Filed To Story: Alessia Mistaken as Mistress Book PDF Free
Alessia nodded, feeling no better knowing that next time the families gathered, Kathryn would learn of Alessia’s treachery.
“I think you should nap,” Leda suggested. “I’ll wake you for dinner.”
Alessia nodded. Leda unbuttoned her dress before leaving her alone.
She slipped out of her shoes and the black crinoline dress and rested atop the counterpane. Within moments she slept.
The next day Alessia took Celia her dinner tray. “I’ve heard you’re not eating well. The servants are concerned.”
“What the hell do they care?” Obviously Celia hadn’t washed her hair or bathed for days. She sat in a chair, dressed in her worn and wrinkled wrapper. “All they have to do is leave the papers.”
“I’m concerned, Celia.”
Her red-rimmed eyes rose to Alessia. “Why?”
“Because I hate to see you doing this to yourself. You bathe and get dressed tomorrow, or I’ll bring the maids in here and we’ll do it for you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“Don’t push me, Cele.”
She glared back, but conceded with a shrug.
“I’ll have the water sent up in the morning.”
She tucked her bare feet beneath her. “You do that.”
Alessia uncovered the tray and sat with her until she’d eaten most of the dinner.
“So, what’s that baby of yours look like?”
The question caught Alessia off guard. “William? Well, he looks like me, I guess.” She urged Celia to drink her tea. The woman’s silence prompted her to think over her words and consider her train of thought. “Would you like to see him?”
Celia shrugged noncommittally.
“You start bathing and dressing and I’ll bring him to see you.”
Celia nodded as if she didn’t care, and Alessia wondered if she’d misread her.
“Did you send the telegram?”
“I did. I expect it’ll be a while before I hear back. I’ve asked the telegraph office not to send my messages with anyone but me, so I’ll have to keep checking. Of course if you were up and able to take trips into town, you could check.”
“Don’t depend on me,” she said. “I’d only let you down.”
Alessia glanced at the clock on the mantel. Her own dinner was ready. “Have you let down very many people?”
Celia avoided her gaze. “Some.”
“None of us like to do that,” she said. She removed the tray and wished Celia a good-night.
Changing her clothing quickly, she carried William to the dining room and placed him in the bassinet Leda insisted be kept there for him. She’d been enjoying having no guests to entertain in the evenings.
“I’m well pleased with the way the visit with my associates went,” Nicholas said after they’d eaten, surprising Alessia. He hadn’t mentioned anything until now. But then he’d been working late hours. “You ladies outdid yourselves with the meals.”
“I can’t take credit for that,” Leda said. “Claire handled the menus and the kitchen servants. I took care of baths and laundry and rooms and such.”
“Well done, Claire,” Nicholas said.
Warmth crept through Alessia’s chest and curled itself into an unfamiliar little ball of gratification near her heart. At his expression of appreciation, her cheeks grew warm. He had no idea how much those two words meant to someone who’d never expected to hear them. She’d done her best simply because that was what she did. She’d learned long ago not to count on her best being enough.
She curled her fingers in her lap and didn’t dare look up. In her years of experience with her father, he’d never once tossed her a bone of encouragement Even when she’d done her best to please him, he’d found something to fault her for.
She waited, breath held, for Nicholas to say something about Claire’s mother, about Alessia’s irresponsibility and his humiliation, as he hadn’t broached that subject yet, but her waiting was for naught.
“Each of our guests expressed to me privately how impressed they were with you, and with your attention to every small detail of their comfort, even though you were, yourself, in mourning. I must commend you.”
Alessia’s chest expanded to near bursting. She didn’t know how to reply. Words became stuck. “Th-thank you,” she managed finally.
“Thank you, Claire. Stephen would be proud of you.”
She met his eyes then, eyes dark and enrapturing and filled with a mysterious glint. An ache blossomed in her throat.
Stephen would be proud of you. She wasn’t sure how to take that statement, though he could mean it no other way than how it sounded.
Would Stephen have been proud of Claire for doing the things Alessia had done? Or would Stephen have even cared? Nicholas had been the one concerned over details pertaining to the foundry.
“Our Claire is a blessing,” Leda said cheerfully. “Even if she didn’t know her shrimp fork from a hill of beans I’d still adore her. Stephen made a wonderful choice when he married you.”
Alessia gave her a feeble smile.
“I’m off to play cribbage tonight, dears,” Leda said, finishing her wine and standing. “Unless you need Gruver for anything, I’ve given him the night off after he delivers me to the Austins’. The Dextrixhes’ driver will drop me home.”
“That’s fine, Mother. Unless Claire has plans.”
Alessia shook her head, surprised to be included in the discussion.
“Don’t forget the picnic next Saturday,” he said before she turned away.
“Is it that time already?” Leda asked. “Does Claire know about it?”
“The Halliday Iron picnic,” he explained.
“Nicholas provides food and fireworks for all the foundry employees,” his mother added. “It’s quite fun to watch the games.”
“I’ll look forward to it.” Alessia waved her off.
“Claire,” Nicholas said after his mother had left.
She looked over expectantly.
“Would you mind bringing William to my study this evening?” At her pause, he added, “I just thought he and I might as well get to know each other.”
“I’d be happy to,” she replied.
After William had been fed and changed, Alessia instructed Mrs. Trent to come for him at his bedtime. She carried him downstairs and approached Nicholas’s study with uncertainty.
She opened the doors without knocking and entered. A cradle had appeared since the last time Alessia had been there.