It was a rather lovely sentiment, but Mantheria had experienced a most unhappy marriage.“If he loved Penelope so much, then why did he leave her in the first place?”
“Honor.Alliances,” Sunny whispered.“Odysseus was pledged to Agamemnon, who attacked the city of Troy to rescue his brother, Menelaus’s wife from Prince Paris.The stories say that the goddess of love, Aphrodite, bewitched Helen to follow Paris home.The Greeks fought in the Trojan Wars for ten long years to take her back.”
Mantheria vaguely recalled Matthew mentioning that Prince Paris had already been married when he wooed and fled with Helen.The classical war had been fought because a wife had not been faithful and a husband had been untrue.If only people lived up to their vows, then it seemed even wars could be avoided.Or in her case, a great deal of misery and regret.“If Penelope waited ten years for him to return, she was certainly a good wife.”
Sunny gave another little breathless laugh.“She actually waited twenty years.It took Odysseus ten additional years to sail home to Ithaca.”
Mantheria had only been married for twelve years.It was just a story, but she had to admit, even just to herself, that it was rather lovely that the wife had been true for so long.Too bad it was only a fictional story.“No doubt Odysseus was having all sorts of adventures and enjoying the company of other ladies while his wife waited patiently at home for him to return.”
“Penelope had struggles of her own.She was plagued by very intrusive suitors who wished to marry her, and so she told them she couldn’t marry until she finished embroidering her tapestry.But every night, she unpicked the stitches, waiting for her true husband to return.”
“And when he came home, no doubt she accepted him with no questions asked about his adventures or lady friends.”
“No,” Sunny whispered.It was dark, but she knew that his eyes were on her face.“She didn’t.She asked him to solve a riddle that only her true husband would have known.Penelope asked him to move their marriage bed, and Odysseus said that he couldn’t because they had carved it from a tree that grew in the middle of their house.”
Harrumphing, Mantheria let her shoulders drop a little.“It still seems like a long time to wait for a happy ending.”
“Sometimes happiness requires patience.”
Mantheria was fresh out of patience and desirous for her own bed, whether or not it had been carved from a tree that had grown up through the middle of the George Hotel.She allowed herself to slump lower, for there was more space near their feet than by their heads—and then it hit her.She was pushing Sunny the wrong way—from side to side.She needed to push him down toward the ground, where there was more space.They could crawl out.
Grabbing his closest shoulder, Mantheria put both of her hands on it and then hung against him with all her weight.Slowly, his torso began to inch down until at last, they were on their knees, and his chest was no longer wedged between a rock and a hard place.They inched out on their hands and shins.Sunny gave her a hand to help her to her feet.After standing up, she brushed off her hands and her dress as best she could.But it was probably filthy now.She picked up the small, wet black armband.At least she had some proof that Andrew was in Bath, and had been well enough physically to go for a swim in a Roman bath.
“Shall we return to the George and start our search again in the morning?”Sunny asked.
Mantheria nodded and pointed.“After you, Odysseus.”
10
Both of Sunny’s shoulders ached something fierce the next morning.Not too surprising, for one had been dislocated in a carriage accident and then both had been stuck between stone walls.He pulled the pillow over his face to keep out the light.He’d hoped to show a man’s loyalty by the story of Odysseus, but instead, Mantheria has unfortunately seen it as a story where the man went on adventures and the woman stayed home.He was now mightily glad that he hadn’t mentioned Odysseus being Calypso’s lover for more than seven years while trapped on her island.Nor the sorceress Circe’s desire to keep him forever.
Mantheria was not the type to stay at home and embroider like Penelope either.He could already hear her moving about in their shared private parlor.If he didn’t get a move on it, she might leave him behind again.And despite being as imperfect as Odysseus, he was not ready for their odyssey to end just yet.Perhaps he could still prove to Mantheria that he could be a good husband to her and stepfather to Andrew.
Rolling out of bed, his shoulders in protest, Sunny shucked off the overly large shirt that he’d worn to bed and was delighted to find his clothes from the day before washed, pressed, and ready to wear.He would need to leave Mr.Edwards a generous tip when he settled his bill.Used to dressing himself, Sunny quickly washed his face in the basin and performed his daily ablutions before putting on his fresh clothing and newly polished boots.
When he opened the door to the private parlor, he saw Mantheria sitting at the table in the center partaking of her breakfast.Her plate was half empty, and if he wanted to eat, he’d better hurry up.He took a seat beside her and saw that her color was rather better today.Her face was not so pale and wan.Her hair was simply arranged like it had been the night before.But Mantheria was so beautiful that she didn’t need a fancy hairstyle to highlight her perfectly oval face and lovely bright blue eyes.The only thing that marred her face was the dark circles underneath her eyes.She clearly hadn’t slept well.
“Mr.Edwards has already sent runners to the other posting inns.If Andrew goes there, we should be alerted, and my son will be held until we arrive.”
Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Sunny nodded.“Not a moment wasted.How wise of you.”
He sat down at the table and saw that despite her calm voice, Mantheria’s hands were shaking.He wondered how often in the past he’d assumed that she was fine, when she clearly wasn’t, because she appeared to be in control.Taking her closest hand, he held it lightly in his own.“Andrew’s a resourceful young lad—perhaps too resourceful, or we might have found him already.”
The corners of her lips twitched.“It’s my sisters’ influence on him.”
He squeezed her fingers tighter and then released them.“Nonsense.You don’t give yourself enough credit, Mantheria.You were the person who pulled those three hellions out of dozens of scrapes.”
Sunny had hoped his words would make her smile, or at least no longer shake, but she swallowed and blinked as if she was about to cry.He’d never before dealt with a sobbing woman, and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do.As a duke, he’d left such problems with subordinates.He avoided unpleasant scenes and anything that required an emotional connection.Perhaps he’d learned such from his mother.When he was a child, if he did anything but stand still, she’d have his nurse, or his governess, or a footman escort him away from her.Sunny hadn’t realized until now that he was the same.
But he didn’t want to be.
Squeezing her hand once more before letting go, Sunny said, “I’ll eat quickly, and we can go and walk around the Pump Room and Bath Abbey area....I know that I don’t need another meal, since my great bulk got me stuck last night.But I am awfully fond of food.”
The tips of her ears turned pink.“I am so very sorry that I teased you about your size, Sunny.You are perfect the way that you are.I was merely trying to lighten the mood.”
“And me,” he said with a wink.Sunny felt the overwhelming need to flex his muscles for her.Happily, he chose instead to devour a scone.
Mantheria toyed with her eggs, but he didn’t actually see her take a bite.