His brows rose.“Even though your country has been at war with England for years?”
She snorted.“War does not belong to women, m’sieur.Men make war.Women are left to pick up the pieces, care for the children and try to go on.”She added with a mischievous look.“I might even marry an Englishman one day.Enemy or not, under their uniforms men are all the same.”
Marcus explained to Tessa, who hid a smile.They would need a nursemaid to help with Flora, and this girl had already proved herself capable and willing.And had initiative.Besides, Tessa liked her.
“You don’t speak English,” Marcus said.“How will you manage?”
Clothilde shrugged.“I learn fast.”She twisted her apron into a tight coil and eyed them anxiously.“So m’sieur, madame, will you give me a chance?”
Tessa might not speak the language, but she understood the question.She nodded, smiling.“Yes, of course.Oui,Clothilde.”
“As long as your aunt agrees,” Marcus added.
“Oh, she will, I know,” the girl answered excitedly.“Merci, madame, m’sieur.Merci.”She bobbed a hasty curtsy and almost skipped out.
#
BREAKFAST NEXT MORNINGwas porridge all round, thick and hearty, with creamy milk.But first Flora needed to be introduced to a chamber pot.Tessa sat her on it.Flora tried to get off it.
“Non,” Tessa said firmly and put her back, holding her gently with a firm hand.The little girl looked confused.
“Pipi.”Tessa said.“Pipi.”
After a moment a small trickle of liquid was heard.
“Good girl,” Tessa told her warmly.“Very good girl.”And from the expression on Flora’s face, she was starting to understand what that meant.
But when Clothilde then washed her bottom and went to tie a fresh napkin on her, it was a different matter.“Non!”she said indignantly.
“Oui,” Tessa and Marcus and Clothilde all said at once, and with a mutinous expression the little girl reluctantly allowed the hateful thing to be fastened on her.
“Good girl,” Tessa said warmly.The child then turned to Marcus.
“Yes, good girl,” he said and she looked reluctantly satisfied.
They left for Genappe after breakfast.He should have made arrangements to meet Tomas and the carriage back in Brussels, Marcus thought, but at the time he thought they would be making their way to Paris.
But now, with the child, Paris might not be convenient.Ah well, he would see what Tessa thought once they were in Genappe.
Once Tessa was mounted, he handed Flora up to her, but as soon as he was in the saddle, she held her little arms out to him in a clear demand to ride with him.She was warmly clothed now, so there was no reason for her to want to ride with him, other than she wanted to.
He tried not to feel pleased.
The landlady’s oldest son, Léon, the boy who’d cared for their horses the previous night, had borrowed a mule from one of the neighbors, and he and Clothilde, along with her small bundle of belongings were to ride it.Léon would bring the mule back.It was not very far to Genappe.
The little cavalcade set off, Tante Jeanne with tears and hugs and many words of advice to Clothilde and her son, while her other children and several neighbors waved them off.
They ambled along the quiet country road.
Now warmly clothed and no longer traveling in his coat, Marcus’s little passenger sat up brightly watching everything they passed.From time to time she would point at something, and Marcus would nod gravely and make some kind of comment.
Tessa was enjoying his interaction with the little mite, one-sided conversation though it was.After a short time he started teaching her English.“That’s a tree.Yes, so is that one.And more than one tree is trees—trees.Can you say trees?”
But though she seemed to understand, she never repeated the word.
His deep voice continued, “Mind now, you are not to go climbing trees like a little hoyden, do you understand?Though if you are anything like your mama you will.And knowing her, she will probably join you.She was a terror for climbing trees when she was a little girl.”
Tears welled up in Tessa’s eyes.Your mama.He really did mean it when he’d told her all that time ago that he didn’t care about an heir, that his brothers were already his heirs.Her barrenness didn’t seem to bother him at all.
