Chapter 8
W
“Anna has returned. I feel like any sentence that brings this much joy should be written again: Anna has returned.”
When we’d lived at the cottage before, my walks and visits to some of Lord Murphy’s tenant farmers had brought me in view of Tate Hall, with its massive columns and gray stone blocks, but I’d never been inside.
I’d never even been down the long lane leading to it.
Eight years ago, this house represented pain and suffering and a disinterest in helping those in need.
Now that I stood waiting in front of the oversized and intricately carved wooden door, I didn’t know what to think. I rubbed my hand down the green wool fabric of my coat.
When an efficient butler opened the door, I was ushered into the house and shown only slight curiosity on his part.
He led me through the large entry hall at a brisk pace, not giving me a chance to gawk at the pillars in each corner or the blond-colored marble on the floor.
He opened the door to a drawing room, and I immediately paused to take it in.
The room was almost as big as the whole of the first floor of the Prestons’ cottage, and instead of being rectangular or square, it was octagonal, with floor-to-ceiling windows on the opposite walls that perfectly framed the green lawn and flowering trees of the back gardens.
Pink velvet papers with delicate floral designs covered the rest of the walls.
Julia sat on an ornate cream-and-gold sofa in front of the middle two windows when she saw me enter, she stood to greet me with a smile. Before I reached her, the door opened again behind me, and David strode in.
He had a bundle of papers in his left hand, and he caught up to me with long strides. “Welcome to our home,” he said, taking my hand and placing a soft kiss at my knuckles. “It is a pleasure to have you here.”
His gallantry felt out of place, and I pushed down a blush. When he acted this way, the boy David seemed a distant memory, someone so different from this charismatic and well-dressed man welcoming me into the grandest estate in the county.
“Thank you for having me.”
He grinned at my words; anyone looking at him now would think becoming engaged to a woman he barely knew was a fortuitous happenstance. “I hope you’ve been well since we last saw one another.”
“I have. In fact, I visited with the Mortensens this morning.”
That made his smile grow even broader. “I trust that was pleasant.”
“It was very pleasant. They spoke highly of my new fiancé.”
“They tend to do that. Pay them no heed.”
“They spoke highly of me as well.”
“Ah.” He pulled me toward the windows and Julia. “Now, that you should listen to.”
“They said you thatched their roof.”
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t know how to thatch roofs then. I simply ran about giving supplies to the thatcher while he worked. But that is when I developed a passion for it.”
His movements were precise and decisive as he motioned for Julia and me to sit.
After we obeyed, he unceremoniously handed Julia a portion of the pages he’d brought with him.
“I’ve managed to gather several different papers and have brought in the advertisements.
” He handed me a stack equal in size to Julia’s.
“If we work together, we should be able to look through all of them and find some positions worth applying for.”
The papers he’d handed me were well organized, and some advertisements had been underlined already.
Apparently our time for reminiscing was over.
All the ones underlined were positions for women, and a few had a double line under them.
Those, I soon discovered, included room and board.
I glanced through a few of the pages and found two advertisements that were triple underlined.
“What do these three lines mean?” I asked him.
David glanced over at my paper. “Oh, those are within a half day’s carriage ride of Breckenridge.”
Why would it matter if I was near Breckenridge?
I’d spent the last eight years away. I would like to visit with the Mortensens and the Prestons, but once I entered the working class, I wouldn’t have many days free for such things.
I read the one I’d stopped on. It was a seamstress position in a town not far from here.
“A seamstress?” I nearly laughed. “Have you seen my stitches?”
David shook his head. “No, but it was nearby, so I wanted you to look at it, at least.” He glanced back down at his papers again, turning the page over on the one he had in his right hand.
I scanned some of the advertisements he hadn’t noted. One, I’d already written to a few days ago. I pointed to it. “What is wrong with this one?” I asked.
David leaned toward my paper, his shoulder touching mine, then he shook his head. “They want someone who can start right away. You don’t need to rush to leave Breckenridge.”
“I only have a week and a half. That seems fairly immediate.” I underlined the posting.
David lifted an eyebrow and looked at it again. “It is in London.”
“Many of the positions are.”
“Do you want to live in London?”
No. Even being there when we’d had the funds to live a life of ease in London, I hadn’t enjoyed it as much as I did the country. “I don’t think I have the luxury of being particular.”
“You should definitely be particular. This engagement should give you a few more weeks here in Breckenridge if you need it. No one will question us if I move into my friend James’s home while you and your mother stay here.
