Thea nodded weakly. ‘You certainly have ambition,’ she almost squeaked.
Frankie looked up, a little alarmed for the first time. ‘That was what you wanted, Your Grace?’ She pulled at the bottom of her waistcoat a little nervously.
Thea thought. It was what she wanted, and it was why she had taken on Frankie. It was also why George had let her, if they sowed a few more seeds for his gifting. She shouldn’t let her own anxieties affect Frankie. ‘It is exactly what I wanted,’ she said reassuringly. ‘I will have Hodges and Briggs out to the fields to clear space for whenever the seedlings will be ready.’
‘Already scheduled in for the autumn,’ said Frankie, back to her cocky self.
Thea couldn’t help but allow a laugh to escape as she noticed Martha’s stony lips and raised eyebrow.
‘Careful around the begonias!’ came a shout from outside the glasshouse. Three children tore into the space, hotly pursued by Annie who panted after them.
‘Apologies, Your Grace,’ she shouted behind her, grasping at Edward as he tried to keep up with his sister. ‘Still enjoying the garden after being cooped up in London.’
Thea waved away her concern. ‘I’d much rather have them out here enjoying themselves.’ She grasped at Samantha’s hand as she tried to pass her again. ‘Children, please be polite and say good morning to Lady Foxmore and Frankie.’
‘Good morning, Lady Foxmore and Frankie,’ chorused the children politely.
‘Oh now,’ said Martha, a gentle smile softening her faux-stern tone. ‘I have been thinking. Given that you were all so kind to welcome me into your house yesterday and we had such a nice time reading books, I thought that perhaps you could all call me Martha. As long as you don’t mind me calling you Edward and not Lord Axbury, and that you won’t insist on me addressingyou as Lady Samantha and Lady Abigail?’ She addressed each of them in turn, suggesting it as a serious proposition. ‘What do you think?’
Samantha and Edward looked at one another, knowing they would get nothing out of Abigail who was poking a patch of sand with a stick she had carried in.
‘She did bring the rain stick,’ said Edward, referring to a fat piece of bamboo Martha had given them as a present, which sounded like heavy rain when it was tipped from end to end.
Samantha nodded earnestly. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Will you come and look at snails with me, Martha? They hide under the old pots at the back of the potting shed.’
Thea grinned and saw Martha do the same. Martha put her hands on her hips. ‘I would love to look at snails with you,’ she said. And Thea suspected she actually would.
Samantha took Martha’s hand making the grin grow even wider, and led her out of the glasshouse, Edward following meekly behind.
‘The arboretum visit may be delayed for snails,’ said Thea to Frankie, who emerged from behind a vine. ‘Where’s Annie?’
‘Just having a minute while the children are engaged, I think,’ said Frankie. Abigail’s face lit up at the sound of her voice, and she reached her arms up to the gardener. Frankie looked uncomfortable.
‘I think she wants you to pick her up,’ said Thea.
‘I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to,’ said Frankie. ‘What with her being a lady and all. Aren’t we banned from touching you all?’
Thea almost snorted. ‘That didn’t seem to stop you with Mrs Henry.’
‘She paid for it,’ said Frankie.
‘And Abigail is giving you her consent in a different way,’ said Thea, watching her daughter tug at Frankie’s skirts. ‘I should like her to be her own woman.’
‘She certainly is that,’ said Frankie. She scooped Abigail up, but rather than the horror that had been on her face the last time Thea saw the two of them together, she looked almost comfortable. ‘I shall have to be training you up to help me in here Lady Abigail, you are quite the strongest out of your brothers and sisters.’
Abigail looked delighted in her three-year-old way. ‘Yes. Carry things.’
Frankie chuckled. ‘I am sure you can do more than that.’
‘Read too.’
Thea expected Frankie to look horrified, but she just said, ‘alright, I’d like that. Thank you for the invitation.’
Before Thea could express her surprise, Abigail wriggled free of Frankie’s grasp, picked up her sword stick again and, grasping it with both hands at one end, hit Frankie firmly across the shin. ‘Harrr!’ she announced, delighted.
‘Abi!’ said Thea, horrified.
‘Ow,’ said Frankie, rubbing her shin but overegging its impact. ‘You are strong. Where on earth did you learn that?’
