Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Gabriel had intended to spend the day in the village alone, a decision that had seemed sensible when he made it at breakfast and increasingly necessary as the morning progressed.
There were tenant disputes to settle, repairs to approve, and accounts to inspect, all of which he could have handled through correspondence if he had chosen to remain at the estate.
Yet remaining at the estate now felt like an entirely different kind of problem, one that involved Amelia Shirley moving through his corridors, distracting him.
He told himself this was the reason for his departure as he stepped toward the front hall, gloves in hand and patience already thinning.
The household was quieter than usual, which only made the thought of her presence more distracting than it should have been.
He had barely reached the door when he heard footsteps behind him, followed by three voices speaking at once. Gabriel turned to find David, Valerie, and Amelia approaching with the kind of determined energy that suggested he was about to be outnumbered.
David looked hopeful, Valerie composed but watchful, and Amelia entirely too certain of herself for someone who should have learned restraint by now.
“Your Grace, Mrs. Jacobs mentioned you were going into the village? We would like to accompany you,” Amelia announced before he could speak, folding her hands neatly as though the matter were already settled.
Gabriel stared at her for a moment, then at the children, before responding in a tone designed to end discussion.
“No,” he said simply, adjusting his gloves as though that single word should suffice.
Valerie stiffened at his refusal, though she said nothing while David shifted from foot to foot with visible disappointment.
Amelia, however, did not retreat as expected, instead stepping slightly closer with the calm persistence that had begun to irritate and intrigue him in equal measure.
“It would be good for Valerie,” she said quietly, tilting her head as though offering him a reasonable suggestion rather than a challenge, “and for David as well. Fresh air, people, normality.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes slightly, recognizing that she had chosen her words carefully.
“This is not a social excursion,” he replied, glancing toward the carriage outside, already anticipating complications he had not invited.
Amelia lowered her voice further, leaning just enough that only he could hear, “It will help with her debut anxiety.”
That, unfortunately, was a weak point she had learned to exploit with irritating accuracy.
Gabriel exhaled slowly through his nose, already regretting the direction of this conversation.
Valerie looked between them, clearly aware that her future was being used as leverage though she made no move to object.
David tugged lightly at Amelia’s sleeve as if silently supporting her argument, which Gabriel found even more concerning than the argument itself.
After a moment of silence, he gave a short, resigned gesture toward the carriage.
“Fine,” he said at last, though the word sounded more like surrender than agreement, “but this is unnecessary.”
Moments later, the journey began in uneasy silence, but Gabriel quickly found that silence was not what he had been granted. Amelia sat opposite him, composed yet noticeably more aware of him than she attempted to show, while Valerie and David occupied the seats beside her.
Gabriel kept his gaze fixed outside the window for as long as possible, though he was uncomfortably aware of every small movement Amelia made. When he finally glanced at her, he noticed the new dress, the one she had been given that he hadn’t intended to make a point of interest.
“You are wearing it,” he remarked without thinking, immediately wishing he had not spoken at all.
Amelia looked down briefly, smoothing the fabric as if suddenly conscious of it.
“Yes,” she replied, a faint warmth rising in her cheeks that she made no effort to hide quickly enough.
Gabriel returned his attention to the passing road, though the image of her flushed expression remained unhelpfully fixed in his mind.
He told himself firmly that it was irrelevant, a matter of cloth and presentation, nothing more.
And yet he found himself noticing it again whenever he looked up, which he did with increasing irritation.
“This is the mill pond where a boy fell in at the picnic, and the Vicar jumped in to save him,” Valerie said.
To his surprise, Valerie spoke more during the journey than she had in weeks, pointing out things along the roadside to Amelia.
“I am sure that was a sight to see.” Amelia smiled.
David, meanwhile, behaved with a discipline Gabriel had not seen from him since before his father’s death, sitting upright and listening attentively.
There was no shouting, no fidgeting, no defiance, only quiet engagement.
Gabriel observed it all carefully, his thoughts turning over the same conclusion with increasing certainty.
Amelia is responsible for this. Not discipline, not instruction, but something far less controllable. Her care and nurturing nature.
At one point, Amelia began speaking about her childhood, her tone light as she described growing up with sisters who, according to her, had each possessed entirely different versions of chaos.
David laughed at that, leaning forward as though the idea was fascinating.
“You had another home?” he asked suddenly, tilting his head. “That is odd. You must stay here forever now.”
Amelia blinked at him, clearly caught off guard by the simplicity of the statement from a six-year-old child.
Gabriel, however, felt a sharp awareness settle in his chest at the words. She began to answer carefully, hesitating as though weighing truth against practicality.
“Well, actually, I am only…” she started, her voice slightly softer than before.
Gabriel interrupted, shifting his posture just enough to cut across her sentence.
“We are almost at the village,” he said calmly, as though the timing alone justified the interruption. “You will see the market first.”
Amelia glanced at him, suspicion flickering briefly across her face, but she did not press the matter further. The carriage continued forward, wheels turning steadily as the village came into view ahead.
Gabriel told himself that changing the subject had been necessary, not instinctive, not avoidant.
Yet even as he considered this, he was aware that something about the idea of her leaving the estate had unsettled him more than he cared to admit.
