Chapter 7 #2
Cori sat beside her because the view of the moors called to her, and she’d been trying most of the day to make sense of a series of thoughts that would not leave her.
The walk with James was still with her, as was their exchange in the garden that morning.
She had a feeling that there was something she was missing with him.
Something large and meaningful. But she could not put her finger on what that might be.
Then there was the way Mrs. Fairleigh had assessed her the night before.
That memory hovered around the edges of Cori’s mind as did the fact that she knew – just as she knew Cait had told her to climb that rigging when she was seven – that Cait was keeping something from her now.
"For what it’s worth," Emma Atherton began, settling into the opposite window seat, "I believe you, Miss Corinna."
"Thank you, Emma," Cori said, casting Cait a look from the corner of her eye. “That means a great deal, more than you will ever know.”
“Oh for pity’s sake.” Cait scoffed. "You are supposed to be neutral, Emma.”
"I am neutral," Emma said. "I simply believe Miss Corinna in this instance."
Cara made a sound that was not quite a laugh as she took the spot beside her friend. “Be careful, Emma. There are no winners in this debate. It’s been waged for nearly a dozen years.”
“And we will continue to wage it until I am vindicated,” Cait said with a slightly sour expression on her face.
Then people began drifting into the sitting room, in ones and twos, without announcement or arrangement.
The Duchess of Hythe arrived with Lady Upwell and claimed the settee nearest the fire, and within minutes the pair found themselves at odds about flowers for the wedding.
Lady Upwell had strong views about white roses while the duchess had even stronger views about heather.
Lady Upwell was coming around, but very slowly.
After a bit, a calm settled across the room before Mrs. Fairleigh stumbled upon the group and joined them.
She claimed a chair near the window seat and was drawn into the discussion about wedding flowers.
After agreeing with the duchess, her gaze swept over the room before landing quite firmly on Cori as though she was searching for the answer to a question that had yet to be asked.
It was unnerving. So, Cori looked out at the moors.
Mrs. Fairleigh cleared her throat. "So, Daniel wrote that you grew up in Bermuda.”
Cori glanced back at the lady who was, thankfully, now focused on Cait.
“What is it like?”
“Warm,” Cara blurted out at the same moment Cait said, “Warmer.”
Mrs. Fairleigh laughed. “This has been an unseasonably cold summer for us this year.”
“Even so,” Cait began, “Bermuda has always been warmer. It’s louder too.”
“Louder?”
“In the best way,” Cait hastened to explain. “The harbor before dawn sounds like the whole world is awake and working. The light is different too. Everything back home is saturated with color." She shrugged slightly. "Papa used to say Bermuda spoils you for anywhere else."
"Was he right?"
"About most things," Cara added.
A genuine smile lit up Mrs. Fairleigh’s face. "You’ll go back," she said. "After the wedding. Daniel has written of little else."
"He wants to see it," Cait said. "He says he wants to understand what made me."
Something twinkled in Mrs. Fairleigh light eyes. “That sounds exactly like my brother." Then she turned her attention back to Cori. “And you, Miss Corinna? Will you go back as well?”
"I haven't yet decided," Cori said.
Which was true. Originally, she’d only come for Cara’s wedding, but then Cait had met Lord Daniel, and…
The truth was Cori wasn’t certain where she belonged anymore.
Cara had her life with Darling. Cait and Daniel would take up residence at the home in Bermuda and Cori would…
remain with the Hythes? She didn’t want to do that forever.
When she’d spotted James at the Plumstead ball, she’d thought perhaps it was sign that her future lay in England. But now…
Oh, she didn’t know what she thought.
Who changed the course of their life because they spotted someone across a crowded ballroom? No one of sense, and Cori had always thought she had a great deal of sense.
Of course, ever since she’d arrived at Acklan…
Well, it felt like she belonged there. But was that just nonsensical fancy?
James hadn’t given her any indication that he meant to court her or that he even thought much about her other than her workable knowledge about drainage issues.
Then again, he had asked her to call him James, which she had only done in private.
He'd said it was because they were nearly family.
If she thought there was more to it than that, if she thought he might think of her as something beyond the connection their families shared…
Cori heaved out a sigh.
Then she wished she hadn’t when the whole room focused on her.
"That is, Bermuda will always be there," she said, and turned back to the window wishing the answer to all her questions could be found looking at the horizon.
