Chapter 18: Drill

Seven months later

Claire bundled Brianna up in an extra shawl and carried her over to her and Jack's bedroom. Taking a child out the nursery and letting her sleep next to her in the large and surprisingly comfortable four poster matrimonial bed had been frown upon by the lady and the lord of the house, but given that she had lost her first baby, Claire found it hard to part from the little girl for long. Additionally, Brianna served as a kind of barrier between her and Jack Randall, neither of them daring to roll too close as not to harm the baby. In general though, Claire wasn't too weirded out by sleeping next to her former arch enemy. They had been doing the exact same on the way down from Scotland, besides, not as if he was interested in her or capable, and the close quarters had been pretty convenient when she wanted to keep an eye on his condition.

The tomcat with nine lives, as Claire referred to him sometimes in her mind, had once more recovered from a near death experience and was more or less able to perform daily duties his older brother bestowed upon him so that their stay wasn't such a freeboarding card as it may have appeared to someone from the outside. These duties and errands reached from collecting rent from tenants, making supply runs to London and meeting up with lawyers and bookkeepers to the less pleasant roles of overseeing the hiring of extra workers for the harvest or organising hunts. Jack considered some of these to be the responsibility of servants, with good cause, and had been fuming about them in the privacy of their bedroom, much to Claire chagrin or indifference. Though when William came up with the suggestion that the brothers should go up into the capital for an audience at Coutts Bank together, Claire was herself quite sure that the few days those two will have to spend together in each other's company will result in a fight and inevitably, sooner or later, in a decision from Jack to look for his fortune elsewhere.

Anticipating this to the extent of waiting for it, Claire had been delaying her own departure. Initially, her intention was to leave as soon as Jack was capable of taking care of himself and understood the workings of his illness being based on preventative measures for the avoidance of a relapse. But by that time, she had found herself an avid follower and student in Elosia, Lavinia and William's eldest daughter, a fifteen year old who had seeked out her knowledge at first for the benefit of her beloved dog, who had sufferred an accident where he broke his front legs.

Encouraged by the successful recovery of the animal at the hands of who she thought was he aunt, Elosia had started asking her about all angles of the science of medicine and Claire was happy to oblige in the prospect that Denys and Jack would be more likely to remain safe and healthy in her absence if there was someone else at the house who would be knowledgeable on the subject after her departure. Acquiring such knowledge however didn't happen overnight and so Claire stayed, committing herself to at least a year of teaching, especially given the circumstances that they had to proceed mostly in secret, with Lavinia not tolerating the practice of such questionable 'magic' in her house. Tonight however, she had been proccupied with thoughts of Jack in regards to the likely erupting vulcano situation between the brothers and wondering why they haven't arrived home yet. Spending a full night awake thinking wasn't advisable at any case and she was just about to blow out the candles and go to sleep when she heard horses arriving, accompanied by amicable and jovial voices, rather than angry or argumentative ones she had been expecting. If they weren't arguing, then Jack was usually quiet around his older sibling. In his inevitable submissive position he hated, he would not give anyone the satisfaction to voice his feelings.

Approaching footsteps followed, loud and chaotic, occasionally peppered with a bang and then the door swang wide open, the noise making Claire wince and check whether Brianna was still asleep."You will wake her!" She complained, shrinking back from the heavy smell of alcohol that accompanied Jack into the room.

The ex captain tossed his heavy coat onto the floor, then stumbled over to the foot of the bed, hicupped and stared stupidly at the child, head lolling and narrowing his eyes to see better, "I didn't," he waved airily.

"Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ! Did you not notice that alcohol was on the list of possible triggers! What did you drink and how much!" She demanded angrily, though she kept her voice down for the sake of the infant.

"Mostly wine and sherry. As to how much, I do not know. Can you measure 'a lot'?"

Claire took a deep breath and rolled her eyes, "and you expect me to nurse you back to health if you have a relapse?" At least he wasn't slurring much, so that was hopeful.

