I hope this chapter answers a few questions…
Sorry about the cliffy. Tomorrow's chapter should be interesting.
btw we are getting close to the end. A few more chapters, before I get ready to publish this story.
I am still tossing up about the title. I also considered 'The Colonel and the Countess' or if I want to be polite, I could go ladies first - 'The Countess and the Colonel'. Any suggestions will be gratefully received.
Thanks for all your support - for the story and my quitting. 😊
Enjoy.
~~H~~
Before long, Christmas was upon them.
As a special treat, James was allowed to have breakfast with the adults. Once they finished eating, Edith casually suggested, 'since it is Christmas, do you think the horses would enjoy a treat as well?'
Since James was eager to spoil his four-legged-friends it was not long before they were clad in their coats and boots and were headed for the stable. James proudly carried the basket containing the apples which cook had set aside for the treat while the three adults followed him.
Gentle whickers greeted them as they entered the stable and James distributed the bounty until he came to a box which had previously been empty. Now it contained a white pony which had a blue ribbon loosely tied around its neck with a bow.
James stood with an apple half raised in his hand, staring in open-mouthed surprise, until Richard casually commented, 'that looks like the proper sized mount for a young gentleman, do you not agree?'
James squeaked, 'is that pony for me?'
'Although he looks very sturdy, I believe Snowflake would be a little bit too small for me to ride. So, I suppose that you will have to take on the duty of exercising your new friend,' replied his mother with a pleased smile at the excited reaction.
'Thank you, mother,' he exclaimed with a delighted grin and threw his arms about her waist, dropping the apple and the basket in the process.
'You are very welcome, but I think Flake has waited long enough for his apple.' Edith nodded towards the pony who was straining above the gate to reach the people or the apples.
James took the biggest apple in the basket, to become acquainted with his pony without other distraction.
'Since James is too busy to continue distributing treats, I suppose it falls to us to continue this chore,' Edith said with a big smile, picking up the basket from the ground.
Richard disagreed with a grin. 'I am afraid that Master James has finished this onerous duty, leaving us at our leisure.'
'Not quite,' Edith contradicted him, nodding towards the furthest corner. 'That looks like a very hungry and neglected boy in that corner.'
Richard frowned since he knew all the horses by now, but sure enough, he could see a dark grey head above the partition. When he approached, he saw that this horse too had a ribbon loosely tied around his neck, although this one was bright red.
On the slate beside the door the name Phoenix was written in a very elegant feminine hand.
'Merry Christmas,' said Edith with a laugh at the stunned expression of Fitzwilliam.
Richard gasped, 'I cannot accept this. He is magnificent, but I cannot accept him. It is simply too much.'
'You had better discuss that with your cousin, Darcy. I am only the messenger. Oh, and by the bye, that saddle is from your parents.' She grinned at Richard who was uncertain whether to be relieved to hear that Darcy, who could easily afford such a gift, was his benefactor, or just a little disappointed…
'Although I will admit to being responsible for the red ribbon,' Edith explained with a pleased smile.
'In that case, I thank you for the gift of the ribbon,' replied Richard with a bow and accepted the apple which she held out to him with a pointed look at the grey horse.
Richard stepped into the loosebox where he and the apple were enthusiastically greeted by Phoenix.
Charlotte stepped up to Edith and discreetly squeezed her hand. 'It seems the Christmas presents were a huge success.'
~~H~~
In the coming days and weeks, Snowflake and Phoenix provided benefits neither of the givers had foreseen.
Of course, James loved the independence of riding his own horse and not having to be a passenger.
Richard thoroughly enjoyed teaching James to ride, not only creating a bond between him and the boy but making him feel useful for the first time in months.
He had not realised that part of his restlessness and frustration was the fact that he knew his military career was at an end and he had nothing useful to do. For a man with his temperament, it was disheartening not to be able perform some worthwhile function.
His leg had healed enough that he was now able to ride Phoenix, but he had been correct in his estimate that it would never again reach full strength.
Richard suspected that Darcy had chosen Phoenix quite deliberately for several reasons.
He suspected that Darcy had chosen this horse since a magnificent Lipizzaner stallion would be a great asset since he was hoping to find a way to breed horses when he retired from the army. He had enough savings and investments to buy a small estate, but not enough to buy the breeding stock as well. Richard had just come one step closer to his dream.
The second reason must be that he had always preferred geldings and mares since they were much steadier and more reliable in stressful situations. Stallions, like his new mount were more appropriate for gentlemen where it was no great matter if the horse spooked during a hunt.
Another reason must be that the horse was extremely well trained and had a very smooth and easy gait, making him comfortable to ride, even now when Fitzwilliam had not completely recovered.
The final reason, which may have been inadvertent, was that nothing about Phoenix reminded him of his former mounts. He could look at the stallion with pure pleasure and no inconvenient memories.
~~H~~
Edith also appreciated the changes which were occurring.
Once the Gardiners went back to London, James spent as much time as she would allow with Fitzwilliam or Blake or even Corporal Bennings. Her son seemed to have all the men wrapped around his little finger.
