Chapter Two

James watched as Jacqueline’s dark tendrils swung across her back as she walked. He couldn’t believe how effortlessly beautiful she was. He’d seen every beautiful woman under the sun. He’d seen their painted faces and their fine gowns and everything underneath, but he’d never seen someone like her.

She led him into the dining room which consisted of a long, wooden table that was set with at least thirty plates ready for the children’s lunch. There were two long benches that were there for the children to sit at, but one had collapsed, and the plank of wood was leaning against the wall waiting for repairs.

“I will get you the ‘ammer and the nails,” Jacqueline told him and disappeared from the room momentarily before returning with a rusty hammer and a pail of nails.

James accepted them carefully, while offering her one of his smiles which more often than not had woman swooning. He’d won over more than one woman just by smiling at her. But he couldn’t help but hear a little voice in the back of his head telling him that this woman was not just going to be another notch on his bedpost. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it but she was … different.

Jacqueline didn’t react though. All she did was look at him for a moment before leaving him to it.

His eyes followed her from the room as her tiny hips swung from side to side as she retreated back to the children in her charge.

For the next hour he taught himself how to fix a bench seat. It took him half an hour to work out how to hammer a nail in straight, but after several bruised fingers and a few injuries from the nail points, he finally produced a somewhat satisfactory bench seat.

Once he’d set the bench back in its rightful place, he rolled his sleeves back down and retied his cravat that he’d taken off as it was getting to humid in the room. James wiped his forehead with his handkerchief to remove any excess condensation that had appeared on his forehead and he put his coat back on.

The first and last piece of carpentry that he hoped he would ever do.

Checking his pocket watch, he saw that it was nearly one in the afternoon so it was past the children’s lunch time. He decided to go and find the pretty matron so that she could coral the children into the dining room so that they could be fed.

He eventually found the children in a communal room, all sitting on the floor before Jacqueline who was reading to them. Something that he noticed about her as she read was that she was playing with a rosary that was on a tatty silver chain around her neck. There were children of all ages. Toddlers to teenagers that all didn’t have parents or families to care for them. They were lucky to have someone like Joseph caring for them, there was never more compassionate man. And now he knew they were lucky to have someone like Jacqueline. She was strong, he’d devised that from her guarded eyes and from the fact that she did not fall for him after just a dazzling smile.

“Uh, pardon me,” James said, clearing his throat and knocking a few times on the door. “The bench is fixed.”

Jacqueline looked up at him and raised her eyebrows just a little. It was the first time she’d ever shown a little emotion besides a small smile when she’d first met him. She nodded in what could only be construed as a ‘thank you’ gesture.

“Right,” he nodded before retreating from the orphanage.

What had just happened? He knew what had just happened. He’d finally met a woman who was immune to his charms. Perhaps it was a French thing. Maybe his looks and actions only worked on English girls.

Joseph caught James as he was leaving. “James!” he called.

James was just crossing the threshold of the door when he heard Joseph. “Yes?”

“Thank you for fixing that for us. It’s much appreciated,” he said gratefully.

“I don’t know how long it will last. Carpentry isn’t exactly in my skillset. If you wanted me to charm it fixed then that would be possible,” James chuckled.

Joseph rolled his eyes. “Regardless. Thank you. I’ll see you next Sunday, and hopefully your debauchery won’t cause your mother to punish you by sending you to me so that we both might enjoy Sunday lunch at Ethridge,” he said slyly, winking at James.

“You know, hearing a man of the cloth say ‘debauchery’ makes me feel as though I’m going to hell. I’m not doing anything wrong. I just have a talent in seeing through women’s fake smiles.”

Joseph’s face softened as he nodded. “And in knowing that, it reminds me how lucky I am to have Annie. You’ll find her, James, I know you will. Plato once said that according to Greek mythology humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Zeus feared their power so he split them into two, condemning them to spend their lives searching for their other halves. And should they be lucky to find each other, they would live their lives as one. She’s out there, James, looking just as hard as you.”

James furrowed his eyebrows. “You’re a clergyman, Joseph, don’t you believe in creationism?”

“Yes, I do, but this version adds a little romance to the tale, don’t you think?” With that, Joseph retreated back inside and James was left to go home.

He’d like to entertain the thought of there being a perfect other for him. The beautiful matron inside had made him think that for a second. There was something about her that he would not be forgetting. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t succumbed to his charms. Nevertheless, he would be honouring Joseph by not trying to taint her.

When he arrived home his family had already retired from lunch back to their own houses. His father was in his office and his mother was in the drawing room, reluctantly hosting Miss Sarah Smith, someone he’d been hoping not to see.

There was no questioning Sarah’s beauty. She had it in spades. It was just that it was obvious beauty, the kind she knew she had and so she flaunted it. Sarah’s hair was charcoal black and her eyes were pure green. She had a figure that was full in all the right places, and narrow where a woman needed to be narrow. She was stunning, yet her arrogance and conceit ruined it.

Without warning, his thoughts travelled back to Jacqueline. What made her beautiful was the fact that she had absolutely no idea of it.

He shook away the thoughts. Jacqueline was complicated, and he enjoyed simple. He enjoyed women that made it simple for him. He wasn’t used to working for it.

Sarah’s face lit up when he walked into the room. She immediately rose from the settee and smoothed her green silk gown that so matched her eyes. “Sorry I missed you at church today, darling, I wasn’t feeling my best. But I’m fine now so I thought I’d pay you a visit.”

“How thoughtful of you,” James said dryly.

Emilia rolled her eyes and excused herself from the room.

“Sit with me,” Sarah gestured to him to sit next to her on the settee. James complied.

