Chapter Twenty-Five
Violet reached for the kettle on the stove in her kitchen and poured the steaming water into two cups sitting on the counter to let the tea steep. She returned the pot to the stove before turning to face her friend. Arianna sat on a stool with a concerned look on her face.
“Well…” she began, leaning forward placing both forearms on the edge of the counter. “Tell me everything that’s happened since we returned from Bracknell that I’ve missed.”
Violet reached for her cup. “Let’s go into the parlor where we can be more comfortable,” she said, leading the way toward the front of her home.
It was a small house but suited her needs since she wasn’t sharing it with anyone other than herself.
She didn’t have staff because that would be a waste of her hard-earned money.
Besides… why did she need someone to take care of a place that she couldn’t manage for herself?
She was barely there, spending more time at the apothecary and even then sometimes she used the single bed in the back room to sleep.
When she had moved into the place on the edge of town, people had turned a blind eye to such behavior, since she did them a service that not many were qualified to perform.
If it weren’t for her apothecary and skills, the town folk would need to travel for miles to find a willing physician or surgeon to see to their day-to-day medical needs.
Most of them considered her a spinster anyway at the ripe old age of seven and twenty.
They didn’t care if she flouted convention by not living with her parents.
But as she went to sit down with Arianna on one of the two chairs that she considered only moderately comfortable, she began to realize that this place she called her home lacked the warmth of the house she grew up in.
There were no special touches to the place like her mother had to brighten up the room.
No flowery curtains to cover the windows but starched white linen that was serviceable.
The only bright bit of color in the room was the small bouquet of flowers sitting on the fireplace mantel and even those were in a vase that was far from pretty.
That was it… the house had the bare minimum to only be functional—for obvious reasons since she was rarely there—and for the first time she realized it was missing any of the special touches she should have made to make this place an actual home.
“Captain Tyler is still here,” Arianna declared, taking a sip of her tea and bringing Violet out of her sudden downcast mood.
“Obviously,” Violet grumbled.
“He’s been persistent in trying to win you over.”
“And has everyone talking about how I should give him a second chance and accept his proposal of marriage,” she replied, leaning her head back on her chair to stare up at the ceiling.
“Honestly, the man has been relentless and I’m not sure how or why everyone is suddenly so worried I’ll be a spinster for the rest of my life if I don’t accept his offer. Why do they care if I marry or not?”
“Probably because you’re far more qualified in what you do at the apothecary than your brother, who spends more time at the mercantile. You’ll be a huge loss to the town if you up and marry then go to live in London,” Arianna said, speaking as the voice of reason.
“There are no grounds to even begin to think that I’ll be moving away in my near future,” Violet murmured, beginning to wonder how she might ever leave Bracknell.
“Has he proposed?” Arianna inquired softly, as her eyes sparkled in apparent delight at the prospect.
Violet raised her head to stare at her friend. “Not in so many words, but if he did, don’t you think you’d be the first person to know, Ari?”
Her friend shrugged. “Perhaps. But you seem to be hiding away a lot of late and spending more time than usual at the apothecary or here at your house.”
“I am just seeing to the town’s needs with my herbs and medicines.”
“If you say so, but I know you better than that,” her friend declared, setting her cup down on a nearby table. “The fact that you’re sitting here at home on a perfectly lovely Sunday afternoon instead of being at your parents’ or your brother’s tells me much.”
“I was at Owen’s earlier for luncheon,” she grumbled thinking back to how Gideon had wooed Clarissa over almost from their first meeting. She had doted on the man as if they had indeed been related by marriage for their entire lives.
“And you usually stay there far into the evening. What happened to change that normal routine?” Arianna asked.
“Gideon was there and I was… uncomfortable with him constantly winning praises from Clarissa and even my own mother. Besides, I told my parents I’d meet them for dinner at the Raven tonight after they insisted I join them.”
“Why don’t you just admit that you care for the man, Violet?
” Arianna began, but held up her hand before Violet could begin to protest. “And before you start spouting on about how he wounded your pride and hurt your feelings in London, I’m certain he has more than made up for that in the past two weeks of being here. ”
Why, indeed? she thought to herself knowing she wouldn’t be able to keep up her ruse of rejecting him for much longer.
Every encounter with him only managed to widen the crack of ice in her heart she refused to allow to completely melt.
Violet felt like there was only a thin layer at this point that Gideon hadn’t managed to evaporate.
