Mistletoe and Mayhem - Cheryl Bolen Page 0,27

take the mail coach back to cross the border into England and make her way south as fast as she could. But she still had days of work to go on a piece of embroidery that she would sell to pay for the journey. Getting there without funds would be an impossible trip with a young child.

Ruby had never had a fair chance to make a place for herself within Liam’s family. They’d never tried to accept her the way they did her four-year-old son, Pip. As the only male grandchild, he’d been beloved since birth. And for weeks now, her father-in-law had been attempting to keep them apart in subtle ways.

But it seemed Mr. Roper was done being subtle. Fergus Masters lived many miles away, a relative of one of their neighbors who had visited recently. She could not imagine she would ever be allowed to see her son again once she was moved away.

The silence left in Mr. Roper’s wake was deafening, and Ruby finally looked at her mother-in-law when she sat opposite. Eliza Roper stared at her steadily, and then she shook her head. “You’ll be Fergus’ fourth wife. His last wife died along with the third daughter she bore him.”

Ruby swallowed hard.

She had never been sure how Eliza thought of her. She’d offered Ruby very little kindness over the years they’d shared the upkeep of this house. But Eliza had not been entirely without compassion over the past five years. She’d taken charge of Ruby’s lying in and delivered Pip safely into Ruby’s arms. However, Eliza always sided with her husband. She’d adored her son while he’d lived, but her grandson Pip had become the center of her world. When Ruby was married off, no doubt she would take over raising young Pip in his grandfather’s image.

“You canna stay, lass,” Eliza informed her.

“I loved your son. He wouldn’t want this for Pip or me.” Ruby stood and began clearing the table angrily. She could expect no help from Eliza. The woman was Mr. Roper’s puppet, too.

Eliza sighed. “I know you did, and he loved you, but he’s dead now, and you’ve got to think of the future.”

Ruby carried everything into the kitchens. Roper had funds to pay for a maid to do the work, but he was too tight-fisted to pay anyone properly. In the end, it was left to Eliza and Ruby to keep the house tidy. Ruby had taken on the lion’s share of the work to spare her mother-in-law from scrubbing her fingers raw in the hope of becoming friends.

The work of filling the sinks took some time, and her mother-in-law watched her work without comment as she often did.

Ruby finished and turned.

Eliza was holding out Ruby’s secret bit of embroidery. The piece she meant to sell to escape Scotland.

Ruby wet her lips. “Where did you get that?”

“Ye canna keep secrets in my ’ouse,” Eliza warned. She turned it over. “It’s not finished.”

“No.”

Eliza suddenly tucked the piece into the bodice of her gown. “Mine now.”

“No, please!” Ruby cried. “Give it back to me.”

Ruby had hoarded that linen and thread since the day she’d left home. If Eliza took it, she’d have nothing of any real value left.

“It’s not finished, and you won’t have time.” Eliza went to the kitchen hearth and crouched down. She moved a log of wood, and then turned back to Ruby. “You need to leave,” Eliza repeated. When she approached Ruby, she held a tiny pile of coins in her hand. “Go to your family.”

“I will not leave my son behind.”

“I expected nothing less.” Eliza grabbed Ruby’s hand, uncurled her fingers, and started counting out coins into Ruby’s palm until she had enough for the fare and food on the journey home to England for both her and Pip too.

Ruby gaped, stunned. She had to stop her when it became too much. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You raise him right, teach him what he needs to know about his father and his family. Give him the education his father would want Pip to have. You send him back to me when he’s fully grown to take up his inheritance.”

Pip was heir to their lands. Irreplaceable to the family. Mr. Roper would be furious with Eliza for helping Ruby get away. “What about you?”

“My place is here with my husband. He knows I’d never help the silly English chit my son shackled himself to. She’s only ever been a burden. I’ve made my disapproval of you plain as day