Angelo woke, knowing that today he would seriously begin his search for a wife. But first, he needed more answers and made his way to the apothecary and chemist shop in Cheapside where Dr. Valentine also treated patients.
Dr. Valentine was a surgeon in that he treated sickness and serious injuries, and also performed surgeries, a skill in which he became quite proficient during the war on the Continent. He established his practice in Cheapside because he preferred to treat patients in need, even if they could not afford to see a physician. He truly practiced medicine, unlike the physicians his father used to see, as well as many others in Society. Those doctors paid calls in homes and prescribed medication, then would dine with the family. Sometimes they were even part of Society. Not titled, but often related to a title, being a younger son or nephew of a lord. Dr. Valentine was the son of a missionary who had been killed along with his wife and then raised, along with his siblings, by his aunt and vicar uncle.
It was the family solicitor, Mr. Demetrius Valentine, who suggested his brother when Father first started feeling ill, losing his breath, and becoming dizzy. The Society physicians had no idea what was wrong and simply told his father to rest.
Angelo waited in an outer room quietly watching those who came in and spoke with a chemist behind the counter and left while others waited to see Dr. Valentine. They were ill, he was not and would wait until the others had been treated or seen before he took up the good doctor’s time.
In the hours that he sat there, patients came and went, a steady stream from the smallest children to the oldest, who were hunched from years of labor and in need of a cane. Several times people approached the chemist in need of medication but did not have the funds to pay for medicine. It was still provided to them on credit. Angelo suspected that most of those bills would go unpaid and that Valentine would do nothing in an attempt to collect what was owed.
It was not until after the last patient had left and the chemist had put a closed sign on the door that Dr. Valentine finally emerged. He was weary and Angelo reconsidered for a moment if he should burden the man at this time. However, he needed his answers.
Angelo stood and approached. Dr. Valentine straightened, his eyes widened in surprise to see him. "Is anything amiss, Lord Bolton? Has something happened to your father?"
He quickly assured Dr. Valentine that his father was as well as could be but that he simply requested Dr. Valentine's time. Valentine nodded and turned back toward the door from which he had emerged.
Angelo stopped him. "Let me buy you dinner at the tavern. After the day that you had I can only assume that you want nothing more than a good, hot meal.”
Dr. Valentine chuckled and nodded. “That I do.”
After they settled in at a back table, the two gentlemen ordered dinner and ale. Angelo turned to Dr. Valentine. "Tell me the truth. How long?"
Dr. Valentine shrugged. "It is hard to tell. He could surprise us all and be here at Christmas."
If that was the truth, his mother and father would not be so concerned, unless it was a ruse to get him to settle on a bride.
"His condition is worse than I first anticipated but it is likely he still has months."
Angelo narrowed his eyes. "That is what you told my mother, is it not?"
Dr. Valentine took a drink of his ale and nodded.
"What did you tell my father, when my mother was not in the room?"
Dr. Valentine took a deep breath. "I believe his heart is failing and his condition is worse than originally believed." Dr. Valentine looked Angelo in the eye. "I told him that it would be best to get his affairs in order."
At that news, Angelo's heart nearly seized. "How long?" he asked again.
"I truly do not know and much of it can depend on rest and stress he may come under. He really could reach Christmas."
"But you do not think so."
"No." Dr. Valentine took another drink. "I nearly told Lady Dargate that perhaps she might want to send for your sister, but I did not want to act prematurely or overset your mother any more than she already was.”
"I will write to Gaia." Angelo would tell his sister everything told to him by Dr. Valentine. Angelo did not doubt that Gaia would arrive in London within the month even though she had vowed not to visit London during the Season.
Chapter 27
For three weeks Octavia did her best to ignore Angelo, but it was impossible since he seemed to be nearly every place she went. If it wasn’t at a ball, it was in Hyde Park, or shopping or Gunter’s Tea Shop or any of the several places Society could be found.
When their eyes met, she would smile and nod in acknowledgement, as would he and on a few occasions, they were forced to engage in polite conversation until they could part. What made these encounters difficult was that he was never alone, but always with one of the misses on his list and trying to decide which one he would like to court.
At first, she thought to ignore and avoid him completely, but realized that if she was suddenly cold to Angelo, or gave him the cut direct, Society would once again speculate so it was best that they believed that the two had shared an acquaintance and that Octavia had been nothing more than a matchmaker.
At first, he would be seen equally with the misses on the list, not showing a preference, but in the last week, he’d only been in the company of Lady Briana Delaney. Their initials had also begun appearing in the newssheets and it appeared that Angelo had made his choice.
She was a lovely girl of two and twenty, and hailed from Ireland where her father was the Marquess of St. Mullin. Lady Briana also appeared to be independent and opinionated, and Octavia had witnessed a few intense discussions between Angelo and Lady Briana. She had no doubt that she would soon be reading about their betrothal.
Three weeks may have passed, but the pain was as fresh as the day he had walked out of her bedchamber door. She had nobody to blame but herself. There was to have been no emotional entanglements and then she went and fell in love. Angelo did not and had no difficulty shifting his attention, and soon affection, to someone else. She reminded herself that Angelo had no choice and that he must wed before his father passed if only to give him the comfort that Angelo was doing his duty.
