Ashby 36
"Lady Maura, may I introduce my mother Mrs Angela Rizzoli. Ma, this is Maura." Jane said happily with the ghost of a wink for Maura's benefit.
"Mrs Rizzoli, it is such a great pleasure to meet you at last." Maura gushed as she took a step forward and performed a small curtsey and reached out a hand to Angela.
Angela looked a little taken a back, she held a small purse in both hands and had to remove one to accept Maura's, receiving a light squeeze from the immaculate young woman before her. Jane could not recall having ever seen her mother rendered speechless before, but for this moment the Rizzoli matriarch had no words.
In fairness, Jane had been guilty of some downplaying when she had written home and when she was in Boston recently, Jane had never explained the full size of the estate or the great wealth here and of course she had not described Maura in her capacity as the Lady of the great Ashby Park, only in terms of their friendship. It was understandable that Angela was unprepared and overwhelmed by what she had been introduced to upon her arrival. Of course the wonder of Maura alone could have this effect on Jane.
"Please, do come and take a seat and we can have tea." Maura invited Angela to the small table and chairs which already held the fine china tea set and a three tier cake stand holding a variety of macaroons and petit four.
Maura had ordered the drawing room to be particularly well cleaned and made ready for an important guest, the room had been filled with abundant fresh flowers of every colour and was heady with the scent.
Angela followed Jane carefully as she, being the only one not standing on ceremony, had made her way curiously over to the table and pulled out a seat for her mother, gazing distractedly at the confectionery as she waited for Angela to sit.
"I'll go and fetch Nathaniel, I'm sure you'll be eager to see him again Ma and it will give the two of you chance to become properly acquainted. " Jane said with a relaxed smile as she plucked a marzipan covered cube from the top of the cake stand and bit it in half before quickly placing the second half into her mouth and munching happily despite the pair of equally scandalized looks she was receiving.
"Jane!" The two women said in unison, darting a quick look at one another as they realised they had reacted as one.
As Jane finished and turned to leave, both women looked apprehensively after her. Maura busied herself with the pouring of tea as Angela searched for something to say.
"You have such a beautiful home here my lady." Angela complemented. "I've never been in a house this grand before, its like a palace!"
Maura shook her head with a smile. "Actually a palace usually refers to the official residence of a sovereign, bishop or other exhalted personage, the term originating from palatium; the name of the hill in Ancient Rome upon which the emperor's home was situated." Maura froze the instant she realised what she was saying, the teapot held in mid pour.
"I apologize Mrs Rizzoli, I tend to share useless knowledge with others, particularly when I am nervous and I am so terribly nervous about meeting you. I know I shouldn't speak so plainly, only it is so disconcerting to feel like I already know you and to see how similar Jane is to you, in your mannerisms, some of your features...well I suppose it lends to the illusion that we are already close." Maura explained in a nervous rush.
Angela was watching Maura closely and smiled kindly at her words. "My dear, you should not be nervous about meeting me!"
"Oh but I am, you are the woman responsible for creating and nurturing the person who has become the most important in my life, I owe you a great deal." Maura bit her bottom lip, wondering at once if she had been too candid and Angela did indeed look a little surprised.
"Well." Angela placed her tea cup on it's saucer. "I am pleased to see that Jane's devotion to you is not misplaced, you seem to care as deeply for her as she does for you."
Maura's behaviour so far had certainly rid Angela of the fear that her daughters affections for this English Lady may not be reciprocated and that she may even be being taken advantage of. As a child and even as a young woman, Jane had often become attached to people who were undeserving and who did not match the fierce loyalty that was unswerving in Jane when it came to the people she cared about. For such a headstrong and independent girl, Jane had always been deeply hurt when these friends were found wanting.
"Oh, but you can believe that, Mrs Rizzoli. Jane is my dearest friend. You raised an amazing woman." Maura said sincerely and with a slight shyness which had fallen over her now that some of the formalities had been dropped.
Angela had noticed Maura's condition the moment they had been shown into the room and of course this had been a surprise to her, Jane having failed to mention the fact in any of her correspondence or their brief conversation on their journey to Ashby from the station this morning.
"I see you are soon to become a mother yourself Lady Maura. Congratulations and may I ask how you are feeling?" Angela enquired politely.
"I...Thank you...I feel well." Maura stopped short. It was hardly the time to explain or even touch on how she felt about her current state. Maura hoped she would one day share her feelings and her hopes with this woman, but for today she would contain herself.
As an awkward hush descended upon the two women, the door burst open and a small boy dashed into the room with a yapping dog at his feet and Jane following close behind. Jane closed the heavy door and bent to reprimand Jo. Nathaniel suddenly spotted the women sitting to tea in the centre of the room and grew quiet as he came to stand up straight in front of Maura, grinning up at her in his smart navy suit, complete with velvet neckerchief.