We can set a wedding date for a long way off, and you would be able to stay for months if necessary. ”
Beside me, Julia nodded. “Don’t settle for something if you know you won’t be happy doing it. David would become such a mope if he knew you were miserable.”
David scowled at his sister. “I try not to mope, as a general rule.” But then he tipped his head to one side. “However, in this case, you may be correct. I wouldn’t want my noble sacrifice to be in vain.”
I took a deep breath, the deepest I’d managed in years, it seemed.
To have over a month to decide my future with Mama, all while under the protection of an engagement to David, would be a respite I’d never counted on.
My eyes traveled around the beautiful drawing room.
Mama would be delighted to live here. But if we did, she would be even more heartbroken when I cried off from the engagement.
“It already is not in vain. Mr. Green is gone, isn’t he?
And although I appreciate the offer of allowing me to live here, I think we need to try to find a location for us as soon as possible. ”
David turned toward me and took the papers out of my hands.
“I agree, and I promise I will continue to use whatever resources I have to find such a place. But I hope you will also be able to enjoy your time back in Breckenridge. There are many people here who love you, many more tenants besides the Mortensens who continue to speak of you, and I think the best plan would be for us to look for a position for you but not dwell so much on how this engagement will be ending. Simply enjoy it. I’ve never been engaged before, and thus far, I think having a fiancée suits me. ”
“Simply enjoy our engagement?” What exactly did he mean by that?
“Yes.” His eyes were bright with the kind of light only a youth with his whole life ahead of him could muster.
I leaned toward him, not certain I was someone who could live my life that way. Not anymore. “Without any thought of how it will end?”
He took my free hand in his. “Yes.”
I shrugged, trying not to notice how right my hand felt in his. I had no idea what he meant by “enjoy our engagement,” but I trusted the man before me more than I’d trusted anyone in a long time. “As long as we are both looking for a long-term solution for me and Mama, I see no concern with that.”
“Wonderful.” David squeezed my hand. “Sometime this week, we shall pack some baskets and visit the Walkers and the Smiths. They have both asked after you over the years.”
Eight years later and those families still remembered me too? I’d spent enough time with the Mortensens to know they would, but I’d gone to these other homes only a couple of times. “They asked about me?”
David’s eyes found mine. “Of course they did. You were only here for a summer, but you left quite an impression on every life you touched.”
It was an exaggeration, of course. There were plenty of families I’d met at church or who had dined with us who wouldn’t even remember my name. But it was a sweet exaggeration.
We spent the rest of the afternoon circling and underlining possible listings, and in the end, I wrote to only three. David and Julia crossed off several I wouldn’t have because of location or the work being too dull.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Julia asked after we set down our work.
I shook my head. “I should return home and eat with Mama.”
David leaned forward to say something, but then he must have thought better of it and stood instead. “I’ll call for the carriage to be readied.”
I thought about resisting, but if I did, David would most likely offer to accompany me on my walk home, and he’d already spent the whole afternoon working on my tasks. He must have other duties he needed to attend to. So instead, I smiled up at him. “Thank you.”
Twenty minutes later, my arm was linked with David’s as he walked with me to the carriage.
“What should we do tomorrow?” he asked.
“Tomorrow?” My feet slowed in surprise. How many more nights would I be falling asleep with that word, spoken in his melodic tones, floating around me in my bedchamber? “Will we be spending every day together now that we are engaged?”
He turned his head toward me, his light-blue gaze dancing with mirth. “Do you have more pressing matters to attend to?”
“No, but I assume you do.”
“I will manage my work in the hours we aren’t together, or perhaps drag you along with me to some of it.”
“What kind of work would you need to drag me to?”
“The Walkers’ roof has been overgrown with some moss and lichen. I told them I would bring my thatching tools so we can clean it up. I know they would also like to see you.”
The Walkers were another family who lived on Lord Murphy’s land. I hadn’t visited them as often as the Mortensens, but we had grown close. “I would like to see them as well—no need to drag me.”
“Wonderful. As soon as we have a day of sunshine, I shall invite you to accompany me.”
We reached the carriage, and he held my elbow protectively as I climbed in and sat.
When I turned to thank him, the sun, now low in the sky, shone through the carriage windows, lighting his face, making his eyes match the color of the fading sky behind him.
My gratitude was caught on my lips, and before I knew it, he’d slowly closed the door and motioned for his driver to take me back to the cottage.