Diamond in the rough, p.26
Diamond in the Rough, page 26
“Ah, Reginald, thank the good Lord you got my note.”
Reginald blinked as Murray charged his way, gripping the bars that separated them with white knuckles, relief evident in his eyes. “Please tell me you’ve been able to secure our release.”
Wincing, Reginald shook his head. “I’m afraid not, Murray. I’ve apparently been a victim of a pickpocket, so all of you will need to sit tight a bit longer until I can fetch more funds. I’m simply here to tell you not to worry because I will get all of you released at some point today, but . . . where’s Beatrix?”
“Last I saw her, she was leading some young girls out of the crowd,” Murray said, “which has me hoping she managed to avoid the dastardly business of being carted off to jail.”
“And has me hoping that when she finds us here, she’ll know exactly how to get us released,” Poppy said, moving up to join Murray.
“Unless she was a victim of pickpockets as well,” Reginald said, trying to ignore that Poppy, even in her bedraggled state, was looking rather adorable, what with the dirt smudged across her nose and bits of hair straggling out from underneath the cap on her head. He felt the oddest urge to reach through the bars and pull her toward him, needing to feel her in the flesh to truly ascertain she’d not been harmed.
“On my word, I forgot. I have money with me,” Poppy said right before she unbuttoned her jacket. A second later she began rummaging around underneath her shirt, stilling when Murray drew in a sharp breath and gave a bob of his head toward two men on the other side of the cell, who were now watching Poppy far too closely.
“Do you want to start another riot?” Murray whispered furiously.
“Since I’ve just realized my money must have fallen out when I was upside down over that man’s back, there’s nothing to riot about,” she whispered back as she withdrew her hand and buttoned herself back up. She caught Reginald’s eye. “I guess it’ll be up to you to track down our bail money now, and may I suggest you get on your way so that we don’t have to linger long in this cell?”
Reginald’s jaw clenched, as did his hands as he realized the two men were now watching her more intently than ever. “I’m not leaving you now, not when those men have apparently realized you’re no man and are looking at you like they’ve just found their next meal.”
She lifted her chin. “How was I to know I’d draw such attention?”
Reginald ran a hand over his beard. “You wouldn’t be drawing attention at all if you’d had the good sense to remain in your home today, trimming the house for Christmas instead of dashing off to Five Points on a madcap adventure.”
Poppy’s chin rose another inch. “We weren’t on a madcap adventure, and we couldn’t have known we’d find ourselves dragged into a riot.”
“But you should have known, what with your peculiar proclivity for attracting trouble, that something unforeseen would transpire. At the very least, you should have waited for me, or even your grandfather, to accompany you.”
“My grandmother accompanied us,” Poppy shot back.
“Which is rather bewildering in and of itself, although given that she’s languishing with you in the jail cell, I’m not certain I understand your point.”
“A valid observation.” Poppy nodded to Murray. “We brought Murray with us.”
“Who is also behind bars.”
Murray sent him a weak smile before turning to Poppy. “I don’t believe you’re going to win this particular argument.” He gave a sad shake of his head. “I imagine Maisie will not think as highly of me once she learns I was unable to keep us all out of jail.”
Poppy rubbed a soothing hand down Murray’s arm. “Nonsense. I imagine Maisie will be nothing less than impressed with the dashing way you ran afoul of an enraged mob and lived to tell the tale.” She caught Reginald’s eye and gave a slight nod, quite as if she was encouraging him to agree with her.
Reginald, no matter that Poppy was looking adorable, was not in an accommodating frame of mind. “There’s nothing remotely dashing about being arrested, and Murray will be fortunate if Mrs. Leggett, whom I’ve discovered is a rather overprotective mother, ever allows him to see Maisie again.”
“That’s hardly helpful,” Poppy said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m not feeling the urge to be helpful at the moment.” He turned to Murray. “You should have tried harder to dissuade Poppy and Beatrix from today’s madness.”
Murray’s brows drew together. “I did send you a note, begging for help. Besides, it’s not as if you’ve seen much success in dissuading Poppy from anything she’s set her mind on lately.”
Reginald frowned. “True, but I bet Viola could have been persuaded to see reason.”
“Where do you think Poppy gets her stubborn nature?” Murray countered before he shot a glance to Viola, who was inching her way from the man on the bench with her, her inching coming to an abrupt end when she ran out of room. Murray returned his gaze to Reginald and shuddered. “Viola was adamant about joining us after she discovered us making plans in the carriage house. She even made me fetch her men’s clothing, not particularly concerned that I was going to have to do some fancy talking to explain to Mr. Parsons why I needed to borrow clothing in the first place, since I was already dressed for the day.”
“She actually wanted to come with us,” Poppy added, leveling a stern gaze on Reginald. “Which means you can swallow that lecture I’m sure you’re dying to give me about dragging my poor, elderly grandmother to the slums, where she then, quite accidently, got arrested.”
“I’m not elderly, dear,” Viola suddenly called. “And it’s my own fault I got arrested, what with how a policeman saw me slap a man after he almost bowled me over.” She waved a hand covered in a tattered glove toward a man sitting on the opposite side of the cell. “He’s right over there if you’d like to corroborate my story.”