She could still feel Mrs. Fairleigh's gaze and wondered why the—
Through the open doorway came Marmalade, Biscuit, Minuet, and Snowdrop, in various states of velocity and intent. Hannah appeared a moment behind the four kittens, slightly breathless and clearly in pursuit.
Marmalade went immediately under the settee.
Biscuit went directly for the curtains, which she appeared to have identified as a personal challenge.
Minuet stopped in the center of the Aubusson rug, sat down, and began washing her face as though she could not be bothered to worry about the ladies occupying the room.
Snowdrop disappeared behind the writing table.
"Lady Hannah!" said the duchess in mild surprise.
"They escaped," Hannah announced to the room at large. "From the kitchens. Mrs. Bream left the door open."
"Did she?" the duchess asked, in the tone she used when she did not believe something but was not going to say as much out loud.
"She did," Hannah confirmed with an exaggerated nod of her little blonde head.
Miss Roseberry appeared in the doorway ten seconds behind her charge, in a state that suggested the journey from the kitchens had involved more than one staircase and several unforeseen developments.
Her dark hair had come slightly loose and there was something on her left sleeve.
"Lady Hannah," the governess said, trying to catch her breath while attempting to maintain a professional dignity.
"We are not to bring the kittens into the sitting room. "
"I didn’t bring them," Hannah protested. “I’m trying to catch them.”
Lady Upwell made a sound in her throat. Cori pressed her lips together very hard to keep from laughing.
Across the room, she was keenly aware of Mrs. Fairleigh watching her, not the room in general, but her specifically. So, Cori managed to keep her expression composed and her attention on Hannah.
"Biscuit," Cait said from the window seat, "come down from there at once."
Biscuit did not come down. In fact, Biscuit had made considerable progress toward the ceiling and appeared to have no intention of reconsidering her course.
"I’ll get her," Hannah said, already moving toward the curtains.
"You will not," said Miss Roseberry and Cori at the same moment.
Hannah stopped and looked at Cori with the expression that meant she was reconsidering her options.
"If you go up after her—" Cori met the child in the middle of the rug "—she’ll go even higher. She needs to come down on her own terms." She held out her hand. "Come and help me with Marmalade instead."
Hannah’s brow furrowed, just slightly. But she took Cori's hand anyway.
They retrieved Marmalade from under the settee together, which required patience on Cori's part and cost her one hairpin in the process. Minuet was quickly collected by Emma in the middle of the rug. And Snowdrop cautiously emerged from behind the writing table of his own accord.
Once everyone stopped looking at Biscuit, the little buff colored kitten came down from the curtain of her own accord.
Miss Roseberry gathered up all four kittens with the efficiency of long practice, accepted Hannah's hand, and steered the child back toward the door. "Thank you, Miss Corinna," she said at the threshold, with a feeling that went considerably beyond the words.
"Of course," Cori replied.
The door closed and the sitting room was quiet for a moment.
"Well," said Lady Upwell.
"Indeed," agreed the duchess.
Then Cait laughed, and Cara laughed, and Emma pressed her hand over her mouth and laughed, and Mrs. Fairleigh laughed the real laugh, warm and unguarded, and the whole room laughed together with the relief of having survived something absolutely absurd.
Cori laughed too.
When the laughter settled Mrs. Fairleigh looked at Cori across the room. Not the warm general attention she had been giving everyone. The other thing. The quiet considered look that Cori had been feeling since they’d met but still could not completely read.
Then Mrs. Fairleigh turned to Cait and asked about the salt pans on the Turks and what they looked like at dawn, and the afternoon moved on as though the look had not happened at all.
Cori turned back to the window.
The moors were still there, grey and vast and patient. Two days until the wedding. A fortnight until guests would begin to leave and she would have to decide something.
Or perhaps he might decide something.
The thought arrived quietly and without warning, and wouldn’t be put away.
She’d been so occupied with her own feelings that she hadn’t stopped to think about what his silence on the walk might mean.
He’d grown quiet after they solved the drainage issue.
He’d said she was very good at solving problems. And he’d stood beside her at the end and let her look out at the moors.
But he hadn’t said anything that mattered.
What if he had already decided something about her?
What if the answer was that he had no interest in her?
The fire crackled behind her in the hearth. The other women talked around her. Mrs. Fairleigh's voice was warm in the room, asking about life in Bermuda, listening to the answers with the focused attention she brought to everything.
Cori kept her focus on the moors in the distance.