She lifted her chin and nodded to Walter. “I’m suddenly feeling parched, Mr. Townsend. Care to join me in seeking out a glass of cold champagne?”
Manners drilled into him since birth had Walter summoning up a smile. “I’d be delighted to join you, Miss Lowe, but champagne will need to wait until after the game. My children will be disappointed if I sit this one out.”
A narrowing of her eyes was Cordelia’s only response to that before she pivoted on her heel and marched away.
“And just like that,” Walter said as he watched Cordelia’s retreating back, “Cordelia is off the list of potential candidates.”
Ethel gave his arm a pat. “She did not show herself to advantage just now.” Her eyes twinkled. “I have a feeling there’ll be many disappointed ladies after tonight, given how many of them aren’t clamoring to participate in activities that include children. Add in the notion that numerous ladies seem to have purposefully worn ballgowns to excuse their involvement in the more physical games, and you can bet Gwendolyn will be slashing their names from her list of possible candidates for you by morning.”
After trading smiles, Walter and Ethel took their spots near Priscilla and Matilda. It took Gwendolyn all of three minutes to explain the rules, and then she moved in front of Samuel, handing him the ball and whispering something in his ear. She straightened and moved to a spot beside Walter.
“Are you ready?” she called.
After everyone nodded, Gwendolyn caught Samuel’s eye. “Remember what to say, darling.”
“Annie Over!” Samuel shouted before he threw the ball over the hedge, directly into Russell Damrosch’s hand. Everyone scrambled to run around the hedge, trying to stay clear of Russell, who had the ability to take them out of the game if he hit them with the ball.
A blink of an eye later, Russell took aim at Oscar’s friend Sherman. Before Walter could do more than change directions in an attempt to intercept the ball, Adelaide dove in front of Sherman, getting smacked in the head with the ball in the process.
“You’re out,” Russell called, as Adelaide rubbed her head, sent a glare Russell’s way, and handed the ball to Sherman before she marched off the field.
“Mr. Damrosch,” Gwendolyn snapped, striding around the hedge and stopping a mere foot from Russell. “What, pray tell, are you thinking? You should hardly be trying to take out the children first, because they’re children.”
“It’s a game. They need to learn they can’t always win.”
Walter wasn’t certain, but it sounded as if Gwendolyn told Russell to discontinue with the idiocy before she warned him to behave. She then told him that no, there was no prize being offered to the winner and stalked her way back to her spot beside Walter.
She sent him a rolling of her eyes. “What is wrong with that man, and how in the world does Mrs. Parker expect me to find him a match with that ridiculously competitive attitude he has?”
“Annie Over!” Sherman suddenly called, which had Gwendolyn returning her attention to the game.
Play continued at a wicked pace, both sides dwindling rapidly, although most of the adults were trying to avoid getting the children out. It wasn’t until Russell took out Matilda with one expertly thrown ball that things turned a little contentious.
“You took out my grandmother,” Oscar said, settling a glare on Russell, who was on his team.
“Someone had to,” Russell returned.
“She’s old.”
“Survival of the fittest” was Russell’s response to that as he retook his position and exchanged grins with Tillie Wickham.
“Those two are menaces,” Gwendolyn grumbled to Walter. “Did you see Tillie hit your mother with a well-placed toss?”
“I believe Tillie targeted her because you thwarted her desire to take you out of the game and she was annoyed about that. Mother was an easy target because she’s not accustomed to running. I agree, though—something needs to be done.”
Walter lifted his head and sent a discreet nod to August, who was on the other team and who happened to be holding the ball. He then waited until August threw the ball his way. Snatching it out of the air, Walter was in motion a second later, running directly for Russell and showing that man no mercy as he took aim and let the ball fly. Thankfully, it hit its target and Russell was out of the game.
Priscilla was racing Walter’s way a second later, leaping into his arms and placing a sloppy kiss on his cheek. “You did it, Papa. You did it! You got rid of the mean man.”
“And avenged Grandmother,” Oscar said, dashing past Walter, but not before he sent him a grin.
“I believe you’ve just become a certified hero in the eyes of your children,” Gwendolyn said as he set Priscilla on her feet.
“I merely took care of Russell.”
“But in their eyes, you let Russell know that no one can tangle with your family. That’s exactly why you’ve been elevated to the rank of hero—no easy feat. I would encourage you to revel in the moment, because being children, their opinion will change the next time you lay down the law about some misdeed they’re certain to believe wasn’t a misdeed at all.”
Thirty-Two
A most curious feeling flowed through Walter when Gwendolyn gave his arm a pat, then flashed him a grin that left him forgetting where he was for a moment, until someone called “Annie Over” and he was recalled to the idea he was in the middle of a game.
It turned into a battle of epic proportions, one his side eventually lost because Tillie, apparently wanting to avenge Russell’s removal from the game, turned more competitive than ever, knocking her teammates out of the way to catch the ball each time it sailed over the hedge—and promptly using it to take out her competition.
After shaking hands, Walter’s guests wandered back into the house, the children returning to the activities Gwendolyn had planned for them, the next one being painting seashells. After providing the many governesses in attendance aprons for their miniature guests to wear while painting, Gwendolyn then made certain the children were offered beverages and fresh fruit before she left his mother-in-law in charge.
As the sound of the orchestra preparing for the next dance rang out, Walter and Gwendolyn moved toward the ballroom, Gwendolyn insisting she needed to make certain Walter’s next dance partner was waiting for him—a lady he wasn’t hesitant to join because she had scheduled him to dance a second dance with Adelaide—done so, at least according to her, because she didn’t want her friend lingering on the sidelines for most of the night. They quickly located Adelaide sitting beside her mother, who for some reason was looking resigned.
“I’m afraid Adelaide won’t be able to dance anymore this evening,” Phyllis began once Walter stopped in front of them. “She broke the heel of another shoe, and not during the game, which would have been expected.”
Adelaide grinned. “I’ve never been one to do the expected, but before either of you ask, I broke it while I was walking across the lawn. One minute I was strolling along—perhaps even gracefully, but I can’t be certain about that—and the next I was stumbling down that incline that leads to the cliffs. If it wasn’t for Gideon Abbott, I might have plummeted off the cliff, but because of his timely assistance once again, I merely suffered a broken heel.”