The man waved back at Viola and smiled, revealing a few missing teeth. “I sure am sorry about shovin’ you, ma’am. Knew I’d made a mistake after you slapped me instead of punched me, which had me realizin’ you were no man.”
Even though Viola looked a bit taken aback that the man was speaking to her, she did incline her head. “Apology accepted, and you did try to intervene with the policeman who unjustly hauled me to a police wagon . . . which is exactly what landed you in jail, which I am sorry about.” She smiled. “It was a gallant gesture on your part, so do know that I’ll make sure you’re released today as well, just as soon as that young man over there gets on with matters and goes off to fetch bail money.” She caught Reginald’s eye. “But don’t go seeking the funds from George. I don’t think there’s any reason for him to learn about this little jaunt of mine. Wouldn’t want to give him fodder for whenever he becomes cross with me over the next twenty years or so.”
“You should have thought about that before,” Reginald said, which earned him a narrowing of the eyes from Viola before she deliberately turned away from him.
“You’ve annoyed her now,” Poppy muttered, a statement Reginald didn’t believe there was any need to address.
“Why did that man try to make off with you?” he asked instead.
“Probably because he was the same man who stole my reticule and recognized me.”
“Are you certain about that?”
“Of course I am, although what are the odds that I’d just happen to encounter a member of the criminal persuasion more than once, and in different parts of the city?”
“I would think those odds would be slim to none, which could mean this man’s been following you.”
Poppy released a bit of a snort. “I highly doubt that. Why would anyone of the criminal persuasion bother to stalk me? It’s more likely this was only a chance encounter that lent the man an opportunity to extract a measure of retribution for thwarting him the first time.”
Murray swiped a hand over a nose that was still dribbling blood, ignoring that blood as he settled his full attention on Poppy. “Maybe the person who seems intent on disrupting your first New York Season has decided to up the stakes and get you to leave New York once and for all, and has hired members of the criminal persuasion to persuade you to do just that.”
Poppy wrinkled her nose. “While I can certainly see Adele or a few of the other ladies out this Season scattering some musket balls to disrupt my tea, I can’t imagine, given the sheltered life those ladies lead, that any of them would know how to go about hiring someone from the criminal class.”
“True,” Murray said with a nod right before he froze on the spot and emitted what sounded like a squeak.
“What?” Poppy asked, craning her neck to look at something behind Reginald before her eyes widened. “Grandfather . . . what are you doing here?”
Before Reginald could turn, George was standing directly beside him.
“What do you think I’m doing here? I’ve come to bail you out,” George said, peering through the bars, his gaze settled on Viola, who had taken an absorbed interest in the ceiling, completely neglecting to acknowledge her husband, almost as if by not acknowledging him, he wasn’t really standing directly outside her cell.
George’s lips began to twitch. “Imagine my astonishment,” he began cheerfully, “when Beatrix came to fetch me after being forced to leave all of you behind in Five Points because you’d been arrested and thrown into jail.”
Viola abandoned her perusal of the ceiling and looked at her husband. “We were fairly astonished to find ourselves behind bars too.”
George nodded as he looked his wife up and down. “You’re a mess, Viola, and I’ve never seen you wear trousers before. Do you know there’s a tear in one of your knees?”
Viola glanced down. “Ah, so there is. Must have happened when I was shoved aside.”
“And then she slapped me, which had me knowin’ she was no man,” the man missing a few teeth said as he sent a smile Viola’s way. “I’d not mistake you for a man again because you’re the most beautiful critter I ever seen.”
“I believe you mean creature, dear,” Viola corrected, which had the man smiling wider than ever as he nodded.
“Creature, that’s the word. Don’t know what I was thinkin’ callin’ you a critter.”
“And I’m certain I don’t know what to think about any of this,” a lady drawled from behind Reginald, which had him turning as Poppy suddenly reached through the bars and took the hand the lady immediately held out to her.
“Mother!” Poppy exclaimed. “What in the world are you doing here?”
The lady, who was apparently Elizabeth Garrison, a lady Poppy distinctly resembled, let out a throaty laugh. “Why, I’ve come to New York for Christmas, my darling.” Her gaze shifted from Poppy to Viola. “Good thing I have because I must say, there’s something about seeing you behind bars, Mother, that lends the impression that Christmas has certainly come early this year.”
Chapter 22
“Perhaps we should suggest another task for your mother and grandmother, Poppy,” Murray said quietly, nodding to where Elizabeth and Viola were currently slicing up ham to serve to the people who’d come to the House of Industry for a warm Christmas meal. “Those knives they’re wielding are making me nervous, what with how furious those two seem to be with each other at the moment.”
Poppy stopped mashing potatoes and looked up, frowning when she saw Viola toss aside her knife, snatch up a platter of ham, and stalk out of the kitchen, muttering something under her breath.
What she was muttering was anyone’s guess, but since Elizabeth looked Poppy’s way, grinned, and sent her a bit of a wink before picking up another platter of ham and heading out of the kitchen as well, Poppy was fairly certain Elizabeth had been doing her best to annoy her mother again.
