Page 7 of The Captain's Midwinter Bride
“My, I could get used to such a welcome after a day traversing about in the cold,” she said with a laugh, walking forward to buss Phillip quickly on the cheek. She smelled of lilacs, like she always had. “Mr. Newell, I regret to tell you that Beth parted company with me to visit her friend, Mrs. Wilcox.”
He nodded. “I seem to recall her telling me about that visit.”
“Still, would you like to stay and dine with us for luncheon?” Annalise asked politely.
“That is kind of you, Mrs. Dalton, but I promised I would escort my mother to the park for her daily constitutional.”
Annalise looked toward the door, a groove in her brow. “But it’s frightfully cold out there.”
“My mother has a hardy disposition and insists on daily walks to keep her healthy.” Mr. Newell swung his hat onto his head and offered them both a quick bow. “I wish you both good day.”
Phillip watched him depart until Annalise brushed past him. “Come, let me make us some luncheon, and you can tell me about your visit with Mr. Newell.”
He followed after her as she walked into the small, tidy kitchen. Baskets filled with various fruits and vegetables lined the open shelves, and copper pots and pans hung from a series of iron hooks. Annalise swung a kettle over the fire and turned to pull items out of the cold box, placing them on the worn oak table.
Phillip wandered to the opposite side of the table. Gripping the back of a chair, he watched her. “Why isn’t Mrs. Murphy here?”
“This is her half day.” Annalise grabbed a few apples and a paring knife, quickly making work of the peel on one. “She spends the morning with her sister and niece. She always comes back with a new piece of artwork.”
She nodded her head to the opposite wall, and Phillip turned and spied a veritable art display, each piece rendered with the unmistakable hand of a child. Birds, rainbows, unicorns, and Christmas trees shined down on the space and made it cheery in turn.
Annalise uncovered a plate with remnants of a roasted chicken upon it. “It reminds me of the years after we were married and couldn’t afford to hire household help.”
Those times felt so long ago now, Phillip realized. “We could afford the help, you just never wanted it.”
Annalise paused, giving him an odd look. “I beg your pardon. We did not have the money.”
He rubbed his brow. “I know life was not easy with me away from home more often than not, but you could have hired help if you wanted it. My father said you refused the expense.”
“Irefusedthe expense?” Annalise’s mouth gaped before it shut with a snap. “What are you talking about? My monthly allotment barely covered food and the cost of coal.”
It was Phillip’s turn to be flummoxed. “But that can’t be right. With the money your father left for you, combined with the money I sent home, you should have been able to employ a nanny, a maid,anda manservant.”
She shook her head. “Your father told me that the entirety of my father’s estate went to paying back debtors.”
Annalise whispered the words, and it took him a moment to process what she was saying. “I don’t understand. Debtors wouldn’t have been able to touch your inheritance. Why would he possibly tell you that?”
Red stained her cheeks, and fire blazed in her dark eyes. “Your father, and then your brother, handled the finances until your return. They also corresponded with my father’s solicitors after his death to ensure all his debts were paid. They set my monthly allowance. Why, Phillip, would they severely limit that amount while simultaneously lying to me about the state of the settlements? Why would they lie to you about my household decisions? Who stood to benefit if I was ignorant of the true state of our finances?”
“They did.” An awful sensation soured his stomach. “I never noticed any discrepancies in the ledgers when I reviewed them.”
“My portion of my father’s estate wouldn’t be recorded in any ledger you’d see, would it?”
He flinched. “There has to be a reason they lied to me. That they limited your allowance.”
“They didn’t just limit my allowance.” Annalise stepped back from the table and clenched her hands into fists. “They stole from me! There were times I didn’t eat so the children would have food. Your father invited me to move into his home when he learned how much I was struggling. I thought him so generous, but now I suspect he offered to keep me under his thumb. And I was struggling because ofhim.”
That couldn’t be right. Surely his father would never take advantage of his wife. Of his friend’s young, unprotected daughter. Of hisgrandchildren.
Would he?
Annalise’s chest heaved. “Do you even know what the state of your family’s finances were at the time?”
“I don’t.” His voice was a hoarse whisper.
“I never considered it before, because I was so immersed in my grief, and then later in the children.” She pressed her palm to her brow. “But now I suspect that while you were sailing the seven seas, they were in debt and used both of us to save themselves.”
Phillip tried to swallow around the glass in his throat. “I’ll find out. I swear that if my father and Charles stole your dowry, they will return it ten-fold.”
