‘Thank you, Mary. Please secure a room in Sandham for Miss Linnaman, as I fear no matter how quickly we get to the reason for her visit, it will not be quick enough to have her back on the road today. And unless my wife voices any objections, her family are to be settled into Reeves’ cottage, while her things are to be returned to her ownbloodyroom. The guest room will remain available to Mr Smith should he require it. Hypatia?’
His wife fully met his gaze then, tumultuous, and confused, but grateful.
‘As his lordship says. Please, Mary. We shall have tea, and see…where we go from there.’
‘Yes, my lady. If required, we have dinner and breakfast enough for the lot of them.’
‘Thank you.’
With that, Thorn took his wife’s hand, and led her upstairs, and to his room, and then, he just held her, for as long a time as he could, before Mary knocked on the door to move her things, and then he let her go.
All the while, whilst he was changing, and splashing cold water on his face, and trying to rein in his anger and frustration, all he could think was:this is merely an obstacle like any other.
We can get through it; together.
Chapter Twenty-One
‘Such a lovely garden,’ Helen said tentatively, as though she might be struck by a thunderbolt—or indeed, one of their other guests—for daring to disrupt the suffocating and tense silence which had carried out here from the receiving room. Hypatia was grateful to her however, for daring to initiate small talk which would tide them through until they could discover precisely the reason for all these unexpected guests.
Beyond that gratitude, Hypatia wasn’t entirely sure how she felt. Utterly disbelieving of these coincidental arrivals, knowing they were nothing but that, yet still wondering if she had injured some sprite of luck in the past, and he’d thus sought to reward her with ill-timed arrivals of hers and Thorn’s past lives. Disoriented, shocked, lost; all and yet none seemed to cover the wide array of emotions brewing and knotting together inside, made worse from the calming, restorative, and extraordinary day she’d spent with Thorn at the seaside. From all their days with few exceptions since they’d begun their new life here, really. From him standing up to them all just now, by rearranging potential sleeping arrangements, and taking her hand, and…
Everything.
In terms of her own family, the greatest emotion waswary. They wouldn’t have come without a reason—which could be said of anyone, really, but which in this case meant they wantedsomething from her, and she doubted it was money, and she had truly nothing left to give them, or so she felt. She was entirely Hypatia now, not Patty, and so there was a measure of gratitude in her heart for at least that certainty, that strength.
As regarded Malek, Thorn’s old apprentice, she was actually somewhat excited; he seemed a nice fellow, had kind eyes, and Thorn had spoken so highly of him, whatever he wanted, she felt it would enrich all of their lives somehow.
Finally, as regarded Helen, Thorn’s former love, well, perhaps that was the most complex of all. Some part of her wanted to be angry, to throw her bodily from this house for her sheer presumption; especially since she was an exceptionally beautiful woman, fineness and grace woven into every perfect line, thick, ruly brown hair, and rather sweet smile. Yet another part of Hypatia was immensely curious. To know if she was here for the obvious reason—to try and win Thorn back, as she’d heard no rejection of her maiden name, but then again that meant nothing at all—or something else. She was curious whether Thorn would be amenable—she tried to see how he felt now, but couldn’t spy anything beyond upset. They’d spoken of her, and he seemed to have moved past it, but Hypatia knew close to a decade of love was not so easily swept away, even with betrayal and a new life. She and Thorn might get along mightily in many respects; however, love was not part of their agreement, of their marriage—unless it was solely defined by respect, like, mutual appreciation, kindness, tenderness, sweetness, joy, and so on—and even from the first, she’d accepted that someday, he might leave her to find such wonder elsewhere.
Though I find now, I had begun to dream of more time together. Not solely as partners, but as husband and wife.
So yes,complex.
‘Thank you, Miss Linnaman,’ Hypatia said graciously, patently refusing to look at anyone but her, and be as polite andkind as she could. ‘It still needs much work, but we are pleased with what we’ve achieved, and we have everything we need.’
Hypatia recognised theharumphshe heard as her mother’s but ignored it, and thankfully so did Helen.
‘Yes, what a delightful vegetable patch you have, and such herbs and wildflowers as I’ve never seen. I expect this was once an exceptional apothecary garden.’
‘We suspect so, given the history of the house—’
‘Ah!’ Epi cried, leaping from her seat, as they all turned to hear in alarm.
A snort and a bleat quickly followed, and while Epi gained some distance from the table in fear and disgust—her mother rising to comfort and protect her dramatically—the rest of them leaned over to spy what had caused such alarm, and found Truffél and Lamb. Which might’ve been an adorable visit, had the two not been far from babes anymore; Truffél weighing about three and a half stone now, and Lamb being the size of a small sheepdog.
‘Truffél, Lamb, come here,’ Hypatia ordered, rising, and working hard not to be amused. ‘Don’t fret, Epi, they are well trained. Go find Danny,’ she told them, which they seemed to ponder for a moment, before deciding to obey—though not without greeting their master first.
Hypatia glanced at Thorn, who appeared to also be working hard not to be amused.
‘You heard your lady,’ he told them after a pat, and taste of his cake. ‘Out.’
With another bleat and snort, they were off, trotting through the garden to do as told.
‘That’s quite impressive,’ Helen offered with an unsure smile. ‘They are very…sweet.’
‘This is a madhouse, Hypatia!’ her mother shouted, still shielding Epi as if Truffél and Lamb were about to return at anymoment, and devour them whole. ‘An absolute disgrace! How can you even think to receive guests in such conditions?’
‘I wasn’t thinking to receive any.’