And that, he decided firmly, was a problem for another time.
By the time the carriage wheels crunched to a halt at the edge of the village, Amelia already felt as though the day had been carefully set on a knife edge.
David pressed eagerly against the windows, pointing at everything with unrestrained delight while Valerie tried, with mixed success, to appear as though she was above such enthusiasm.
Gabriel’s voice cut through the chatter the moment the door was opened, calm but final as he stepped down first and glanced back at them.
“You are not rescuing any more animals,” he said, as if this were a rule that had been broken too many times already.
Amelia replied lightly, “We have only rescued one animal, Your Grace. Technically.” His look suggested he did not appreciate her interpretation of numbers.
He did not let them wander alone at first, which Amelia had half expected, but she was still surprised when he added that several servants would accompany them through the village.
Then, as if it were an afterthought, Gabriel stepped closer to her and lowered his voice. “And I will be watching,” he said quietly, his eyes fixed on hers, “even if you do not see me.”
The words sent an odd shiver down Amelia’s spine that she refused to acknowledge as anything other than irritation at his overbearing nature.
“That sounds unnecessarily dramatic,” she replied, though her voice came out softer than intended.
Gabriel only straightened, entirely unreadable again, as if he had not just unsettled her without even trying.
The village itself quickly swallowed them in noise, color, and the scent of warm bread from a nearby bakery.
Amelia found herself walking slightly ahead of David and Valerie. People greeted the children with easy familiarity, and Amelia soon realized they were recognized everywhere they went.
A shopkeeper smiled at David and asked, “Still carrying on with that dog of yours, young master?”
“He is perfectly well,” he said at once.
Valerie lingered slightly behind them at first, yet as the morning continued, even she began to relax, asking questions about the stalls and occasionally speaking to shopkeepers without hesitation about lace and ribbons.
David, to Amelia’s quiet satisfaction, behaved almost impeccably, only once attempting to climb onto a barrel before being gently redirected.
Amelia found herself laughing more than she expected, her earlier tension slowly dissolving in the rhythm of the village.
“You are enjoying yourself,” Valerie observed at one point, almost suspiciously, as if this were a flaw in Amelia’s character.
Amelia smiled without thinking and replied, “I suppose I am. This is a delightful village.” Her response seemed to surprise even herself.
By midday, the children had acquired far too many small purchases, most of which David declared essential and none of which Valerie admitted to liking aloud, though she clearly did.
Amelia carried a small parcel herself, insisting she could manage it despite protests from a passing servant. At one point, a woman even thanked her for calming David from being overexcited in the shop, and Amelia felt an unfamiliar warmth at the recognition.
She glanced down at David and thought absently that she had never felt so needed in her life.
It is as if I have a purpose now.
The thought startled her enough that she quickly pushed it aside.
When the time came to return to the carriage, the sun had shifted lower, and the village had grown quieter, as though it too was tiring. Amelia stepped ahead of the children, intending to climb in first and make sure everything was arranged properly.
The moment her foot crossed the threshold, there was a sharp crack beneath her, and the entire structure lurched with violent suddenness. Before she could even cry out, the door swung shut and something jammed from the outside, leaving her trapped in the carriage.
“Amelia!” David’s voice broke into panic outside, followed by loud sobbing as he shouted that she had disappeared.
Valerie’s voice cut through more sharply, trying to command order, but there was clear alarm beneath it. “It’s all right. It is only a stuck door.”
Amelia pressed her hands against the carriage door, calling out quickly, “David, I am here; I am fine; do not cry,” though her voice was slightly strained.
Amelia took a steady breath and tried to assess the situation, but the confined space made everything feel closer, louder, more urgent than it should have been.
Then the sound of heavy footsteps approached at speed, followed by a sharp command that silenced everything at once. “Get back.”
The carriage door was wrenched open with enough force to make her move back instinctively, and Gabriel stood there, breathless and sharply focused.
For a moment, no one spoke at all. Amelia found herself staring at him, still half-pressed against the carriage wall, aware suddenly of how close he was in the small space. His gaze moved over her quickly, assessing, before settling on her face as though confirming she was real and unharmed.
“You are not injured,” he said flatly, though the tightness in his jaw betrayed something closer to relief than he would admit.
“No,” Amelia replied softly, feeling absurdly conscious of how near they were and how the air seemed to hold its breath with them. The silence stretched just long enough to feel dangerous before it was shattered by David launching himself forward.
The boy burst past Gabriel without hesitation and threw himself into Amelia’s arms with a relieved sob, clinging to her as though she might vanish again if he let go.
“I thought you were hurt,” he cried, his words muffled against her dress, and Amelia wrapped her arms around him without hesitation.
“I am not hurt. See, I am right here,” she murmured, smoothing his hair while trying to ignore the fact that Gabriel was still standing so close.
Valerie appeared behind him, visibly shaken but trying to regain composure, though her eyes flicked between Amelia and her uncle with lingering concern.
Gabriel, however, did not move away at once, his gaze still fixed on Amelia with an expression she could not quite read, as if something had shifted and neither of them knew what to do with it.
What is the meaning of that look in those grey eyes?