Her household certainly become more playful.
Often, when the weather allowed, she went for rides with the newly mobile Colonel, who was getting to know and appreciate his new mount. For Edith those times were unalloyed pleasure, and it became ever more difficult to hold onto the resentment she had for all men.
Fitzwilliam was different.
The Colonel had been as good as his word. He had never again attempted to assist without an invitation to do so, and he had even gone so far as not to offer advice, especially not in a peremptory manner.
As much as Edith appreciated his restraint, eventually she agreed that she would tolerate his advice in whatever manner he chose to give it, if it prevented her from measuring her length in muddy sleet.
Charlotte, Richard and even Blake managed to keep a straight face when Edith levered herself out of the mud and stood glaring at her companions, who had been helping her and James in building a snowman until she decided to take a shortcut to the stable to collect a carrot for the nose.
Richard held onto James, going so far as covering the boy's mouth with his hand to prevent his giggles to escape, put on his most innocent expression and said, 'was there a specific purpose for having a mud bath? Personally, I would have thought it a tad chilly…'
'You knew this would likely happen,' Edith accused her companions.
'Yes, but as I acknowledged before, you generally have a good reason for everything you do. I would therefore not dream of ever stopping you from following your inclination, except perhaps if I thought that you were trying to commit suicide. In that case I might attempt to argue you out of that course of action.'
Edith took several deep breaths before she answered, 'very well, you have made your point. I will accept advice when it appears that I am about to do something… that could have unpleasant consequences,' she conceded. 'Now, if you will excuse me, I believe that I will change into dry garments.'
Edith stalked back to the house, and just like her son and their companions, she broke into laughter the moment she was inside the house.
She had to admit, while it was liberating to be in charge of your own life, sometimes it was advisable to listen to other people. At least when they seemed to have her best interests at heart and were prepared to let her be herself.
Edith was also grateful to her friends that they had restrained themselves from laughing at her. Richard in particular looked rather adorable when his eyes twinkled with suppressed laughter.
~~H~~
A few days later, Charlotte caught Edith in a pensive mood.
'Does your downhearted demeanour have anything to do with a certain gentleman?' she asked, trying to sound light-hearted despite her concern.
'It might have.'
'Will you tell me about it? I thought that I detected a certain mutual attraction.'
'Perhaps there is a mutual attraction, but we are each battling demons from our past.'
'I thought that the Colonel is dealing rather well with your prickles.'
That bland statement by Charlotte raised a small chuckle from Edith. 'Are you calling me a hedgehog?'
It was Charlotte's turn to chuckle. 'Considering how carefully you two approach each other, does remind me of hedgehogs, who are very respectful of the other's spines.'
'I certainly appreciate the respect he has shown me.' When Charlotte almost rolled her eyes at that statement, Edith chuckled again. 'Yes, I even liked that he let me fall into the mud. If I had paid attention to the ground, I would have been fine. Since I did not, I fell flat on my face. He… did… not… stop… me…' Edith spaced out the words. 'He respected my wishes. I cannot think of another man who would do that.'
'So, what is the problem?'
'While it seems that I can overcome my past, I am afraid that Richard cannot do so. I am not certain what is holding him back.'
'Perhaps he is concerned that he could hurt you during one of his nightmares.'
'But he is getting so much better at recognising the onset of his memory visions and learning to control them. Would you believe that he requested some of my perfume for a vinaigrette? It seems the citrus smell is helping him to focus on now.'
'That is wonderful,' replied Charlotte while privately thinking that it had less to do with the citrus smell and much more with the fact that Edith wore that scent. She suspected that the Colonel was focusing on the woman rather than the perfume.
'Considering that the Colonel had less than a year to deal with his problems while you had four years to come to terms with you past, perhaps you are just too much in a rush.'
'I hate it when you are logical and very likely correct,' Edith complained, but the comment cheered her up nonetheless.
~~H~~
Fitzwilliam had also found someone who could relate to his problems, at least in part.
Blake came across Richard telling his problems to Phoenix. 'While I agree that he is an excellent listener, I am afraid that he is rather short on advice.'
'How much did you hear?'
'Enough to know that you are still worried about not being man enough to deal with a few battles, and having killed who knows how many sons, husbands, brothers, fathers.'
'You are not helping.'
'Colonel, plenty of men have nightmares about what they have done. In my opinion, the ones who have those nightmares are the better men than the ones who can just shrug it all off. At least you have a conscience. You were not doing it lightly. But now that you are surrounded by people who cannot comprehend what you had to do, you feel like a fish out of water.' Blake grinned when he added, 'you are not Robinson Crusoe. At least here there are a few of us who can empathise.'
'Thank you, Blake. You have eased my mind. I suppose that all I can do is continue on and hope things will get better.'
The Colonel held onto the advice from the sergeant and continued with his struggle…
Until the night when everything changed.
~~H~~
~~H~~
The Colonel and the Heiress (working title) by Sydney Salier, Copyright © 2022