Page 21 of Twelve Drummers Drumming

His eyes widened. “Five sisters! And here I thought that I was hard-done-by with two!”

Jemima laughed. “It is certainly a busy household, I will admit—but we are a…a complicated family.”

Captain Rotherham waited for her to continue. When she did not, he said, “I am all ears, Miss Fitzroy.”

Jemima tried to ignore the shiver that moved up her spine as he spoke her name. Three syllables should not have such an effect, should they? “My mother died when I was born, and three years later, my papa met Mrs. Selina Forrest—a widow.”

“Ah,” he said, filling the silence. “She also knew the pain of losing someone precious.”

His words surprised her. She had never considered Selina to have lost someone precious, as her papa had done, but of course, she had.

Jemima smiled. “My stepmother also knew the difficulty of raising a daughter alone. She had two of her own. Caroline is the same age as I—you’ll be attending her engagement ball—and Esther, who is presently staying with our relatives in Bath. My papa and stepmother have since had three daughters of their own, bringing our family number to eight.”

“And yet none of your sisters are blood?”

Jemima shook her head. “Well, Arabella, Lucy, and Sophia, we share the same papa. The whole lot of them have beautiful red and golden hair…and then there’s me.”

“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully. They continued on down the street for a full minute in silence before he added, “It sounds a rather lonely place for you, even with all of those women. All those Fitzroys.”

“That’s not all of us,” she said wryly. “My father has two older brothers, you see. The eldest, William, has Chalcroft, the family estate, and the middle brother Rupert resides in Bath. All three brothers have daughters, and though each has different residences, social circles, and experiences, I believe each prides himself on having the best of them all.”

Captain Rotherham laughed. “Men are so easily understood by women, are they not?”

Jemima stepped over a puddle and joined with his laughter. Something strange rippled through her as they shared the moment. Was this what it was like, then, to flirt with a gentleman? To feel akin to him, to feel a sensation of belonging?

“Uncle William has never understood why his brothers ever wanted to leave Chalcroft where they had grown up. Uncle Rupert has never understood why his brothers never wished to settle in the fashionable Bath. And I think my papa has never understood why his brothers ignore London, the glorious capital, where everything and everyone can be found.”

“And here you are, such a rare flower,” said Captain Rotherham seriously. Jemima shot a look at him out of the corner of her eye but said nothing. “How many Fitzroy cousins are there, then?”

“Twelve in all.”

“Yet you are still so lonely.”

“How…” she spluttered. It was unfathomable, how he saw right through her. “How on God’s green earth did you—”

“I know the signs. My parents were fortunate in having me young in their marriage, but then no other children appeared until sixteen years later.”

Jemima’s eyes widened. “Sixteen years!”

“Indeed,” said Captain Rotherham. “Edith is sixteen years my junior, and Charlotte eighteen years. In fact, we celebrate her seventh birthday in a week.”

Jemima twisted her body around to avoid a young man who was pushing past people. “You must have been a lonely child.”

“Lonely, yes,” he said cheerfully, “but I think that I became lonelier once the girls were born. I was sixteen, ready to start out on my life as a man—but as soon as I was ready and old enough to start to receive the wisdom and advice of my father, he was fully engaged with a baby and then another.”

Jemima stared up at him. Captain Rotherham looked forward, just as he had done in the march the day before, a determined look in his eyes, as if by setting his gaze straight ahead he could ignore the pain from the past.

“And so,” she said hesitantly, knowing that they had agreed to avoid the subject completely, but unable to prevent herself, “you joined the army?”

Captain Rotherham nodded. He said nothing more for a few minutes, and Jemima let him stay in his silence until he was comfortable. They continued down the street, the hawkers yelling their wares, a few urchins looking decidedly as though they would wish for some of Jemima’s parcels.

“The army became a new family. I felt I had no home with my parents, so I sought to create a home for myself with the militia, and that decision has brought me more pride and misery than I could have ever imagined.”

Jemima swallowed. This was not the idea of the army she had envisaged. “I have never thought of the army as a family.”

He laughed, giving her an excuse to look up at him. It was remarkable, walking down the streets of London with him. Hugh—Captain Rotherham—gained the approving eye of all ladies they passed, yet his attention had not wavered from her.

“No, I guess you wouldn’t,” he said drily. “But there is much about being part of the military simply impossible to explain. Believe it or not, Miss Fitzroy, there are many within the ranks themselves who think much as you do—though with even less ability to do anything about it.”

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