“Months really,” Noah said, his tone dry. “And it isn’t as if I didn’t tell anyone. Donald knew.”
All gazes swung toward his brother.
“What?” Donald asked, sitting up. “It wasn’t as ifIcould tell everyone. If Noah had wanted you to know, he would have told you.”
Their mother rubbed her forehead. “My next question is really the more important. Why do you feel you have an obligation to Miss Gibbons?”
Noah chewed his lip as his brow crinkled in thought. “Well, it may have something to do with the fact”—he lowered his voice—“that I kissed her.”
“What?” his mother asked.
“I said,” Noah continued, raising his voice, “that I kissed Miss Gibbons.” When he was met with only silence and stares, he began to stammer out an explanation. “To be fair, she really was the one to kiss me first,” he said, toying with the hair that fell over his brow. “And then I became very confused and began to reassess everything, until I realized that I did not in fact think of her as a friend but rather was actually in love with her.” He lifted his gaze. “Yes. I believe that about sums it up.”
His mother had a hand to her chest, but the three gentlemen in the room all had coy smiles playing about their mouths. Noah’s mother looked about before her eyes caught on her husband’s smirk. He lifted a hand to cover his smile.
“Can you believe this?” she asked. “Do you not have anything to say?”
Noah’s father took a moment until his smile had successfully vanished. “What is there to say? I think it’s quite clear our son has a proposal to make. And soon.” With that, his eyes took on a serious expression as his gaze swung to Noah.
His mother looked about at everyone’s faces, her lips puckering. “Goodness,” she said, shaking her head. “Five. I have five of you. Can not even one of you keep their lips to themselves?”
“To be fair, Mother,” Peter chimed in, “Noah said Miss Gibbons kissed him first.”
Their mother’s hand returned to its massaging motion, and the boys’ father put a placating hand to her shoulder.
“I believe I need to go lie down,” she said. Then she sighed. “But before I do, I need to make one thing clear.”
The men all sat and waited.
“This family will be united in its support of Noah. He did nothing wrong—with Miss Lewiston,” she added as her scolding gaze halted on Noah. “And he seems to have been courting Miss Gibbons for months. So he shall do the honorable thing and marry her.”
A smile split Noah’s face, and as it did, his mother’s stern demeanor thawed.
“Noah,” she said, “why did you not tell me about your feelings sooner? I had suspected, but when confronted, you assured me you had no intention toward Miss Gibbons. I assumed you were awaiting Margaret’s return. I would not have planned that silly ball if you had just been honest with me.”
Noah lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “I was blind. I do not know how else to explain it. I’d been so beguiled by my affection for Margaret that I didn’t see what was right in front of me.” He gazed off, his mind forming a picture of Hannah smiling at him. “And the way I feel about Hannah differs from what I had felt for Margaret. It’s something deeper. Something I rely on so heavily that I had assumed it could only be friendship, for what I had known of love had been shallow.”
Peter made a gagging sound from beside him, and Noah smiled, playfully punching his shoulder. And then Noah snapped to attention, searching the room for a clock. “Wait, what time is it?”
Their father turned toward a clock on the bookshelf. “It is nearly ten.”
Noah let out a sigh of relief. He wasn’t late then. “Excuse me,” he said, standing from his chair. “I have a prior engagement to attend to.”
Donald walked over to Noah, gripping his shoulder. “Go get her, Noah. You deserve every happiness, and I for one am glad you found someone who makes you smile as you are now.”
Noah meant to tease his brother for his sentimentality, but before he could, Noah was engulfed in his brother’s tight grip as Donald’s arms wrapped around his back. For a moment, Noah only stood there, too stunned to move. But finally, he returned his brother’s embrace. Donald pulled away, keeping his grip on Noah’s shoulders. “Do not ever take for granted what you have, Noah. Cherish her.”
Noah smiled. “I promise I will.”
With that, he gave a parting nod to his family and strode outside into the late morning sunshine. After running to the stables, he took the gray mare he had ridden over, mounted it, and kicked it into a trot. He had somewhere important to be.
Chapter 27
Breakfastseemedtolagon at an excruciating pace. Hannah picked at her meal, but any desire to eat eluded her. That, paired with her mother’s studious stare, made for a long morning.
Hannah’s thoughts had not left the events of last night. All she could think about was Noah holding her and saying all the things she had only ever dreamed he would. The rush of emotions she had when she went to her window and saw him standing on the lawn, staring up at her. He had looked so broken and dejected. Yet, when she left to go back inside, his face had been one of hope. Because of her.
She used the tines of her fork to push a small bite of egg about her plate.
