Elise had no trouble disregarding his attitude. She had sisters. She understood sullenness. She was very good at practicing it herself. In time he would grow tired of feeling put upon.
Still, someone had to counteract his nonsense. She hadn’t insisted he take her to Moorcock.Hehad made the decision to come along. Consequently, his surliness only served to make her morepleasant. In fact, she delighted in being sunny and bright.
Her stockings padded and protected her healing blisters to the point that she had no trouble on the path. She didn’t hold back her joy at the sight of the primroses and other wildflowers that patterned the side of the lane they traveled.
And she hummed. Elise didn’t have a good singing voice, but she could hum a tune. The one she chose for today was a jig the Wiltham stable lads had whistled. It was a bit of a one-note melody. She liked it. The humming helped her pass the time since Kit hadn’t answered when she’d asked how long it would take to reach their destination. It kept her annoyance over his pouting at bay—
“Would you stop?”Kit practically spit the words toward her.
Elise pretended to not understand that he meant the humming. Instead, almost gleefully, she froze in place—still humming.
Tamsyn looked confused but Kit kept walking. He didn’t notice Elise was not trailing behind him. Tamsyn barked. Kit frowned and looked around, and that is when he realized Elise was some forty feet behind him, a “frozen” foot raised, a “frozen” arm outstretched.
He skidded to a halt. “Whatare you doing?” he barked.
“You told me to stop.”
His scowl deepened. He saw no humor in the matter. Instead, he shook his head without comment and continued on the way. Elise lifted her skirts and ran to catch up.
She fell into step beside him.
“I know you didn’t wish to accompany me to Moorcock,” she said. “But youchoseto.”
Kit did not reply.
Elise said, “You think this is a fool’s errand.”
He didn’t answer.
Undeterred, she went on. “I mean, it’s fair that you are not invested in this trip. But”—she continued as if he was interested—“my sisters and I never believed Papa was dead. Not truly. There was no proof of it. Our cousin Richard and the magistrate were the ones who pushed the matter. Richard wanted Wiltham. He refused to give more time for Papa to return.”
“How long had he been gone?”
He spoke!
Elise had been tempted to say those words aloud. She caught herself in time.
Kit even unbent enough to pick up a stick from the side of the path and throw it for Tamsyn into the surrounding woods. The dog joyfully flew after it, and Elise smiled.
Kit might occasionally be moody—who wasn’t?—but he was a good companion. She was glad he was with her. She trusted him. He was also pleasing to her eye, something she was appreciating more and more—
“Do you not know?” His voice interrupted the drift of her thoughts.
She blinked. “Know?”
He lifted a quizzical brow as if he was surprised by her woolgathering. “I asked how long your father has been gone? When did you see him last?”
“My father, yes,” she responded, trying to catch the thread of the discussion.
How long had it been? They were in mid-July now. Gram had passed over a year before they went to London. That had been when Richard had swooped in with his claim to Wiltham. Her father had not returned for close to two years before her death. “Over three years.” Perhaps even four.
“Three years,” he repeated. The words seemed weighted in the favor of an untimely death.
“I understand how that sounds, except you didn’t know my father. He wasn’t one to sit in front of a hearth. He couldn’t be in one place too long, even for a visit with us. But he did love us. Hedid.”
She wanted him to understand her father. “People always asked questions about Papa. About why he didn’t stay with his girls and why he left the running of Wiltham to Gram, even when he was with his regiment, as if a soldier had a choice about military service. However, Papa wasn’t the doting type and... that was fine. I had Gram, Tweedie, and my sisters. Gram always said that we must accept people as they are. She claimed the world would be a better place if we did. That doesn’t mean there weren’t times it was hard to not know where he was. We missed him. But Kit, when he’d return, we were all so happy. He’d bring presents and call us his girls and, well, it was just the best time. He was a good man. He was knighted for his service. Captain Sir John Lanscarr.”
“Elise, it is not that I am unsympathetic to your plight. He was your father and, of course, you saw the best in him.”
