Page 57 of The Hellion and the Captain
Emmaline’s head snapped up as the familiar voice rang through the house, echoing from the front entrance up to her bedroom. Her pen, which she had been using to outline the ideas that had been filling her head onto paper, went flying across her bedroom as she ran to the door and down the stairs so fast that she nearly tripped over her skirts.
She likely would have fallen face-first into the front entrance, but instead, she went flying into her brother’s arms so fast that she nearly knocked him over.
“Freddie!” she gasped when she finally pulled back from his laughter. He held her at arm’s length. “It is so good to see you!”
“Oh, really? It was hard to tell,” he said, laughing. “I missed you too, my little hellion.”
He looked her up and down, his nose crinkling as hers often did. “You look… different.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. “I’m the same as I’vealways been.”
He squeezed her arm. “You don’t seem as… soft. Or as pale.”
She reached out and smacked him on the arm. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve been out in the sun, and you have some strength to you,” he finally settled on, pleased with himself, apparently forgetting that he had basically insulted her seconds before.
But that was Freddie. Living in the moment.
“What are you doing home?”
“I have a secret,” he whispered. “I’m here to visit a special someone. Her brother is to be married this weekend, so I was granted special leave. But I wrote you about this. I thought you’d have the date circled in your calendar.”
He was jesting, laughter in his voice, but he had a point. Previously, Emmaline could hardly wait until her brothers returned home. Her eldest brother, Richard, was now married and had a family of his own in Manchester, so while he didn’t live far, he was so often busy with his own affairs that he hardly had time to see her.
She and Freddie had always had a special bond, perhaps because neither of them ever took anything seriously – anything, that was, except football.
“Have you seen Mother and Father yet?”
“No. Father is out at his club, and Mrs. Clements said that Mother is at one of her meetings. Is she still as involved in the cause as ever?”
“Very much so,” Emmaline agreed.
“And still hasn’t lost all of her acquaintances?”
“She is discreet.”
“You haven’t followed in her footsteps?” he asked.
“Not yet,” she said, looking at him out of the corner of her eye as they walked together into the drawing room and sat, asking the maid who approached if she would mind calling fortea. “I do, however, have an idea. One that you just might be able to help with.”
“I’m as intrigued as ever,” he said, his eyes, so similar in color to hers, sparkling with mischief. “I always enjoy your ideas.”
“Because you can partake without getting into much trouble yourself.”
“Usually, yes,” he said with a laugh.
“I would like to start a women’s football club,” she pronounced, waiting for his excitement, his support. Even Rhys had been encouraging when she had raised the idea.
But she was to be disappointed, and it hurt all the more, coming from Freddie who she had trusted in the past to support her.
“Oh, Em, you’ve tried that.”
“No, I tried toplayfor a team,” she corrected him. “A team that Mother and Father did not approve of. I would like to start a club with connections, much like one of the men’s teams, so that it would be more acceptable for women of any class to play, and they would accept me in turn.”
“Who would back such a team?”
“Maybe a man like our father?” she suggested. “One who would want to see his daughter do something to make her happy?”