"Nathaniel, you look extremely handsome today." Maura said formally, her face splitting into a wide grin as the boy jumped into her lap clumsily.
"Maurma!" He squealed as he wobbled around until he was facing the watching Angela.
"Nathaniel, do you remember Mrs Rizzoli who kindly took such great care of you in Boston?" Maura said at the boy's ear. Nathaniel looked carefully at Angela as if he were truly considering Maura's words and then smiled shyly, sinking slightly further back against Maura.
Angela leant forward. "My you have grown, you look like a real young man now Nathaniel. " Angela said softly and directly to the boy.
Something like recognition dawned on Nathan's face at Angela's voice and he wriggled down from Maura's lap and crossed to take Angela's hand, shaking it in greeting just as Jane had been teaching him lately. Angela ruffled the boy's hair affectionately and with that he moved away from the table to explore the room.
"He is such a lovely boy, I am so pleased to see the two of you getting along." Angela said with genuine relief.
"He is." Maura agreed. "I am so glad that Jane brought him to us, I feel already like he belongs here. Ashby has been too long without children and I hope that Nathaniel will always feel that this is his home, as I hope that he will be as a sibling to any future children here." And just like that the women seemed to have had an unspoken conversation about the question of the boy's legitimacy and his place here in the future.
Jane felt sure she must have missed something important but decided to leave the issue for now and sat in the empty seat between Maura and her mother, as Maura poured her a cup of tea and raised one eyebrow meaningfully as she took a sponge and placed it onto a plate for Jane, who sent a sign of surrender with her eyes.
"So Ma, do you have any news from Boston?" Jane asked as she made herself comfortable and took a noisy slurp from her dainty cup.
"Frost has paid me a visit a number of times Jane, he misses you but I believe he misses the boy most." Angela said thoughtfully. "And Frankie brought a girl home, can you believe? " Angela had relaxed fully now.
Jane nodded. "Frost just likes your food Ma. But tell me about Frankie's girl?"
Maura was fascinated with the easy way the Rizzoli women conversed and was happy to watch them, feeling an instant affection for Angela Rizzoli.
xxxxxx
As Maura retired to dress for dinner, Jane was left alone with her Mother as they took a breath of air and let Jo out to do her necessary business.
"So?" Jane said simply, resisting her instinct to immediately quiz her mother on what she thought of Maura. "What do you make of England so far?"
"She is so beautiful Jane and so intellectual, just how you described her and all the time I thought you had been exaggerating." Angela said, hearing Jane's unasked question. "And this place! she must be worth a fortune, not that it matters but my goodness! and she loves you!" Angela stopped in her path.
Jane had not expected her mother to come out with it so plainly and she stumbled to a halt.
"I...we...I suppose... she does?" Jane asked uncertainly.
"Its as plain as the nose on my face! She loves you and you love her." Angela said as if it just occurred to her.
Jane had no idea what to say and Angela looked suddenly fearful as she stepped closer to Jane and took her arm, pulling her more closely to her side.
"Jane, please be careful, she has a husband, he is a powerful man, she is having his child! Oh my goodness!" Angela fretted."Does he know how you feel? What kind of man is he?"
Jane put her hand over her mother's hand firmly. "He is not as clever as he imagines himself to be and I think I can handle him. Dawson is not really interested in Maura, he married her for all this, for the title, to be accepted into English society, though that can never really be." Jane told her mother, becoming quietly thoughtful for a moment. "I won't allow him to hurt her, or the child, children. ...I would walk away first."
Angela watched Jane's pain filled expression as she made this vow and saw the change as Jane returned to her confident self and declared convincingly that it would not come to that, as she took off on their stroll again.
xxxxx
Angela Rizzoli sat on an large stone seat on the edge of the formal gardens that framed the rear of Ashby Park. The patterns of symmetrical shapes, all rectangles, squares and corners seemed to be a complete contrast to the wild hill sides that could be seen in the distance and Angela wasn't sure she liked seeing nature so drastically tamed. She couldn't help but smile however, as she watched her young companion race along a row of privet hedging with a stick in his hand. Angela was transported back to a time when Tommy and Frankie were young, even Jane who had also enjoyed exploring the outdoors. How they would have loved a place like this, so much space and so much to discover, the perfect backdrop to a child's adventure and imagination.
Lost in her thoughts and with her eyes trained on Nathaniel, Angela failed to notice Maura's Father approaching her. Lord Ashby carried a cane but didn't seem to be using it to support himself, although he did look a little tired.
"Mrs Rizzoli." Lord Ashby greeted briskly.
He shook his head in protest as Angela made to stand and instead sat down heavily beside her and took breath as if he had been a little short of it.
