Oh, Cherry Ripe

“Absurd boy!” She laughed. “Drink your tea and tell us why you are here.”

“I shall drink my tea, but I rather think you know why I am here,” he said reasonably as he sipped the hot brew and sat back against his wooden chair.

Polly sighed, and he frowned at her and urged, “It won’t do, Polly. Better let me save her from this new mess.”

“But, I promised … I gave her my word.”

“Silly thing to do considering what she was doing,” James chided unmercifully but still in good spirits. “Can’t set her loose in the world and then let her be. By now she no doubt wants to come home and needs to find a way to do so.”

“What do you mean?” Polly puzzled up at him.

“Well, she can’t go home if she thinks her stepmama is going to marry her off to a stranger. Don’t blame her for that—egad, the thought of anyone making me marry a stranger is terrifying.” He shook his head. “And knowing Cherry, she’ll never give up. She’ll hold out, she will. So fine, but I tell you what, by now, she must want to go home, and I’m just the one to help her. I’ll go fetch her—just tell me where she is.”

“But then she will have to marry that man, the one she ran away from,” Polly wailed as she wrung her hands.

Her husband reached over and patted her shoulder. “His lordship makes sense, love.”

“She won’t have to marry him. We’ll fix that right and tight, see if we don’t.” James grew impatient. “Just tell me where she is, Polly. There is no tim

e to lose.”

“I simply cannot break my promise …”

“You must, Polly. The scandals she has flung about in the past are nothing when compared to the scandal that will ensue if word gets out about her running away. I have to bring her home, for her sake. Now where is she?” James pursued.

“No … I shan’t tell you. I gave her my word, and that is that.” Polly was adamant.

“However, I did not give her mine, and to my way of thinking, his lordship is in the right of it. He must go fetch her before she is ruined and, love … you know it to be a fact.” Harry turned to James “Miss Cherry Elton has given her name as Sarah Parker and is serving as a governess at Bromley Grange.”

“Upon my soul!” young Lord Dartford murmured.

* * *

Felix scrambled over the paddock fence and called to his pony, Spike, who took one look at his young master and ran to the far side of the field. Surprised and irritated, Felix turned to his assembled group and shouted, “Do you see? He is a beast!”

“You must not allow him to get away with it, Felix, or he shall do it every single time.” Francine moaned.

Cherry smiled, folded her arms across her middle, and said to Freddy, who was standing beside her, “Perhaps a small bucket of grain will do?”

“Aye.” Freddy laughed. “I’ll go fetch it and be back in a moment.”

“Come here, Spike, come on then,” Francine coaxed as she put her hands towards him.

Felix copied her style, and they both cooed to the pony, who eyed them thoughtfully, threw up his head, and charged between them, nearly knocking them down.

“Drat you, beast of beasts!” Felix shouted after him. “You’ll be sorry when I get you, and get you I will!”

“Don’t tell him that, Felix, or we’ll never catch him!” Francine wailed.

Felix went on grumbling about his pony’s infidelity until Cherry laughed and said, “Come on then, sport, what do you expect? Here he is grazing on green grass, free to do as he pleases, and he knows once you catch him, all that will be over.”

Felix inclined his head proudly. “Aye, he is smart, but Sky says that our horses are fed and cared for and the little work we give them is good for them.”

“So it is.” Cherry’s mind immediately wrapped itself around Sky’s image. She didn’t want to think about him though. His leaving so suddenly had her confounded and worried. Had he gone off to satisfy his sexual needs in London? This notion filled her with jealousy, and she turned her concentration towards the twins.

“Here!” called Freddy returning with the grain. “Watch Spike change his tune now, Felix.”

Spike heard the shuffle of grain in the bucket, and his ears picked up. Felix dropped his hand into the bucket, came up with a fistful of grain, and slowly dropped it back into the bucket. This temptation proved to be too much for the pony; he loped over with a short whinny and ate from Felix’s hand. Francine quickly hooked him to a lead line, laughed, and threw her arms around him. “You horrid pony, but we love you.”