Astin pushed the tray closer to Lyndal. ‘Don’t get too excited. Same thing happened last year, but no fruit came of it.’
‘What a pillar of positivity you are,’ Lyndal said as she returned to her seat.
Astin dragged her chair closer, a hand going to her belly. ‘Next time let me deal with the animals. You’re supposed to be resting.’
‘How long until the birth now?’ Lady Victoria said, smiling at the couple. ‘You must be getting close to lying in.’
‘Only noblewomen lie-in,’ Lyndal said.
Astin glanced in Lady Victoria’s direction. ‘Lyndal will get plenty of rest on my watch, I assure you.’
‘I have another month to go,’ Lyndal said, her voice cheerful. ‘And I feel great.’
Harlan walked into the room, collecting his crying daughter from Blake’s lap before taking his seat.
‘Uncle wanted Garlic locked outside,’ Blake explained.
Harlan handed his daughter a piece of carrot to chew on. ‘I’ve been wanting that for the previous three years.’
‘Luella reminds me so much of Eda as a baby,’ Candace said. ‘Always too busy to sit still for even a moment.’
Lyndal took the tray of pork from her cousin. ‘Eda as ababy? Sounds very much like Eda now.’
‘I heard that,’ Eda said, walking into the room ahead of her glaring uncle.
Leigh rose, fingertips resting on the edge of the table as he waited for her to reach her chair. Everyone stopped eating. Apparently no one wanted to miss Eda and Leigh’s first exchange of words.
Candace’s face fell when she caught sight of her daughter. ‘Really, Eda. Perhaps you should go and change before joining us.’
Roul looked down at Eda’s mud-soaked hem, and then his eyes travelled up her body to her freshly scrubbed face. She did not need any of the coloured pastes and tea leaf concoctions that many used. She had natural colour in her cheeks from time spent outdoors, and those eyes of hers were as bright as emeralds, eradicating the need for fancy jewels. Her dark hair was half pulled back and damp from the rain.
‘No need,’ Eda told her mother. ‘I just had a wash out back.’
Lyndal narrowed her eyes at her. ‘Ah, which part did you wash?’
‘Hands and face. The important parts,’ Blake answered for her. ‘Leave her alone.’
Eda signed something at Lyndal that made Blake laugh and Candace shake her head. She spoke verbally nowadays, but Roul noticed that she slipped back into signing on three occasions: when she did not want others knowing what she was saying, whenever her uncle was visiting, and when she was afraid. One would think she had no fears judging by the way she charged through life, but everyone was afraid of something.
‘You remember Leigh Appleton?’ Candace said, gesturing to the standing man. ‘He took over his father’s business in the merchant borough.’
Eda stopped behind her chair and bowed her head. ‘Of course. I was very sorry to hear about your wife. It must’ve been devastating to lose her at such a young age.’
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘It was certainly tough.’
Everyone looked at their plates then.
‘You must forgive my niece,’ Thomas said. ‘She speaks without thinking.’
‘Not at all,’ Leigh said, waiting for Eda to take her seat ahead of him. ‘I appreciate the kind words.’
Roul had nothing against the man—so far. He reached up and pulled a piece of grass from Eda’s hair as she took her seat.
‘Thank you,’ she mouthed as he threw the grass under the table.
He winked at her.
‘I have some old dresses put aside if you are in need of some,’ Kendra said once Eda was settled in her chair. ‘I had planned to drop them at the almshouse, but you are more than welcome to them, cousin.’
