“Of course we’re not eloping,” Thaddeus said calmly. “Would I ask you to do something so scandalous? No, I’m taking you to my mother.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes, you will stay with her and my father until your twenty-first birthday. And on that day, my sweet, we will marry with all the ceremony your heart desires in the largest church in Sheffield. It’s all arranged. Now, run and pack your bags.”
“I don’t have much to pack. Only some old things of Clarissa’s.”
“You will, of course, purchase an entire trousseau in Sheffield, with my mother’s assistance, but in the meantime you will need enough clothes for several days on the road. Taking into account possible delays caused by bad weather, you should allow for at least a week.”
“A week? In a carriage with you? Alone? Oh, Thaddeus, I don’t think—”
“Of course you won’t be alone with me, little goose. I wouldn’t compromise you for the world. Your maid, Lizzie, is waiting in the carriage. Shall I fetch her to help you pack?”
“Lizzie? But Mama dismissed her. However did you find her?”
“I’ve been writing to you at her mother’s address for the last three years, remember? She told me what happened, and she now works for me. Now, will I send for her to help you pack?”
Clarissa stepped forward. “No need for that, Mr. Henshaw, Zoë and I and Zoë’s maid will help Milly. We aremost familiar with her current wardrobe. Come along, Milly.” She linked arms with Milly and gave Zoë a silent signal to do the same, and between them they towed a dazed and bemused Milly upstairs, where they immediately went into a frenzy of packing.
They soon stopped asking Milly what she wanted to take with her—she dithered uselessly, so they decided everything for her. Finally they laid her lovely wedding dress, carefully wrapped in tissue, on the top of the valise. “And now this,” Clarissa said, draping the beautiful silk nightdress over it.
Milly frowned and snatched it up. “No, I don’t want that. It’s immodest and I won’t wear it.”
“But it’s lovely,” Clarissa said. “And on your wedding night—”
“No, I don’t want it.” She tossed it aside.
Zoë and Clarissa exchanged glances, shrugged and closed the valise. Clarissa reached for the handle. “No, you don’t,” Zoë said. “No weights for you. You’re already carrying a baby, remember?”
She went to take the valise, but Marie brushed past her, saying, “No, no. I carry, mademoiselle. You take these ones.” She passed the two bandboxes to Zoë and took the valise.
“Are we ready, then?” Milly asked impatiently. “Thaddeus doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” She opened the door and led the procession down the stairs, carrying her reticule.
Thaddeus, who had been taking tea with Izzy and Lady Scattergood, met them at the foot of the stairs. He took the valise from Marie, snapped his fingers at the footman, Jeremiah, passed it to him and indicated to Treadwell that he should take the bandboxes out to the carriage. Which he did with a sour expression, carrying the bandboxes in two fingers as if they were entirely odious.
Thaddeus tucked Milly’s hand into the crook of his arm,thanked Lady Scattergood and Zoë and her sisters for taking such good care of Milly, prompted Milly to do the same, and left.
Zoë and her sisters stood on the front step and watched the very smart traveling carriage bowl away down the street and turn the corner.
They went back inside, where Lady Scattergood called for more tea.
“Well,” she said. “Well.”
There was no answer to that. Clarissa sipped her tea. “Thaddeus was not at all what I expected.”
Izzy nodded. “I liked him. A man who knows what he wants and how to get it. But how on earth did such a man fall for someone like Milly?”
Clarissa nodded. “The young ladies of Sheffield will be green with envy once they know he’s taken.”
Zoë said, “I can’t say I’m sorry to see her go.”
“No, she was starting to turn into Chinese fish,” Lady Scattergood agreed.
They all looked at her. “Chinese fish?”
The old lady made a vague gesture. “Yes, you know, some Chinese saying about visitors becoming like fish—after a while they begin to smell.”
They fell silent, reflecting on all that had happened.
