Page 147

Following the wild success of A Maiden’s Dilemma which had run for a full nine months, Felix had dusted off another of his literary efforts, The Erstwhile Suitor, and this one had run for thirteen. Felix had been firm from the start that Theo should take the male lead in the next play. “If the character’s not interesting enough for you, then tell me how to adapt him so he is,” he had insisted, and after only a little demurring, Theo had done so. To her surprise, her brother had thrown himself wholeheartedly into the rewrites and she had been delighted with the result.

On the back of the huge success of both plays, the third floor of the house was converted for Clem and Theo’s exclusive use and the second floor for Vincent and Henrietta’s. They each now had their own bathroom and sitting rooms and Hetty was taking great pains converting the old sewing room into her nursery. Luckily Mrs. Grigson now worked from her own establishment in Battersea and did not require the space.

“Clem and I mean to keep our spare room for a nursery,” Theo had confided in her sister the previous month.

Hetty had almost dropped the teapot. “Are you—?”

“No, not yet,” Theo laughed, “but I think I need to set some time aside soon. I will be twenty-eight next month after all, and we have finally agreed that next winter will be when we bring Shakespeare to The Parthenon. I think I need to fit in having the baby before that.”

Henrietta had looked a little taken aback, but Theo was taking the endeavor seriously. She had put a lot of time and effort into convincing Felix that a comedy and not a tragedy was what they needed to bring to the masses. Much Ado About Nothing was the play they had finally agreed upon, with Theo playing Benedick to Florrie Foss’s Beatrice.

Theo was of the private opinion that her brother had been in the throes of a full-blown love affair with Florrie the previous year. Their relations now seemed to have cooled off, but both were still frequently found in each other’s company. It seemed they had formed a mutual fondness and respect for one another which promised a long-standing collaboration, now Florrie was looking to expand her range.

“I think it is nice that Hetty means to ask Lil to be a godmother to her baby,” Theo mused. “They have grown so much closer. Indeed, I think they are quite as close as I always wished they would be.”

“Mmm,” Clem rumbled, glancing at the buildings on either side of the street. “I’m not sure we’ve turned down the right street,” he commented, not sounding too concerned at the idea of a detour. “I can’t see any cafes.”

“If we have a son, I should like Eddie, Harold, and Vincent for godfathers,” Theo continued.

Clem crooked an eyebrow at her. “Don’t I get any say? I want Ben, Nye, and Nat,” he said promptly naming three of his prizefighter friends.

“Oh.” Theo considered this a moment. “Perhaps it might be a good idea if we have twins. Then they can have three each.”

Clem laughed at this. “We do keep delaying this baby. Maybe twins would be a good idea after all.”

“Well, they must run in the family,” Theo pointed out. “Your half-brothers are twins, are they not?”

Clem admitted this was so without pulling a face. For some time, Theo had tiptoed around the issue of Clem’s family as though it was a sore spot, but he had opened up a good deal over the past twelve months. Now, no topic of conversation was off limits to his wife. He even took her along with him to visit his Uncle Dan where they ate grilled cheese on toast which his uncle called “rarebit” and fried sprats and drank beer, much to Clem’s cousin Grace’s displeasure.

“Can you believe we have been married for over two years by this point?” Theo mused, tugging Clem’s arm toward a shop window. “Look at these sketches. They’re not as good as yours.”

Clem snorted. “Maybe I should get some supplies,” he suggested after a moment. “I could draw you later on tonight, Mrs. Dabney.” He waggled his eyebrows. “In the buff.”

“What, again?” Theo asked archly.

Clem laughed. “You are shameless. I suppose that is what comes of marrying an actress.”

“Hmmm, remember how you thought I was a terrible actress when you first married me?” she teased, glancing up at him. “Incidentally, what were you going to do if I had fallen flat on my face that first night? It never occurred to me to ask. Expected me to keep house for you?” she hazarded.

He snorted. “Christ no! Have you forgotten how I found you that day, covered in flour and burns from the stove?”

“Oh yes,” she gurgled. “If not your housekeeper, then what?” she asked curiously.

“I had not really thought that far ahead,” he admitted after a pause, a pucker between his brows. After a moment, he reached up and scratched the back of his neck. “I toyed with the idea of buying you into some business or other. Either that or retaining you in some advisory role for the theatre. I wasn’t worried; I would have found something for you to do about the place.”

Theo nodded. “I expect you would have been very charming about it all, picked me up off the floor, and seen to my hurts, and very likely seduced me out of my mopes.”

Clem glanced around to check no one was listening to their conversation. “Dora,” he said in a strangled voice.

“Yes, Clem?” She bit back her smile. “You would have, you know. You would not have been able to help yourself. Imagine how crushed I would have been. How helpless, lost, and needy—”

“I don’t find hopeless women particularly attractive,” he put in dryly.

“No, but you had already started flirting with me, even when you thought I was a batty eccentric.”

“When did I—?”

“I believe I will call you Dora,” she quoted. “And that was on our first meeting, too. My sister was very shocked.”