She turned to face him, noting something she had never seen before. Just above the top of his beard line, where his cheekbones showed, a faint blush had appeared. Grace tilted her head.
“I thought you… Well, I always assumed…”
“What? That I didn’t care for my aunt or Glencoe?”
“No, of course not.”
“But that’s what you were thinking,” he said, walking around her as he pushed open a dark, polished wooden door that led into another part of the house.
Grace followed and was rather taken aback at the size of the room. It seemed that unlike Aunt Belle’s home, that had rooms on either side of the main foyer and hallway, and thus cutting the rooms in half, James’s house had been designed to have all the rooms on one side, creating wide open spaces.
Guessing that this was the parlor, Grace noted the impressive crown molding that topped the tall walls. This room was also white, with dark wood furnishings. The settee and chairs andbenches were all matched in a moss green velvet fabric, that had been embroidered with a heather purple stitching. The artwork in this room were landscapes, of all the mountains and Munros that encircled Glencoe.
He had decorated his home to match the Highlands.
Grace gazed at him, mouth slightly parted as it dawned on her. She had believed that the doctor disliked Glencoe, but it seemed he missed it terribly and this was his way of being surrounded by the home he had left, the place he had loved.
She shook her head.
“But you never speak of Glencoe, or Dr. Barkley or your aunt,” she said. “You barely even mention the Highlands.”
James swallowed, trying to appear unaffected.
“It’s easier for me to be here if I have reminders of home. Like how annoying my aunt can be, or how pushy and hovered over I feel when I’m in Dr. Barkley’s presence. He’s really quite bothersome when we see a patient together. Right over my shoulder.” James gestured to his own. “Constantly telling me the next step as if I haven’t been a practicing physician for years now.”
Grace smiled.
“He was your mentor. I’m sure he cannot help himself.”
“More than that, he was my benefactor. When I came to live with my aunt, she was something of an outcast and not very wealthy, but Dr. Barkley had always paid for her lodgings. She was a healer after all, in the old ways, and he thought to keep her close.”
“I didn’t know that.”
James sighed.
“I wasn’t happy when I moved in with her. I was angry that my parents had died, angry that I had to live with someone who I believed, at the time, was a madwoman. Dr. Barkley began taking me on rounds with him. He was so normal incomparison. A professional man, well liked and well respected. A stark contrast to the woman I was living with, but he was always certain to instill tolerance in me for her bizarre behavior. For everyone.” He stared absently into the space in front of him. “I owe them both a great deal.”
Grace stepped forward, touching his arm in a comforting way.
“She’s always spoken very highly of you. They both have. The little silver charm she gave me? She said to keep it on my person whenever I was working with you, as it would protect us both from illness. I know she believes that to be some sort of magic herb, but there have been studies about mint’s cleansing properties.”
James let out a huff of breath that almost sounded like a laugh as his mouth curved into a self-deprecating grin.
“I suspect she did that because she knows my fondness for water mint.”
“Oh.”
A moment passed and Grace dropped her hand from his forearm, feeling suddenly exposed. To be sure, when she gazed up at him, he was staring at her.
“Why are you here, Grace?”
Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, she stepped away from him, in an effort to distance herself from what would surely be an argument.
“I went to Gallowgate this afternoon to ask some questions of the factory workers. I wanted to know if they had seen anything regarding the missing persons that have been vanishing from their neighborhood.”
“You what?” James’s voice sounded behind her, soft, yet enraged. “Have you lost your mind?”
“I am certain something is going on and I needed to know—”
