“The waters. Have they helped your mother?”
“Oh!” A breezy laugh covered her slight embarrassment at having forgotten their conversation from seconds earlier. “Yes, as long as she visits the baths faithfully, they are helpful. The cooler climate in Yorkshire creates more difficulties for her, which makes bed rest necessary at times. Nevertheless, she insists on being present when Felicity gives birth, and the duke insisted Dr. Campion would provide superior care.”
Lord Blackwood nodded as if digesting the information. “Dr. Campion married Danby’s granddaughter not long ago. One of the triplets.”
“Lady Patience,” Meredith said before falling silent a moment to consider the implications. She hoped the duke hadn’t recommended Dr. Campion simply due to his tie to the family. “He is a good doctor, isn’t he?”
The earl smiled reassuringly. “Danby and I rarely agree on anything, but Dr. Campion has earned my admiration as well. He has been summoned to Blackwood Castle on more than one occasion to tend to various family members, and all has turned out well.”
Unfortunately, Lord Blackwood’s eldest brother seemed to be the exception, although there was a chance the former earl hadn’t been in Yorkshire at the time of his death. Meredith would like to know the details simply because he was her students’ father, but she couldn’t ask without possibly appearing insensitive and rude.
The noise from the room was growing louder. She nodded toward the doorway. “May I meet the girls?”
“Right this way, Miss Halliday.”
Lord Blackwood preceded her into the classroom, eliciting a few excited squeals. Three beautiful girls charged him, each vying for his attention. Smiling at Meredith, he passed her books to her before ruffling his niece’s sandy blond hair. He hiked the smallest girl into his arms, even though she was much too old to be treated like a child in leading strings, and placed a kiss to her temple.
Meredith’s heart fluttered. It was the most thoughtful and loving gesture—to recognize their hunger for affection and dole it out freely. Meredith had been close to the oldest girl’s age when her own father had fallen at a patient’s home and died suddenly. Many times, she had longed for the reassurance and security that only a father could provide. To know Lord Blackwood was so sensitive to his nieces’ emotional needs...
Law! She might be the tiniest bit smitten with him now.
“I have brought someone to meet you,” Lord Blackwood said to his nieces. “Please welcome Miss Halliday. She is your new governess.”
Rebecca, Emily, and Iris stayed close to their uncle, peering at her with equal measures of wariness and interest.
Meredith greeted each girl in turn, and they dutifully responded. At first, the three oldest girls seemed reserved, but it didn’t take long before Meredith was able to coax them into talking about their favorite subjects and touting their accomplishments.
“Let’s start our lessons with arithmetic,” Meredith said once she had their attention. “Please have a seat so we might begin.”
Her students proved to be eager and raced each other to the table. Iris was the winner, but Emily accidentally plowed into her and sent her sprawling onto the table. The youngest girls issued great belly laughs. Rebecca, however, quietly claimed a chair, folded her hands on her lap, and regarded Meredith with an expression that was too grave by half for a girl of twelve. It seemed Meredith was facing her first test as a teacher, and her reaction would set the tone for their time together.
She crossed to the table, chuckling, and assisted Iris to a chair while Emily found one for herself. “After our short lesson, I believe we should take exercise outside.”
She caught a glimpse of Lord Blackwood’s approving smile before focusing her attention solely on her students. When she set her books aside and retrieved slates for the girls, she expected the earl would leave, but he sat in the rocker close to the window to oversee her first lesson. She might have been nervous to have an observer if it were anyone else. To his credit, he remained unobtrusive and allowed her to perform her duties.
Each girl was given a different equation to solve designed to challenge them without causing too much frustration. Meredith was checking over their work with them when a waifish lady with golden blond hair entered the room. Her eyes narrowed a fraction when her gaze landed on Lord Blackwood sitting in the rocker, but she aimed a bright smile at Meredith and came forward to gather her hands in hers.
“Miss Halliday, I cannot tell you what an honor it is to have you at Blackwood Castle. The earl assures me that your credentials are exemplary and my daughters’ education is in the best of hands.”
As Meredith had suspected, the woman was Lady Blackwood, and her warm welcome added to the perfection of Meredith’s first day as the new governess at Blackwood Castle. Her classroom was beautiful and bright. Her students were divine. And her employers were everything she’d dreamed they might be.
She had never been one to boast, but she was rather eager to tell Felicity just how perfect she had it at Blackwood Castle.