Every time he and Sarah were alone his guilt ate at him. He always felt as though he was leading her on … he was leading her on. She needed an advantageous marriage as when her father died she would have no inheritance. Her father’s money would be going to her eldest brother.

It was no kind of life, but perhaps he could expect no better. What Joseph said about everyone being split in two was completely ridiculous. He didn’t have a soulmate. He didn’t believe in soulmates. He believed that one met a person that they believed they could spend their life with. Love was just a bonus.

And he had a woman he could come to love eventually. But he couldn’t do it. He stopped himself as he was about to propose.

He could tell himself a million times over that there wasn’t anyone out there for him but there would always be a small part of him that would hang out for it. And again, his thoughts flashed to the small, blue eyed woman back at the orphanage.

He shook the thoughts of the little Jacqueline off and turned his attention back to the beautiful young woman before him.

“James, we’ve been courting for a long time,” Sarah began slowly. “I’m four and twenty years old. I’m beginning to burden my parents.” Sarah took hold of James’ reluctant hands and squeezed them. “I know you do not love me, as I do not love you, but you can’t deny that we won’t make a fantastic pair. The season is beginning and our engagement and wedding will be the highlights. I know I will make a wonderful Countess. I have brothers so that sets precedence for sons and heirs. What do you say?” Sarah looked hopeful and vulnerable, something that was not usually present on her face. He was used to her upturned nose.

“Alright,” he sighed, nodding. He hoped, no, he prayed that he would grow to love her. Sarah deserved to be loved as much as he deserved a happy relationship. Though Sarah didn’t seem too fussed about being loved. She was the definition of the woman that James had been trying to avoid. But in the near four years that he and Sarah had been courting, he’d not met a single woman who didn’t admire his title more than him. Perhaps those women had dried up in his mother’s generation.

Sarah beamed and threw her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly. She then pressed her perfectly plump lips against his cheek. “Wonderful!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait to tell mama and papa!” And just like that she left the drawing room to most likely tell all of London society.

James lethargically got up from the settee and made his way out of the drawing room. He didn’t know where he was going to spend the rest of his Sunday but he was sure whiskey was going to be involved.

As he was about to turn down the hallway to the entry foyer to leave, he heard his mother clear her throat. He tensed and turned to see her looking at him with a disapproving look. Like usual.

“Mama,” he started but Emilia held her hand up.

“I don’t quite know what to say,” she said simply.

“It’s all good for your to say, mama, you married the love of your life. I’ve been to a thousand balls and danced with ten thousand debutantes and not one of them can see past my title,” James said defensively. “So I might as well get it over with!”

“Might as well get it over with?” Emilia exclaimed. “That is not an attitude to have when entering into a joyous union.”

James rolled his eyes. “We can’t all be dreamers, mama. Sometimes we must be realistic.” She wouldn’t understand. Men had never been fake around her. His father had never been fake around her. She’d never had to determine whether people were around her because of your status.

“Isn’t there just some part of you that wants what papa and I have?” Emilia said softly. “Don’t you want to have a faithful and loving marriage? Children know … they know when their parents don’t love each other. I knew. My mother and father came together for the first time when I turned seventeen. They had one common goal: get rid of me. No child wants to grow up with their parents sleeping in separate beds.”

“Then we shan’t sleep in separate beds,” James said sadly, knowing that his mother was right. “Mama, Sarah will make a fine Countess.”

Emilia smiled sympathetically as she closed the gap between them. She pulled her eldest son into a hug and rubbed his back soothingly with her hands. It reminded him of when he was younger. Though it was quite difficult, he was much taller than his little mother. “This was simpler when you were little,” she laughed lightly. She let him go and just took his hand. She pulled him back into the drawing room where he had been sitting with Sarah and sat him down. She pulled him back into a hug and went back to rubbing his back soothingly. “I’m sure Sarah will make a fine Countess. She would make a fine princess given the chance. But will she make you a fine wife? A fine mother? Can’t you think of anyone that you’d rather wed? Anyone that you think you could be happier with? Maybe you’ve just been looking in the wrong places.”

The wide, reserved blue eyes of the young matron filled his mind which caused him to hesitate in answering.

“Where did your mind just go?” Emilia immediately demanded to know.

His mother did not miss a thing. “Nowhere, mama,” he murmured.

His mother’s brown her eyes were inquisitorial. “Who were you just thinking about?” she pressed. “Tell me.”

“She’s just someone I met today … she’s no-one … I think.” He shook his head and brought his mind back to Sarah. “Regardless. Sarah and I have made a deal.”

“She’s obviously no ‘no-one’ if your mind went to her when I said if you could think of anyone else you’d rather be with. Tell me about her,” Emilia said excitedly. “What’s her name?”

“Mama, she barely spoke three words to me. It doesn’t matter,” he huffed.

Even though he’d brushed his mother off, his answer was streaming through his mind. Her named was Jacqueline. She was French and spoke an accented English. Her hair was the colour of chocolate and her eyes were the purest blue anyone could ever imagine. She was the smallest woman he’d ever seen … ‘petite’ was a better word … with a lovely, slim frame. She was young, but she was worldly with a look in her eyes that let him know that she’d endured hell and high water. Even though she’d barely spoken three words to him, she’d made an impression.

“So what?” Emilia shrugged. “Anyone is better than Sarah.” Emilia and Sarah did not see eye to eye. Sarah was a snob, simple as that.

“Just leave it, mama,” James said, standing up from the settee. “Sarah and I are engaged. Nothing is going to change that.” He needed a drink. Fast. He needed something to help him get used to the idea of marrying Sarah. And he needed another something to get his mind of the matron.

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Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I should have another chapter up sometime Saturday or Sunday :)

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