Chapter Seven
‘Did you sleep at all last night?’ Darius demanded when he came downstairs and found the back door open and his sister outside. Marianne was sitting on the low wall that separated the house from the road to the farm, gazing at the view she had become very fond of during the short time they had lived here.
‘Yes,’ she said and carried on watching the sky lighten and listening to the chorus of birdsong because her brother had a gift for being silent and worming more out of her than she wanted to say. Even the birds seemed to pause as if waiting to hear more and that was nonsense, but far more effective than an open demand for information. ‘My patient was very well behaved and slept for most of the night. He awoke about two and seemed perfectly rational, so we should not need to ask the sawbones to come back unless Lord Stratford becomes agitated and irrational. I am quite sure His Lordship is far too strong-willed to indulge in such weakness.’
‘You still do not like him, then?’
Marianne paused to think about that question before she answered, ‘He is well enough, I suppose. He must be very strong to withstand the ride he put himself through on his way here searching for Juno and he certainly has a stubborn nature to go with his physical prowess. No doubt he will want to put the discomforts of Owlet Manor behind him as soon as he can endure the journey to town or his nearest mansion to recover in style, so it does not really matter what I think.’
‘I take it that is a “no”, then?’
‘I am trying to be neutral and fair-minded, if only you will let me. Maybe we did get off to a bad start, but he is a brave and determined man, even if he is stubborn as a donkey and will be a very difficult patient as soon as he begins to feel better. And given who we are and who he is, I am never likely to be better acquainted with him than I am now, so it hardly matters if I like him or not,’ she said defensively.
Her brother did not need to know about the odd skip and thunder in her heartbeat when she had first set eyes on the bearlike and piratical-looking man standing on Miss Donne’s doorstep. Nor the odd feeling she had when he had woken up in the night that they understood one another a little bit too well. She did not even want to think about her panic and bitter regret when she had run into the yard yesterday and it had looked as if Lord Stratford was seriously injured and might even die. A cold sense of dread had shivered through her when she had seen him lying unconscious at the base of that wall, but that was her secret and her worst fears were unfounded. Darius was not getting that out of her if he stayed silent and listening for the rest of the day. ‘The kettle must have boiled by now. I will go and make tea,’ she said to put paid to more uncomfortable questions.
‘No, stay there and let me do something for you just this once,’ Darius said, then left her brooding on the waking landscape and all the changes about to reorder her life, yet again.
They were too big to consider until she felt less tired, so she just sat in the strengthening sun and let it warm and soothe her before the power of it was too much to endure bareheaded. Now it felt reviving and reassuring and she allowed herself the luxury of revelling in the peace and quiet for a few precious minutes.
‘Here you are,’ Darius said softly and slipped the handle of one of the kitchen mugs into her hand, then went back inside to drink his own tea, as if he knew she wanted to be quiet and not think about anything much for a few moments at the beginning of another busy day.
He probably wanted to do the same himself, but his thoughts would be of Fliss and the new life they were about to begin together in this lovely old house. If anyone deserved a peaceful life and a happy marriage, it was Darius. Fliss needed a proper home as well, so this place would be perfect for her, and Marianne only envied them because she remembered how it felt to love someone as surely and completely as they loved one another now they had finally admitted it.
If only Daniel was here to share this lovely summer morning with her; if only he had lived to find such a peaceful home with her after the war was over, even if theirs would have been far more humble than Owlet Manor. He would have come with her to help Darius sort this lovely old place and its rundown farms out first and she knew Darius missed Daniel’s energy and optimism as well. It would have been such fun with Daniel here to laugh with, she thought as tears blurred her eyes.
She shook her head and refused to live in Might Have Been Land because it was such a dangerous place to be that you could forget it was not real if you were not careful. She needed to get up and do whatever came next instead of sitting about regretting a future denied her by Daniel’s death. The sneaky idea that she now had to regret the one she could never have with a nobleman like Alaric, Lord Stratford, as well crept into her head and made her frown. She only met him this time yesterday; that idea was not only sneaky, it was downright impossible.
Darius surprised her by coming back outside and sitting next to her with a very serious expression, as if he had tried to leave her in peace but whatever he had to say was too urgent