"I will have a relapse, not if," he went on as if talking casually about the weather, "my stomach cramps like there's no tomorrow already, but I'd like to enjoy the buzz in my head while it lasts, with your permission, Madam."

It sounded sarcastic enough for Claire to pause. It reminded her of a Jack she usually made an effort to erase out of her daily thoughts, especially with the wording and she did not like it one bit. "Go over to the washbowl, lean over it and put two fingers down your throat," she commanded, "it's best if you get rid of whatever alcohol there's still in your stomach undigested." And perhaps his poised attitude would go with it, she hoped.

"I will do no such thing," he argued with the drunkard's stubbornness, "I will let you know, I've had some cordials to go with it as to lessen the effect."

Cordials. Claire resisted the urge to roll her eyes once again. People in the eighteenth century were clinging to ludicrous ideas too much, like liqueurs, so called cordials, being used for medicine. In the wobbly state he was, it was easy for her to grab Jack by the collar, drag him to the bowl and utilise her own fingers to make him sick before he could get himself together enough to protest. "Have I not been sick enough lately already?" He grumbled as soon as he was able.

"Are you done?" Claire checked his expression. "That was for your own benefit. Now sit," she allowed him to support himself on her shoulders as they made their way towards the bed where he plopped down and his putative wife removed his boots. "Will you tell me already what is going on?It's not like you and William to get merry together."

"We were drinking on the agreement."

"What agreement?" Claire was impatient. She didn't trust either of the Randall brothers for anything good to stem out of the occurrence.

"The agreement I can thank you for, my esteemed wife!"

"Your wife? How much did you drink indeed! Now should I put some more fingers down to drag anything useful out of you?"

"Hush, it is you who will wake the child," he peered beside him, earning another eyeroll from Claire. He could be quite odd when it came to Denys and Brianna, intrested, as well as involved in assuring their welbeing and Claire came to appreciate it at times, but this wasn't one of those occasions. She was in between growling and contemplating slapping him when he continued, "William took me to the bank to introduce me to the owner as I will be the one taking over dealings. And not just that, I'm to take over communicating with lawyers, architects, suppliers, tenants and the authorities. In other words, I'm to manage the affairs of the family and the property. He had fired both the Estate Stewart and the House Stewart."

"That should save him a good £80 a year." Of course that made sense, if Jack was going to do their job for free. But how did that not anger Jack?

"You misunderstand. It is for 30% of any yearly income the land generates, which would normally come down to more than that £80 a year."

"Why would William do such a thing?" Claire was very suspicious now. William had been nothing but stingy since their arrival, giving her hard looks if she took a second helping off a tray at the dinner table and questioned why she would need more clothes than what she possessed when she arrived.

"Lavinia."

"Why would Lavinia do such a thing?" The question would be the same, with a little modification, "encourage a move like that?"

"I believe she has met the Duke of Buillon on her visit to Bath in the autumn, results of which she considers as proof that you're not just a witch, but moreso, the infamous La Dame Blanche."

"Oh." Lavinia has stayed out of her way mostly over the last couple of months and if they did interact, Claire felt she had been treated with respect. Now she knew the truth. It wasn't that the lady of the house finally came round to acknowledge the validity of her modern ways, it was only that she was scared of her. What's more, Jack was also benefiting from this misconception. "Half of what you earn is mine, money I will sorely need when I leave here with Brianna."

Jack cast a glance at the child to his right, breaking his gaze reluctantly. It would not even occur to him to argue the deal with Claire, but Brianna, or his alleged wife, he did not want to lose. Something will have to be done about that, perhaps falling ill on purpose when the time is right. Which reminded him that alcohol perhaps indeed hadn't been the best idea, at least not the extent he'd indulged. "I don't feel so well," he rubbed a light hand on his belly.

Claire rolled her eyes again, "I'll get you some medicine. Maybe we can stop this relapse before it starts."

tbc