“It’s impolite to do arithmetic when babies are involved, Michael Wayland.”
He merely laughed in answer, and stepped forward.
“You’re joining us?”
“I have as much reason to avoid the shrew as you, more even. Besides, John deserves a scolding for the arithmetic I’m pointedly not doing.”
Kate led the charge down the walk, seemingly convinced of Michael’s determination to join us. She maintained a brisk pace until we turned out of view of the house. Where her walk slowed to a more sedate stroll.
The day was warm and pleasant. With a brief, surreptitious glance about, I untied the ribbons of my bonnet, letting it sway back and forth with my arm as we walked.
Kate considered Michael thoughtfully as we meandered. “You visit the tenants frequently, don’t you?”
“It depends on what you consider frequent. Less often than I ought, I suppose. Also, the Dolls aren’t tenants.”
He scratched the back of his neck in a gesture that was rather… sweet. His discomfort with the praise implicit in Kate’s statement made me smile, if only to myself.
“More often than Hugh. Or Agatha. And the way I’ve heard it mentioned, you’ve cared for everyone at one time or another, tenant or not.”
“Well, Agatha’s neglect is a blessing to the entire county,” he said.
“And my husband’s?”
“He’s young.”
“So were you. You are still spoken of very highly. By everyone,” Kate said.
“I’m a charming fellow.”
“Something like that…”
“You’re not going to say anything? To Hugh, I mean. I don’t fancy the quarrel that will result if he finds out,” Michael worried.
“I won’t say anything. But you should.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because he needs to hear it,” she said.
“Kate… I adore you. But Hugh and I are never going to have the relationship you seem to want for us.”
His assertion saddened me. I wanted that for him as much as Kate. The easy friendship between the two of them was nice to see, though. The way Agatha treated him—treated them both… I was glad they had each other for support.
It was what I imagined having a sibling to be like. It made sense, Kate was the closest thing I had to a sister, and she was very, very good at it. Of course, she would be so for Michael as well.
I trailed along, content to observe their jovial, false bickering. If it offered me the opportunity to appreciate Michael in motion, well, there was no one to scold me for it.
He moved with a graceful confidence I had never appreciated before. Spinning, he walked backward to continue to snipe teasingly at Kate. Turning back, he would walk forward for a few steps before rounding once more. He flipped his hair out of his eyes continuously, not bothering to tuck it but just flinging his head instead. It was a boyish gesture and quite charming.
Michael had taken the basket from Kate’s hands without comment early on our journey, swinging it at his side.
“If you ruin anything in that basket, Michael Wayland, I will…”
“You’ll what?”
“Barr you from the library.”
“Katherine, my dearest sister, if you think you know every way to sneak in and out of that library, you’re very, very mistaken. Some of us have been avoiding Agatha for decades. And, the servants may adore you, but they owe me money.”
