Page 3 of Redemption

Chapter 1

Melton Park

June 1899

“You look lovely, Rhea. I’m glad I insisted we take an extra day to visit Madame Solange before we returned to Green Hill House two months ago,” her aunt said quietly as their carriage rolled up the long drive to Melton Park Manor.

“It was an unnecessary extravagance.” Rhea softened her reply with a smile. “But thank you. At least I have the opportunity to wear it.”

“It was nothing of the sort. It makes me happy to see you looking so beautiful. When I think about the day Mr. Ashford brought you and Arianna to Fremont Place…” The moment her aunt’s voice faded into nothing, Rhea reached across the space between them to touch her hand.

“It’s in the past, Aunt Beatrice. All of it,” she said firmly as she smiled at her aunt. The older woman nodded as she squeezed Rhea’s hand.

“Agreed,” Beatrice Fremont said with quiet determination. “With Arianna firmly settled in her role as Viscountess Sherrington, I think it’s time we concern ourselves with your prospects.”

Rhea ignored the comment and turned her head away to look out the carriage window. A small lake shimmered beneath the moon, while the rolling landscape made her believe daylight would reveal magnificent green pastures with wild flowers adding splashes of color.

Arianna had been fortunate to find a man willing to love her in spite of the horrific years they’d spent under Ruckley’s thumb. Rhea had done her best to protect her sister while Ruckley had controlled their lives, but their past was grim enough to prevent even a commoner from marrying her sister let alone the viscount. In spite of all the odds, Arianna had found happiness and that was all that mattered. She, on the other hand, had no intention of surrendering to a man ever again.

“You might wish to ignore me, Rhea, but I don’t believe your heart is made of ice. It can’t be when I see you with the children.” Her aunt’s words made Rhea slowly turn her head to eye her relative with annoyance.

“I thought we’d settled this. I will never marry,” she replied coolly.

“No matter how terrible the past, denying yourself happiness is wrong, Rhea.”

“I’m quite happy with my life the way it is now,” she bit out between clenched teeth before she looked back out the window and into the darkness.

Obviously, it would take a great deal of time to convince Aunt Beatrice that marriage was out of the question. Nothing would change Rhea’s mind when it came to the subject. The thought of her every move being controlled again made her skin grow cold. She refused to ever go back to that type of servitude.

Marriage would be no better than what she’d experienced at Ruckley’s hand. It didn’t matter how many times she’d stood up to the man, Ruckley had found a way to torment and control her. His threats to Arianna and the children had always made her yield to whichever of his dictates she’d failed to circumvent.

She’d seen how married women in the East End were treated by their husbands as well. They’d been little more than chattel with bruises and marks to prove it. A small voice reminded her that there had been two or three men she’d seen who’d clearly loved their wives despite the hardships they experienced. The past charged out to engulf her, and Rhea closed her eyes in an effort to stop the vivid memories.

The image of Ruckley taking coin from a man who had paid to bed her made Rhea’s stomach lurch as a familiar queasiness swept over her. Fingers curled into tight fists in her lap, she fought back the nausea that always came when thinking about the past.

The soft summer night’s air filled her lungs as she drew in a deep breath. That life was behind her now. She and Arianna had escaped. She’d even made progress beginning to bring several of the children with them to Green Hill House. They were out of Ruckley’s reach. A voice in the back of her head told her none of them would be safe until Ruckley was dead.

Even when she saved all the ones she’d cared for while in Ruckley’s grasp, there would always be more she couldn’t help. She didn’t have the means to save every child no matter how much she wanted to, and it made her heart break every time she had to accept the reality of the situation. Timothy’s face flashed before her eyes, and her stomach lurched as remorse and guilt spread through her veins. Desperately, Rhea pushed the memories deep to avoid crying. She’d not cried since that terrible night, and she wasn’t about to start now.

“Rhea, I cannot begin to imagine what you and Arianna had to…what you endured all those years,” Beatrice Fremont said in a voice filled with pained regret. But you cannot let the past keep you from finding happiness.”

“Taking care of the children and watching them grow will be enough to make me happy,” she said as she looked at her aunt once more.

“Surely you want children of your own, Rhea,” her aunt pleaded.

“Vincent, Lucy, Rufus, and the others are just as much my children as any I could give birth to,” Rhea said quietly as the carriage rolled to a stop in front of the Earl and Countess of Melton’s country manor.

Aunt Beatrice nodded slowly, but in the shadowy confines of the small carriage, the older woman’s lovely face was still dark with misgivings. The door to the carriage was opened by a footman, and Rhea waited patiently as her aunt descended from the carriage. Light streamed out from every window of the manor presenting a welcoming, cheerful atmosphere. As they entered the large house, the sound of music drifted out into the main foyer.

It was a Scottish reel, and in spite of herself, Rhea found herself tapping her foot lightly on the marble floor as they waited in the receiving line. When she was a child, she’d always loved dancing with her mother. Thomas Bennett had disapproved of dancing so her mother had waited for those moments when Rhea’s father wasn’t in the house to whirl her and Arianna around the parlor. In the receiving line in front of her, Beatrice Fremont offered the Countess of Melton a small curtsey.

“Thank you for coming, Mrs. Fremont,” the countess said with a warm smile. “I understand you enjoyed a family reunion just recently. I think it wonderful you have found each other again.”

“Yes, finding my nieces has brought me immense joy. Although, Arianna was only with me for a short time before she married this past March.” At her aunt’s remark, the countess reached out to take Beatrice’s hand. A wistful expression transformed the younger woman’s face, and her green eyes shimmered with a bittersweet sadness.

“I know what it is like to be reunited with a loved one after so long a time. I’m certain nothing will prevent you and your nieces making up for time lost,” she said as she turned toward Rhea. “Welcome, Miss Bennett. I’m so pleased you could join us.”

“Thank you for your kind invitation, my lady,” Rhea said as she curtseyed. The countess nodded at her as she gestured toward the man at her side. “Have either of you met my husband, Lord Melton?”