Page 15 of Dropping the Ball

The workman, Mr. Starkey, glanced furtively at Bernadette, then said, “There’s, um, there’s creatures in the rooms.”

Bernadette knew immediately what Mr. Starkey was trying to say, and while she appreciated his care of her feelings, she wanted to know what was happening. “Have some of the reptiles escaped?” she asked, as if escaping reptiles was something that happened as a matter of course.

Mr. Starkey looked relieved that Bernadette didn’t scream at the very thought. “Yes, my lord,” he said to Alden, nodding to Bernadette. “There’s a great, fat snake in the parlor off that way,” he pointed out to the hall, “and several of the rooms my men have tried to start their work in have lizards in them. Colum tried to kill one of them before I explained you like the lizards–” Alden’s eyes flared wide with alarm, and he hurried around thetable to the door at that statement, “–but my men don’t want to continue with their work with scaley things about.”

Bernadette stood as well and stepped away from the table.

“Not a single one of my specimens are to be harmed,” Alden said, striding out the doorway.

Bernadette followed. “I can help you collect them,” she said, catching up with the men.

Alden paused in the hallway and turned to look at her in surprise. “I couldn’t ask you to do that, Lady Bernadette.”

Bernadette was a bit surprised that she’d offered in the first place. She knew how important Alden’s reptiles were to him, however, and she felt as though her purpose at the moment was to assist him in whatever it took to bring about his ball and help him find a bride.

“I am here to assist you in all things pertaining to the house and the ball,” she said, smiling. “If that includes catching escaped lizards, then I will do what I must.”

“Alright,” Alden said, half laughing, half impressed. They all continued down the hall, and Alden said, “I’ve a collection of portable cages and other means of transporting my specimens, but for most of them, a basket or pot with a lid would do to carry them back down to the terrarium.”

It took no time at all to fetch some of the specially designed cages Alden had for his creatures. Alden had an entire storeroom at the back of the house filled with them.

“I had to transport them all across the ocean somehow,” Alden explained as he handed one of the lighter baskets to Bernadette. “I kept them all once we had arrived home, because you never know when you might need to–”

“–gather everyone up, two-by-two, to escape a flood?” Bernadette finished for him.

Alden laughed, his eyes sparkling. “Something like that.”

They headed upstairs to the first floor, where the bulk of the workmen had gathered to begin renovations. From the sound of hammers and saws, and judging by the piles of debris that already littered the hallway, some work was being done. The workmen who stood in the hall looked as if they would rather run than risk being bitten by something, though.

“There’s one in there,” a particularly large, gruff workman, who looked as though he shouldn’t be afraid of anything, said, shying away from the door he pointed at.

“We will have whichever creature it is removed in a trice,” Alden said, grasping the door handle and opening the door.

The workmen inched back, but Alden and Bernadette moved boldly into the room.

It was all rather ridiculous, Bernadette thought, as she set her basket on the dusty table near the guestroom door and looked around. On the surface, nothing appeared to be amiss within the room at all.

Alden hummed as they looked around. “Yes, I can see that these rooms are in need of improvements,” he said walking over to the bed and resting a hand on the tall post that reached up to the cracked ceiling. “I purchased this estate from an impoverished noble family who had been unable to do anything with it for more than a decade. And that was twenty years ago.”

“You did not inherit this estate?” Bernadette asked, crossing the room to check behind the wardrobe for snakes.

“No,” Alden answered. “My father was the younger son, and since Uncle Gerald had three sons of his own, not to mention a few daughters, all of the Godwin properties passed him by. He and my mother died in a boating accident when I was just a boy, but father had been enterprising with his businesses and investments. My brother, Dunstan, and our sisters and I inherited not only a great deal of money, but those same, profitable businesses as well.”

“I am sorry to hear about your parents,” Bernadette said, moving away from the wardrobe and checking behind the curtains.

“Uncle Gerald believes their deaths were part of the curse on our family,” Alden said, crouching to look under the bed, “but I think it was merely bad luck.”

There was a lull in the conversation as the two of them continued searching the room, growing dustier by the moment as they did.

When he stood again, a smudge of dirt on his cheek that had Bernadette’s heart beating faster, Alden continued his story with, “Fortunately for me, Dunstan was far more eager to undertake the running of Father’s businesses than I was. He has kept them extremely profitable, which enabled me not only to purchase this estate, but to travel as well.”

He paused as he went to check behind the bed, then added, “Poor Dunstan. He entered into a disastrous marriage with a woman who was only interested in his fortune. I would never say this unless it were absolutely true, but he is fortunate that his wife died several years ago, while I was away.”

“What a sad story,” Bernadette said. “I suppose that is one reason you do not wish the bride you choose at your ball to be hunting for your fortune.”

“That is it precisely,” Alden said, opening one of the drawers in the table beside the bed.

“I shall endeavor to do my best to–oh!”

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