“At least, my dear, at least. While London may be the crown jewel of high society, Glasgow has quite a vibrant atmosphere itself. Not to mention, that I am patron to at least a dozen charities and societies that require my attendance, particularly because I was unable to do so last year with my illness.”
Faith began to chew the inside of her cheek.
“But the London season will be over by then.”
“A fine time to go, in my opinion,” Aunt Belle said, standing up. Andrews took a step forward, but she waved him off. “That way the crowds have all gone and one might enjoy the city quietly. Unless there was some specific person you wished to see, my dear?”
Faith shook her head.
“No, not particularly—”
“Good. Then we will leave the first of August,” Aunt Belle said. “As for now, I will retire. I’m afraid I’ve stayed up far too late. Good night, all.”
A murmur of good nights followed Aunt Belle as she left, leaving Faith and the others in tense silence. Once Aunt Belle was well and gone, Hope took several steps toward Faith.
“I do not know what brought this desire to move to London, but it’s not the greatest of timing.”
“Why not?”
Though Hope didn’t speak, she gave Grace a peculiar glance, which made Faith somewhat uneasy. She was about to ask what was going on when Grace spoke.
“Because we are throwing Aunt Belle a surprise birthday party.”
“We are?” Graham asked.
“You are?” Faith asked.
Hope appeared frozen, as if the information was new to her as well before she began nodding her head enthusiastically.
“Yes, of course,” she said, though it didn’t sound convincing. “Aunt Belle will be seventy-six this year, and that is a milestone.”
“Is it?” Graham asked, frowning.
“Of course,” Hope said quickly, giving her husband an unusual look. “And it’s just a little shocking that you would want to leave in the middle of that.”
“Well, I didn’t know there was going to be a party. Had you told me about it, I might have waited until afterwards. Besides, Aunt Belle said we shan’t leave until August.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Grace said to Hope. She moved away from the bookshelf and reached for Faith’s hand as they sat on the sofa. “I guess we just assumed you would be here to help.”
“Well, I will be, won’t I?” Faith said.
“What I mean to say is, we’re just surprised, that’s all. You’ve not mentioned London in such a long time, and I guess Hope and I assumed that you no longer wanted to return.”
That was true. Though Faith had once been desperate to return to London, her desire had waned since coming to live in Scotland, and in more recent days, she hadn’t much thought about returning.
She began fretting about what it would be like to run into Logan again.
Faith tried not to display her turmoil, but she was sure her anxiety was painted all over her face. She tried to push it away. She simply needed to avoid him for the next several weeks, and she would be able to, hopefully, leave this country and never see him again.
“It matters little,” Faith said, trying to focus on something, anything that would distract her from Logan. She turned her head to see Hope and sighed. “So, tell me. What is to be involved in this birthday celebration?”
Hope looked slightly panicked and gave Grace another pleading look. Grace cleared her throat, drawing Faith’s attention once more.
“Well, we were just about to send out invitations. Tomorrow,” she added hastily, her eyes flickering to Hope again. “Which is why we all must go to Glencoe tomorrow. You will come, of course. We’ve several things to settle. Flowers, food stores, decorations, and fireworks.”
“Fireworks?” Graham repeated.
“Of course. Seventy-six is a very important birthday.”