Poppy glanced back to Murray. “Since they’ve abandoned their knives, I don’t believe we need to worry about any stabbings, but they’re obviously not ready to put their mutual resentments behind them just yet.”
Murray’s brows drew together. “Don’t you find their renewed animosity toward each other somewhat curious? They were getting along quite well last night at the Christmas Eve service and were even sharing a hymnal at one point. They were also being perfectly pleasant with each other this morning before I left to enjoy a Christmas breakfast with my mother.”
“True,” Poppy said. “But that pleasantness changed into palatable anger a mere second after my parents presented me with my Christmas present.”
“Viola doesn’t strike me as the type who’d begrudge her only granddaughter a nice present from her parents.”
Poppy winced. “It was more than simply a nice present, Murray. My parents deeded me Garrison Farms in Pennsylvania.”
“They gave you an entire horse farm?”
“They did, and while it was a more than generous gift, it was the one present that was certain to infuriate my grandmother.”
“And the reason behind that fury would be . . . ?”
“Garrison Farms, while a much smaller operation than the new horse facility my parents are building in Kentucky, is still a viable business. The horse farm comes with acres and acres of land, along with a reputation of raising some of the best horses in the country.”
“But your parents are moving to Kentucky. I would think they’d move all the horses there.”
Poppy shook her head. “There was never any intention to abandon the operation in Pennsylvania; rather, they want to expand the family business into Kentucky, where the bulk of the horse industry is moving. The pastures we own in Pennsylvania allow our horses prime grazing land, while the farmhouse I grew up in is a lovely home, and none of us wanted to part with it because of its sentimental value.” She smiled. “My paternal grandfather was born in that house, which is one of the reasons why my parents were willing to go through with having the bank foreclose on their land in Kentucky in order to save Garrison Farms, even though the foreclosure would have left us with very little money.”
“But Viola stepped in before the foreclosure could happen, didn’t she?”
“She did, which is why she’s now so furious with my mother.”
Murray tilted his head. “Because your mother wanted to make certain you have a reason to leave society after this Season?”
“Exactly, and I’m relatively certain Mother also wanted to make certain that I knew there was no reason to accept the dowry Grandmother has settled on me because Garrison Farms will provide me with a suitable dowry—not that I believe I need a dowry in the first place.”
“It’s very complicated, isn’t it?”
“I can’t argue with that,” Poppy said, returning her attention to the potatoes. “And while I understand my mother’s reasoning, and understand that she’s apparently under the belief I want nothing more than to spend my life raising horses, I’m going to have to have a long chat with both of my parents in the not-too-distant future to clear up a few misunderstandings.”
Murray nodded. “You need to tell them that you’re not meant to live on a horse farm.”
She stopped her mashing. “How do you know that?”
“Please,” Murray said as he returned to his potatoes. “Even though you’ve proclaimed time and time again that you’re not suited to society life, you enjoy the hustle and bustle of New York.” He nodded to the room at large. “You’ve also just found your noble purpose, and I don’t believe you’ll want to abandon it to return to a peaceful life in the country.” He leaned closer to her. “I am curious as to what you’ll do with the farm, though. Hire someone to manage it for you?”
“No. I’ll simply ask my parents to divide it up equally between my two brothers and me, something I was under the impression they’d been intending to do anyway.” She smiled. “I’m certain my younger brother, Robert, would be more than willing to take over the operation there, seeing as how he’s completely mad about horses. He’s actually been running the farm for the past few months on his own while my parents have been spending their time on their new venture in Kentucky.”
“What about your other brother?”
“Nathan’s intent on pursuing a career in law.”
Murray frowned. “Seems like you have it all figured out, but, and don’t get annoyed with me for saying this, but what if you happen to find a gentleman you adore who’d want to help you manage a horse farm? He might be disappointed to learn you refused your parents’ generosity.”
Poppy returned the frown. “I’d hope that any gentleman I might end up adoring would want to spend his life with me simply because of me, not because marrying me would give him access to a profitable horse farm—or a large dowry, for that matter.”
“And is there a certain gentleman on whom you’ve turned an adoring eye as of late?” a lady asked from behind her.
Poppy jumped ever so slightly before she turned around, discovering Lena Ridgeway standing a foot away from her, a touch of flour on her nose and a warm smile on her face.
To say Poppy had been surprised when Lena, along with Nigel Flaherty, had shown up at the House of Industry to assist with serving the Christmas meal, was an understatement. But because they’d thrown themselves into the spirit of volunteering, Lena helping with the rolls and Nigel helping Reginald and George set up tables and chairs, Poppy was grateful for their help. She was also wondering if she might have misjudged them, having been of the belief they weren’t the type to want to help others.
“How long have you been standing there?” Murray asked, abandoning his potatoes as he nodded to Lena.
She waved aside his question with a hand sprinkled with flour. “Not long, but I couldn’t help but overhear the part about gentlemen, although”—she caught Poppy’s eye—“I do hope you’re not too disappointed to have lost Lord Lonsdale’s interest.” She gestured around. “He’s not here this afternoon, which does lead me to believe that your unfortunate mishap at your tea might have been responsible for taking you out of the running to become a countess.”
