However, it was steady work with horses and riders and no audience.
Every night, she ate dinner at a table. She had a desk, paper, and time to write letters to Jonas. The bed was comfortable. Her clothes filled the drawers and pegs enough that they didn’t look empty. The other teachers were kind.
There were times she missed the exhilaration and excitement of the Heath, and she certainly missed the wide-open spaces, but here the sun would rise through the same window every morning and no one threatened to take it away.
Security was better than excitement, even if that meant this was now her home instead of a stopover on the way to something else. Bringing Rhiannon here would help.
She wrote to Jonas every day, making her weekly missive multiple pages long. Jonas’s letters, on the other hand, were far shorter and appeared to be written in a single sitting. He must be busier than she was.
She missed her brother and her horse, but both were due to arrive today. With Rhiannon she could show the girls what was really possible on the back of a horse, and then they’d all take more interest in their lessons.
Hopefully.
If not, at least Sophia could keep herself busy working with her horse.
She would suppress the niggling urge to show them she could stand on a running horse no matter how much she wanted them to drop their jaws and their attitudes.
Her student returned to the dormitory, and Sophia took the horse back to the small stable. The lack of horses meant that even though she gave several lessons a day, no girl rode more than once a week. That wasn’t enough to inspire a passion for the activity.
The horse’s hooves clomped on the dirt floor as she entered the stable, but neither of the two grooms made an appearance. “Patrick?” she called. “Robert?”
A man scurried out of the last stall to take the reins. “Apologies, Miss Fitzroy. We were admiring your horse.”
Sophia’s face broke into a smile as she hurried to the last stall, where her brother was settling Rhiannon into her new home. “Jonas!”
Glad the reunion was happening away from the serious regard of the schoolmistress and the students, Sophia threw herself into Jonas’s arms. “I’m so happy to see you.”
He hugged her tight, lifting her off the ground and tucking his face into her shoulder. “Me too, Soph.”
After lowering her to her feet, he stepped back and looked her over. “You look nice. Polished.”
She swatted his shoulder. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”
“Not bad. Different. Are you finished for the day?”
“Yes. Let me change out of this habit, then we’ll walk to the coffeehouse. The staff dining room isn’t very private.” She grimaced. “I’m sorry I can’t offer you a place to stay. The hotel above the—”
“I’m taken care of.” Jonas gave her a smile as he cut her off but avoided meeting her eyes.
“Oh.” An awkward silence passed between them for the first time she could remember. “I’ll just . . . meet you out front?”
He nodded. “I’ll be there.”
She changed quickly and hurried to the front of the school. They walked and talked as if the awkward moment had never occurred, as if it hadn’t been weeks since they’d seen each other, as if nothing had ever changed.
Jonas held her chair for her before easing into the seat across the table.
Sophia gasped. “You’re sitting!”
He nodded, a huge grin on his face. “All that rest did exactly what the doctor said it would. I won’t say riding a horse from Newmarket was comfortable, but it wasn’t as bad as I feared. I’ll take another long rest before I ride again, but sitting is doable.”
They ordered, and the silence fell between them again as they exchanged assessing stares.
Jonas spoke first. “Are you happy, Soph?”
“Yes,” she answered, without allowing herself to give it much thought. “I always wanted to teach. Your being here would make it better, but maybe someday . . .”
He glanced down at his hands and then back up. “You still think we should open a school together?”
“Isn’t that what you want?”
“I want it if you do. I can be happy anywhere, Sophia, unless you’re unhappy. Your letters . . . they haven’t sounded like you.”
She’d tried so hard not to let her melancholy moments fall onto the page.
“I don’t want to go back to wandering, Jonas. If settling means steady work and a home, then I’ll settle. I don’t know if I’m happy, but at least I’m not worried.” Maybe that would have to be enough. As she’d told Aaron the last time she’d seen him, not everyone was meant for grandeur. Jonas looked into his coffee cup for several moments. “If you had another option, would you take it?”
Sophia narrowed her eyes at her brother. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“I don’t know exactly. But I . . . sometimes I hear rumors, and there’s been talk of an opportunity that might be coming your way.” He took a swallow of coffee. “You know I moved into the rooms above the stable, but sometimes Lord Trent still invites me to dinner. It’s strange, but I go because it’s nice too. It reminds me of the parties Mother and Father would hold so the students could show off to each other.”
Sophia grinned. “Could you imagine if Father had seen us in the circus? Standing on a horse is not in the least refined.”
“But it is amazing.” Jonas reached across the table and took her hand. “I want you to be amazing, Soph.”
Part of her wanted that too. Would she ever be willing to risk reaching for it again? “This opportunity . . . it would be long-term?”
“From the sound of it, as long as you want it to be.”
A kernel of light broke through the shroud that had seemed to cover her life these past weeks. Jonas hadn’t mentioned Aaron, but was it possible he had something to do with this? She still thought about him all the time. She missed talking to him. She thought about Newmarket too. Not that she wanted to race again, but she did miss the energy of the place.
“I shouldn’t have mentioned it,” Jonas said, pulling her out of her reverie, “especially since it might not even happen.”
“No, I need to be prepared,” Sophia said, her heart pounding in her ears. “When do you return to Hawksworth?”
“On tomorrow’s mail coach. I’m needed to help with the horses during the third October Meeting.”
“Oh.” She’d secretly hoped he could stay longer, though it wasn’t practical. What would he do all day while she was working? Not to mention neither of them could afford an extended stay in a London hotel. “Where are you staying?”
“Mr. Whitworth gave me the key to his rooms.”
And just that quickly, Sophia was befuddled once again.
FOR THE FIRST time he could remember, Aaron was glad to see the end of the final race of the last October Meeting.
None of his horses raced again until spring. He had plenty of time to think about what his next steps should be.
Normally he visited London for the winter or wherever Oliver or Graham were, but Oliver was on his wedding trip and Graham and Kit were staying at Trenton Hall until he returned. Aaron had a feeling it was as much to keep an eye on him as it was that Kit didn’t feel up to traveling.