It was only a matter of time before she at last gave up the remaining anger she had been holding inside and she had to admit to herself that her resolve to soften toward him had already begun, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
“Violet…”
She raised her eyes to her friend who had been as close to her as a sister since they were children and managed to make a small smile after taking another sip of her tea.
“Fine,” she declared with a huff, “I’ll admit it to you if only to satisfy your curiosity.
I do care for Gideon and he has more than proved his sincerity by righting the wrong he did in London. ”
“Finally! Progress, and it’s long overdue that you confess your feelings for the good captain. Now, when will you tell him?” Arianna asked, with an all-too-satisfied smirk on her lips.
Violet finished her tea. “I suppose when the opportunity presents itself, although I still feel like he should be groveling at my feet for a bit more.”
Arianna laughed. “Good heavens, Violet! If he grovels any more than what I’ve heard about from the townsfolk, you’ll have some dandy following you around like an adoring puppy instead of a man who is equal to you.”
The image of Gideon acting like some doting fool had her laughing with her friend. “Yes… I suppose you’re right. Never could stand a man who didn’t have a spine. Which reminds me… I want to check on the apothecary just to make sure everything is all right.”
Arianna frowned. “Did something happen?”
“It may be nothing and perhaps I forgot, but last week the back door was ajar. Since I rarely leave that way, I found it odd but dismissed it thinking maybe Owen had come in through the back, or left, and didn’t close it all the way.”
Arianna shook her head. “Highly unlikely but I’ll walk with you just so you’re not going alone.”
“I’ll appreciate the company. I did have a few things I needed to finish for a customer who was stopping by early in the morning. Now is a good a time as any to complete the order so I don’t have to get up extra early.”
The two women left Violet’s house and began walking the short distance into town. They turned onto High Street and walked along the wooden boardwalk but when they reached the apothecary and Violet touched the door to place the key in the lock, it clicked open. The two women frowned at one another.
“Perhaps we should get your brother and not go in. What if someone is inside, robbing the place?” Arianna warned, clutching Violet’s arm.
“Go fetch him,” Violet replied. She stood and watched as her friend ran down the walkway and out of sight. She peered into the front window but couldn’t see anyone inside. Footsteps caused her to turn around and she gasped in surprise to see it wasn’t Owen but Gideon, smiling.
“Happy to see me?” he said cheerfully but his expression quickly changed when he most likely saw how worried she was. “Violet… what’s wrong?”
She pointed to the door. “I think someone broke in.”
Gideon gently pushed her aside. “Stay here.” He disappeared inside.
She waited impatiently until Gideon finally returned. “There’s no one here. Come inside and see if anything has been stolen.”
Violet entered feeling as though her space had been violated.
The fact that someone had entered her business by jimmying the lock had her concerned for her safety in the future.
How would she feel safe here if someone could enter her place at any time?
Worse, why was this happening all of a sudden?
Nothing seemed to be out of place or taken so she couldn’t understand what the intruder’s purpose had been.
She went to stare out the main window to the empty street. Gideon came and took her hand, raising it to his lips. Staring up at him, she had never felt safer knowing he was here with her and perhaps now was the perfect time to tell him how she truly felt.
“Gideon—”
“Look out!” Before she knew what was happening, he grabbed her and pushed her to the floor. She struggled to escape his grasp, but then there was the sound of shattering glass; shards flew into the building and there was a final a thud as a brick landed on the floor just beside Violet’s head.
When they sat up, he rested his hand on her cheek. “Are you injured?”
“No. I’m fine, I think. You?” she asked quietly though her hands shook when he took them in his own.
“I’m fine as well,” he answered, helping her to rise to her feet. “Stay here.”
With that, he ran outside to see who the culprit might have been but after a few moments he returned. “I didn’t see anyone on the street. It was empty.”
“No one?” Violet asked through suddenly chattering teeth. She was shaking too hard to make them stop.
“Angel.” Gideon took her arm to escort her to a chair. The bell on the door rang out a few seconds later as Owen and Arianna entered.
“What the bloody hell happened?” Owen bellowed as Violet burst into tears.
Arianna went to comfort her as Gideon began to tell her brother of the incident.
Owen cursed and the two men began to clean up the glass.
After seeing that Violet hadn’t been harmed in the accident, Owen said he would return with wood to board up the broken window until they could have another pane commissioned.
It was only when Violet went to the counter to open a cabinet where she kept her reticule that she noted a folded piece of paper. The words I’m watching you swam before her eyes, causing her head to spin and her knees buckling. The last thing she remembered was crying out for Gideon.