Nathanial’s jaw dropped and his eyes snapped back a few words. “Until the next Season? The woman is mad.” And yet, he could not wait to read on.
They bid me tell you that you’re most welcome to join us here at Markham Hall. Daphne and Susan send their regards as well and want to know if you have any experience catching a frog. I think they’re up to something. We shall see.
Now, go and do as I say. I miss you terribly. Not even going barefoot manages to distract me for long.
Please come.
Your friend,
Charlaine
Sinking back into the armchair he had vacated rather abruptly, Nathanial stared at the letter in his hands. Indeed, the woman was mad, but he could not deny that he loved her for it. With no more than a few words, she had managed to chase away the clouds that had been hanging over his head for the past sennight. For the truth was, he wanted to go.
The warmth in her words had stirred his heart. It felt wonderful to be missed, to have his presence welcomed. He longed to see her again and leave behind this loneliness.
The same loneliness that would have awaited him in Boston.
Nathanial knew duty required him to leave for America immediately. His heart, however, urged him into a different direction, and for the first time in his life, Nathanial chose to follow it without question.
Rushing from the library, he called for Gusford and instructed the man to cancel his journey and ready the carriage as Charlaine had demanded he do. Then he quickly put quill to parchment and wrote down a few quick instructions to Mr. Johnson, informing the man that he would extend his stay in England and to contact him should any problems arise in the company.
Not even an hour after Charlaine’s letter had arrived, Nathanial was off.
As the day was already coming to an end, he spent one night at an inn on the road and then reached Markham Hall in the late afternoon the following day. The moment the horses pulled to a halt outside the front entrance, Nathanial jumped from the carriage.
In truth, he did not quite feel like himself. But there seemed to be nothing he could do about it.
“Nathanial!”
Looking up, he found Charlaine rushing down the right of the two curved stairways leading down to the drive. Her eyes were glowing with joy and her black hair billowed behind her as her feet carried her into his arms.
With her enthusiasm, she knocked the air from his lungs and he all but rocked back on his heels, fighting to remain upright, his arms closing around her. “You act as though we haven’t seen each other in a year,” he laughed, returning her embrace without his usual concerns for propriety.
Stepping back, she looked up at him. “Answer me this then, how long after you received my letter did you set off?”
Nathanial chuckled. “You know me too well. I’m not certain I like it.”
“Oh, but you love it,” Charlaine insisted. “You simply don’t know it yet.”
“Well, I must say—”
“He’s here! He’s here!” Daphne called over her shoulder to Susan as the two girls came running up the lawn toward them. Her brown hair looked like a bird’s nest pulled apart by a predator, her curls wild and sticking out in all directions. Susan’s looked no better.
Seeing them, Charlaine laughed. “Oh, my! Your mother will faint if she sees you like this.”
Nathanial could not deny that he was glad to see the two girls again, and the way they greeted him, as though they had missed him dearly, warmed his heart. Daphne flung herself at him not unlike Charlaine had only moments earlier. Once again, Nathanial rocked back on his heels, laughing. “I’m delighted to see you, as well,” he told them, shifting his gaze from Daphne’s brown eyes to Susan’s. “Indeed, it’s been too long.”
Both girls nodded eagerly. Indeed, at their young age, a sennight probably did feel like a small eternity. Nathanial could not say he disagreed.
“Charlaine said you’ll stay with us,” Daphne said as she looked up at him, her little hand holding on to his. “Is it true?”
Nathanial nodded. “If you’re willing to have me, I’m delighted to stay.”
“We are! We are!” the girls sang, their little heads bobbing up and down.
Ever since Markham’s engagement celebration when Nathanial had not only procured a necklace for each of them, but also for Daphne’s doll, Mary, the girls had adopted him into their little circle. He was now their confidante, their co-conspirator, and while Nathanial had initially been a bit worried about what role he had unwittingly taken up, he now cherished the open warmth and loyalty the girls bestowed upon him.
It reminded him of his own childhood with Zach…and later also with Abigail.
Life had been simple then.
And good.
“Will you come inside and have some tea and biscuits?” Daphne asked, exchanging a look with Susan that made Nathanial wonder what they were up to now.
Charlaine chuckled. “You know that Emma said no more biscuits before supper.” She looked from one girl to the other. “Nice try.”
The girls’ shoulders slumped. “Come,” Daphne said to Susan, “we’ll fetch Mary. She should be awake by now.” She glanced up at Nathanial. “She was sick and needed a lot of bed rest, but I think she’s starting to feel better.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Nathanial replied. “Do give her my best for a speedy recovery.”
Daphne nodded eagerly, a small smile once again tugging on her lips. “I will.” And with that, the girls once more raced off.
Nathanial stared after them, oddly entranced by the idyllic moment he had just experienced.
“They missed you,” Charlaine said beside him, and her hand came to rest gently upon his arm. “As did I.”
Nathanial turned to look at her, and he knew that somehow she understood what this moment meant to him. “I’ve missed you as well,” he whispered. “More than I thought I would.”
Feigned annoyance came to Charlaine’s face as she narrowed her eyes at him. “You are indeed a master at bestowing compliments, good sir. Can I assume it is an ability you hone daily through hours of practice?”
Nathanial chuckled. “Indeed, some days, it is all I do. I sit in a corner, thinking of nothing but what eloquent words to use in order to see a lady smile.”
“How unfortunate!” she moaned. “And here, I’d hoped to secure your assistance in a most urgent matter.”
Nathanial paused, wondering if she was jesting or if there was a hint of truthfulness in her tone. “What project?”
Charlaine sighed rather theatrically. “Oh, it is a most important one! Unlike any you’ve ever heard of.”
Nathanial grinned, crossing his arms as he looked at her. “Is that so? Do you care to elaborate?”
With a most serious expression upon her face, Charlaine cast a wary look around them as though fearing that someone might overhear. Then she stepped closer, her hand once more settling on his arm, before she pushed herself up onto her toes and whispered in his ear, “I have encountered a most terrifying enemy.”
Nathanial frowned, a hint of unease crawling up his spine. “An enemy? What do you mean?”
Her warm breath once more tickled his skin. “It is most unsettling.”
“It?”