’ said Edward.
‘You have a plan,’ said Tobias, his words not a question, a belief, and something inside Freddie unfurled, something that felt suspiciously like hope.
‘I do. There’s a place near Berferd, but it is expensive and I do not quite have the money, not for everything that will need doing to the land. Nearly but not enough.’
‘The dowry.’ Another statement from Tobias.
Emily’s dowry was substantial and would bring him over the required amount with money left to spare, but Freddie was almost too afraid to touch it. It was as if so long as he left it untouched in his bank account, the wedding would go ahead, but to disturb it was to invite disaster. But the garden was something he wanted almost as much as he wanted Emily. If he invested money in this, then it was for both of their futures. He could build her a place she’d already told him she wanted to visit. Perhaps if he could build it how he had drawn it, the fact that he couldn’t share her love of reading wouldn’t matter. Perhaps she would see him as a worthy husband.
‘The dowry,’ he agreed with his brother.
Tobias slapped him on the shoulder. It would appear Freddie was going to become a landowner in his own right and a husband all within a couple of days.
Chapter Twenty-one
Emily’s marriage to Freddie went by in a whirl of well-wishes and bawdy winks. The minister intoned some words Emily was too frightened to follow and before she knew it, she was bound to Freddie until one of them died.
Once it was over, only three things stood out in Emily’s memory: Freddie’s smile as she walked towards him, the warmth of his hands on the cold skin of her arm and his solemn voice as he promised to be hers until death. Everything else was a blur of voices, colourful dresses and men with their coats pressed extra smartly as if a wedding were the reason to use an iron with force.
Before she knew what was happening, she was ensconced in a carriage with her groom, on the way to their short honeymoon. Freddie and his brothers were bound by Sebastian’s will, which tied them into living together for two years in order to raise Charlotte, but Freddie had booked a few nights in a hotel on the east coast for the two of them after checking with the lawyer that this was acceptable. Emily fidgeted with her fingers unsure if she was happy or terrified about being taken away from everything that she knew.
In the last few weeks, the summer had come into force and the heat inside the carriage was building. Freddie leaned over and pulled down a blind, but the sun still poured around the edges of it. He keptsmoothing his hands over his thighs, then linking his fingers for a few moments and tapping the backs of his hands, before starting the cycle again. The carriage rolled on, heading out of London’s bustling streets, the road becoming more uneven, and whatever protest she might have made was left unsaid.
‘Where are we going exactly?’ she whispered eventually.
His lips quirked. ‘Why are you speaking so quietly?’ he whispered back.
‘I do not know. I felt like the situation called for it.’
His mouth broke out into a full smile and her heart swelled at the sight of it. It was the first time today she’d seen him looking so relaxed. ‘We can head to the hotel later, but I thought this afternoon, we might take a walk.’
‘A walk?’ His face fell and she realised how that must have sounded. ‘It is not that I do not want to; it is just I thought you might want to…’ Her skin burned. She had no idea how she was going to perform the marital act if she couldn’t even talk about it.
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘Yes, I see.’ He scratched his chin, glanced at the covered window and then back at her. ‘It is not that I am not eager to dothat. But I am not a beast. We have not had a chance to speak properly since we…’ He waved his fingers around to demonstrate the last time they’d spoken properly. ‘Since our engagement,’ he continued, ‘and I thought a walk might give us a chance to… relax.’
She nodded. She supposed she must be feeling relieved but the emotion she was experiencing seemed a little like disappointment.
He leaned forward and took her hand in his. ‘Emily, we have all the time in the world. There is no hurry.’
