CHAPTER 14
A DINNER LEADS TO MORE
Afew minutes later
The sound of murmured conversations amongst the staff faded as they made their way back to the kitchen, and the household grew quiet again.
Ivy threaded her arm through Robert’s elbow as they headed towards the dining room. “Thank you again for giving Walker your blessing. Salisbury is over-the-moon happy about the prospect of marrying him,” she said. “I mentioned to Walker I would be going to York after the holiday, so I am wondering... do you think they could marry there? Would they be allowed?”
Robert lifted a shoulder. “I’ll see to it they can wed anywhere they wish,” he murmured, understanding they would be far from their own parishes. He led them into the dining room and inhaled deeply, the scents of roasted meats and vegetables filling the air. “Given what’s happened with them, I am glad I came to Ritchfield Park. I’m glad you came,” he added.
“Oh, I wouldn’t have missed this,” she replied. “I come to Ritchfield Park nearly every Christmas.”
He chuckled as held her chair for her. Just as she had requested the night before, her place setting had been set up adjacent to his. “Which is no doubt why I had such an odd welcome the day before yesterday.” He took his seat at the carver and regarded the number of platters on the table with an arched brow.
“Whatever do you mean?” Ivy asked in alarm. She placed her napkin on her lap and held out a platter of sliced ham in his direction.
He lifted a shoulder. “Graves looked at me as if I’d grown horns and a tail,” he complained.
“He did not,” she argued, thinking he was teasing her.
“Actually, he did,” Robert said, his brow arching again. “I don’t believe he knew who I was.”
Ivy inhaled sharply before she guffawed. “Were you covered in snow and looking like a ghost?” she asked, helping herself to a slice of ham.
He suddenly chuckled as he helped himself to the roast potatoes and then seemed confused as to what to choose next from the dishes on the table. “Probably. It was snowing rather hard, now that you mention it.” He put some sliced carrots on his plate and on hers. “Do you always bring ham and beef and gifts for the servants when you come here?”
She nodded. “I do,” she admitted, selecting a roll from a basket.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know,” he said. “Had I known, I would have brought something besides a purse of coins from York.”
Ivy paused in dishing some peas onto his plate. “You brought money for the servants?”
He nodded. “I acquired some for the Gladstone Hall staff and left them for Sanderson to distribute on Christmas Day,” he explained. “Brought the rest with me and gave them to Graves to do the same for this household.” He regarded herwith a curious expression. “I didn’t think to do it for the townhouse in London.”
“Oh, I took care of it before I left,” she assured him. “I always bring oranges for the staff here, and Graves knows to put them into boxes for the servants.” She finished dishing up some food and regarded her plate as if she didn’t know where to start. “He does a rot job with the ribbons on the boxes, but I want them to be a surprise for the servants.”
Robert chuckled softly. “If you do it every year, don’t you think they’re expecting them? The oranges, I mean?” he chided.
“Maybe they are, but if I change the fruit or the number of pieces, then it’s still a surprise,” she argued.
Surveying the remaining dishes on the table, Robert scoffed. “There’s enough food here for our entire family.”
“Cook—she goes by Clara—she always likes to make an impression,” she said. “And enough to be sure there are leftovers for the servants to take to their families on Boxing Day.”
“She is the one servant I recognized besides Graves and Walker,” he remarked.
Ivy took a bite of glazed ham, grinning when she tasted the sweet and salty meat. “Whatever we don’t eat, the servants will be able to take to their families in Castleford,” she reminded him. “Should they be able to make it there the day after Christmas, given all this snow.”
“Hopefully the weather will clear by then,” Robert said, pouring wine for them both.
They ate their dinner in relative silence, the two occasionally glancing at one another as if they expected the other one to speak.
“The ham is excellent,” Robert finally remarked.
“As are the roasted potatoes,” Ivy said.
“What’s under that cover?” he asked, indicating the platter farthest from them.