"I can't get nearly as far these days." He complained. "Old ticker is not what it used to be." He said, patting a hand over his heart.
"Maura mentioned that you had been ill, I'm sorry to hear that My Lord." Angela said.
"The boy seems content here." Ashby said pointing his walking stick to where Nathaniel had now knelt and seemed to be burrowing his hand beneath a hedge to reach for some stone or other treasure he had spotted.
"Indeed, it is very generous of you and the family to have him here." Angela told him.
"Maura's doing really, she seems very fond of the boy...I am sorry for your loss Mrs Rizzoli." Lord Ashby said, suddenly looking away from the boy and directly at Angela.
"My loss?"
"Yes, the boy's mother; niece of your's wasn't she?" Ashby frowned, not quite sure what relation he had been told.
"Oh! Thank you My Lord." Angela nodded, completely ignoring the question. "It was a sad time." Angela looked down at her hands nervously, an expression which passed easily for mournful.
"Still the boy must be a comfort. I do long for Maura to have a boy, a strapping young lad to inherit Ashby." He smiled, more to himself than Angela.
"A daughter can be just as much of a joy." Angela said quickly, forgetting herself.
Ashby looked surprised at her statement for a moment but then nodded in agreement. "Maura has been a great comfort to me, all her life, through her mother's illness and after her death. Maura kept me going, I don't mind admitting. "
Angela had only briefly met this man before and she had no idea what had caused this opening up to someone who was practically a stranger. Angela wondered for the first time if this man could sense just how closely linked he and Angela were through the bond their daughters shared.
"Ahhhh but she is no longer a child, I have no sway with her these days, she is quite independent." He concluded, regretfully, his shoulders slumped.
"Children always need their parents Lord Ashby, they always come back to us. We just have to learn not to fight so hard against them. If I hadn't tried to make Jane into what I thought she should be, she may not has crossed the world to escape me." Angela said, pain clear in her eyes as in her voice.
"But you are here now Mrs Rizzoli, you didn't give her up." Ashby said cheerily.
"You're right Lord Ashby and I don't intend to let my little girl down again." Angela said, brushing away a tear that Ashby pretended not to notice.
xxxxxx
"Jane, must you go?" Maura whined, fiddling with the collar of Jane's blouse as she sat, pinning Jane to her chair.
"Yes, my darling, I really must. Basil Tarrant is a very important investor, potentially the biggest and he has invited me, alone to have dinner with his family. Ma is taken care of, having dinner with old Mrs Danvers." Jane explained reasonably. "You should go and make nice with your other in laws, you have hardly sat down with them at all since Ma arrived."
Jane was right of course, in the three weeks since Angela had arrived she had eaten with the family only a handful of times and Dawson had commented on this over breakfast. Angela had settled happily into life at Ashby and had made a number of friends and acquaintances in the village, not to mention capturing the eye of both Vincent Korsak and Lord Ashby who had been quick to tell Maura that he found the woman to be very charming.
"This Basil Tarrant hasn't any daughters I hope?" Maura asked sulkily.
Jane wrapped an arm around Maura. "None that could hold a candle to you my love." She said indulgently, dropping a kiss on Maura's pouting lips.
Jane stood now, unseating Maura and reached behind her for her jacket, pulling the fitted garment over her shoulders she turned back to Maura and placed one hand gently upon Maura's now heavily swollen stomach.
"Take care." Jane instructed and Maura wasn't sure if the order was directed at her or the child inside.
"We will." Maura conceded as she watched Jane leave.
xxxxx
The very next day, Maura had finished her meeting with the estate farm manager earlier than she had anticipated, many of these duties which she had taken over from her father should now fall to her husband but he seemed happy to leave her to matters that held no interest for him and Maura would perhaps have resented giving up too much of the control of the estate, to anyone.
Maura decided to take the chance to meet Nathaniel as he was delivered home by Mrs Topping, guessing that Jane would still be working and as she made her way down the steps she caught sight of Mrs Topping's retreating figure as she made her way back down the path, away from Asbhy. Maura scanned the surrounding area, expecting to see Dolly or one of the other maids with Nathaniel but what she was confronted with was the image of Mr Dawson, with the boy's hand in his own, making their way quite amicably towards the far side of the garden. Dawson seemed to turn to look down at the boy intermittently as if speaking to him.
Maura had descended the steps very quickly and felt that surely was the cause for the sudden lightheadedness and nausea that came over her, but as she tried to shrug this off she felt herself only sinking deeper into an abyss, until she blacked out completely.
xxxxxxx
A/N - Hey all, hope you all enjoyed Angela's arrival. Feel like the next chapter is kind of the beginning of the end. See you soon. xx