“Help her in some other fashion,” Papa had said. “A donation, perhaps?—”
“She will not accept charity. Please, let me do this—I have such splendid ideas for how to revive the spa. This will help not only her but Chuddums. Coming here healed Ethan—brought him and Xenia together. Our family is indebted to this village, and it is our duty to help it survive.”
When her parents had exchanged looks, Gigi had felt a surge of triumph. She knew she’d won with that last point, for a Harrington always paid his or her debts. In the end, her parents had allowed her to volunteer at the spa, but she had to bring along her maid.
“I know how you love your projects, Gigi,” Mama had sighed. “Try not to get too carried away, all right?”
Gigi had gone to work straightaway, implementing the first phase of her plan: gaining recognition for Chuddums’s mineral water. Malvern’s water had become famous after a physician named Dr. Wall declared that it was so pure that it contained “nothing at all.” Gigi had set about getting a similar testimony from her family’s physician. Once obtained, the next step had involved figuring out the best way to promote the product. Gigi and Letty had tested their ideas on friends and family, but nothing had seemed quite right…until Gigi had hit upon using Chuddums’s famous legend, which involved a murder and a curse.
When her brother Ethan had purchased the local manor known as Bottoms House, he’d had difficulty hiring servants because the original owner, a man named Thomas Mulligan, had been shot dead there some eighty-odd years ago. Mulligan’s ghost, dubbed “Bloody Thom,” was said to haunt the place. According to village lore, Mulligan had offended a witch who’d cursed him and the entire village. In the years since, the decline in Chuddums’s fortunes, which included the malignant growth of a criminal element, had been blamed squarely on the curse.
However, Ethan and his housekeeper-turned-bride Xenia had proven that sightings of Bloody Thom had been a hoax perpetuated by the Corrigans, a notorious gang of thieves and cutthroats. Together with the good folk of Chuddums, they had ousted the villains from the village. Now storefronts that had lain vacant for years were reopening with new businesses, and visitors who had once passed Chuddums by were stopping to sample its unique offerings.
Xenia had also unearthed secrets about the origins of Bloody Thom. According to Chuddums’s oldest resident, Mr. Walford—known affectionately as “Wally”—the witch of the legend wasn’t a witch at all but a beautiful traveling woman named Rosalinda. As a boy, Wally had seen Rosalinda and Thomas Mulligan together by the stream (the one, as fate would have it, where Gigi had encountered the Viking). To Wally’s young eyes, the pair had appeared to be in love. Yet after Mulligan’s murder, the villagers, led by prominent citizen Langdon Pearce, had accused Rosalinda and her family of witchcraft. Soon thereafter, Pearce was found collapsed in his house, the cause of his death unknown. The villagers were certain it was because of the witch’s curse. But Rosalinda and her family had disappeared, never to be seen in Chuddums again.
As an aficionado of gothic novels, Gigi found the legend thrilling. One night, she’d awoken from a feverish dream—one so intense and real that it hadn’t felt like a dream but like a memory. Grabbing her drawing pencils, she’d sketched a scene of Mulligan and Rosalinda standing on opposite sides of the stream, gazing at each other like star-crossed lovers. She’d shown Letty her idea for the label, along with the accompanying slogan:
The Chuddums Cure: water as pure as true love.
They printed the label, affixing it to the bottles of water they’d collected from the spring. On her next trip to London, Gigi had taken the samples with her, distributing them to those who came to call upon her and her family. Everyone seemed impressed when she’d told them about the water’s health benefits (everyone but her eldest brother James, who’d teased her for having the ability to sell hay to a farmer). Ignoring him, she’d focused on her task, and her efforts soon bore fruit.
The first success came with her friend, Miss Amelia Stanley. After four years on the marriage mart, Miss Stanley hadn’t attracted any offers and feared she was destined for the shelf. To inspire her friend, Gigi had shared the tale of Mulligan and Rosalinda, which demonstrated that love could strike when one least expected it. Before she’d finished the story, Miss Stanley had uncorked the bottle of water, gulped it down, and confessed her unrequited feelings for Lord Alvin Neale.
A numismatist, Lord Alvin was known to pay more attention to his coin collection than people. Contrary to Miss Stanley’s belief that Lord Alvin found her unattractive, Gigi suspected that he merely hadn’t noticed her—or any female—and needed a nudge. Thus, Gigi had filched a coin from her papa’s collection and suggested that Miss Stanley use it to strike up a conversation with Lord Alvin. It had taken coaching on Gigi’s part, but her shy friend finally took her advice.
Gigi’s plan worked better than she could have imagined. Within a month, Lord Alvin proposed, and Miss Stanley was over the moon. She thanked Gigi profusely…and, to the latter’s bemusement, attributed her newfound love to the “Chuddums Potion.” Miss Stanley shared her experience with friends, and news spread like wildfire through Society. Before Gigi knew what was happening, debutantes, widows, and bachelors alike were knocking on the door of her parents’ town house, inquiring after the water. While James had rolled his eyes, Gigi had happily dispensed the rest of her supplies.
Seven more love matches took place.
Gigi began to believe that the water did have special properties. After all, when Ethan had retreated to Chuddums after being jilted by his former fiancée, he had sworn off love. Yet within weeks, he’d found his soulmate in Xenia. As Gigi became acquainted with the villagers, she’d also discovered that many of them had found their lifelong loves. Moreover, there was the dream Gigi had about Mulligan and Rosalinda meeting by the stream. The pair had been the most unlikely of lovers, yet their bond had felt so tender and passionate, so real…
The Chuddums Potion craze took hold of London, and in the weeks that followed, Letty could scarcely keep up with the flood of orders. She hired a team of women from the village to bottle the water and glue on the labels. She’d also decided to channel the profits into refurbishing the bath for a grand reopening.
Satisfaction filled Gigi.
Everything is going according to plan.
“I think you’ve done enough cleaning, my dear,” Letty said. “Why don’t you come down from the ladder?”
Gigi eyed the part of the relief she’d yet to clean. The sculpted surface was buried under mildew and cobwebs. Stretching, she managed to reach the corner, wiping away a layer of dirt.
“I shall,” she said. “After I finish cleaning this section.”
“Do have a care?—”
“I’m fine.” She excavated more of the relief. “Tell me how the ledgers look this week.”
“Our profits are up. A young lady from London ordered ten crates.”
“We must be prepared for an increase in demand,” Gigi declared. “Once the Season starts, everyone will want our water.”
“I don’t know how I’ll manage when you’re gone.”
In two months’ time, Papa would be returning to London for the start of the Parliamentary session, and Mama and Gigi would be accompanying him for the social season.
Sensing Letty’s worry, Gigi gave her a reassuring smile. “You have employees to assist you, dear. And while I’m in London, I shall promote the spa.”
“Shouldn’t you be focused on finding yourself a husband?” Letty asked.
