Gingerbread Bride

Chapter Five: Part 1

She should visit her mother's sister, Aunt Theo. That's what Mary told Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Marjery. Like them, Aunt Theo had faithfully written every month of her life, and now that Mary was in England, the least she could do was visit her.

She didn't tell the aunts Enid had suggested she leave town, unless she wished to break Aunt Dorothy's heart.

The aunts had accepted Mary's explanation of what looked like an embrace. Even so, Aunt Dorothy had been looking askance at her suitor since the incident, and Mary didn't want to make more trouble.

Aunt Dorothy and Aunt Marjery raised all kinds of reasons why Mary should stay, but were no match for her determination. However, they put their foot down when it came to Mary's travel.

"Not in a public coach, Mary," Aunt Dorothy said, "and what the viscountess was thinking when she let you travel that way, I do not know. You'll take a post chaise, and Polly from the kitchen shall go with you."

Mary was pleased to be persuaded, and on a fine morning in early December, she and Polly climbed into the yellow bounder for the three-day journey to Oxford, where Aunt Theo lived.

"I wish you would stay for the wedding," Aunt Dorothy said, for the thousandth time.

Mary shook her head. The wedding was later that morning, but Enid and Ruth Owens had made it clear Mary would be unwelcome. "If I leave it much later, I will not be able to go until after Christmas. I will not be missed, Aunt Dorothy, but you have a wonderful time."

Soon, they were on their way. Polly was good company, full of stories about people and activities in the village, and endlessly curious about Mary's travels and adventures. The aunts had packed a huge basket of food, enough for the two women, the post rider, and (Polly joked) a small village of hungry orphans. They nibbled throughout the day, rather than stopping somewhere for a meal.

When Mary ventured a wish that Ruth Owens would have a good day for her wedding, Polly snorted. "Pity poor Thomas Wright, that's what I say. He'll be under the cat's paw, just like her poor father."

"Miss Owens seems very fond of Mr. Wright," Mary ventured.

Polly snorted again. "A cat may be fond of a mouse, I suppose, but that is not a benefit to the mouse, is it, Miss?"

"She will be going to live in Bristol, I understand."

"She wants her da to move to Bristol with them," Polly said. "She was wild as fire when her da started calling on Miss Pritchard. Wants to keep him for herself, and doesn't like Miss Enid above half. Can't be two queens in the same house, and that's a fact.

"Stop him, she will, if she can. But he is stubborn, is Mr. Owens. He will outlast her, I reckon. Just keep on sticking where he is, he will, until she goes off to Bristol, and then he will ask Miss Pritchard to walk out."

"He was very attentive to me," Mary said. What would Polly say to that?

Polly went off into a peal of laughter. "Oh, Miss, you didn't think...? Why, Miss, he told everyone you reminded him of his own Mary, Ruthie's older sister who died. She would be about your age if she lived, Miss. Mind you, Ruthie didn't like that. No, not one bit. Miss Enid used to rub it in ever-so. Not that Miss Enid is good at sharing, either. Now, Miss, how about another of your stories? Did you ever go to one of them islands with the palm trees? Is it true they don't wear hardly any clothes?"

The house was closed for a wedding, one of the elderly gentlemen lounging outside the tavern told Rick. The daughter of one of the local notables was wedding a lawyer's clerk from Bristol, and most of the village was attending.

Rick arranged a room for the night, ordered a jug of the local beer, and found a seat in the sun to wait for the ladies to return home.

The sun was setting when Miss Pritchard's aunts and cousin came up the road, surrounded by a bevy of women brightening the evening in their pretty bonnets and hats. But none were Mary.

Miss Pritchard invited him into her comfortable parlor, where she told him Mary had decided to visit her Aunt Theo in Oxford.

"We sent her off in a post chaise, Lieutenant Redepenning," said Miss Rumbold, the cousin, "so you may be quite comfortable about her safety."

Rick wasn't comfortable, though. After he finished the tea Miss Rumbold insisted on serving him, and made his careful way back across the road to the inn, he sat on the edge of his bed, worrying about all the things that could go wrong when two young women travelled with just a post boy for protection.

He slept poorly, and by morning, he had made up his mind. He would follow Mary to Oxford, and see for himself that she was all right.