“How is Luc?” I asked cautiously, watching Grace’s response. “Does he miss me?”
She pulled on her shift—but didn’t look at me. She was slow to answer. “Yes, he misses you.”
“Did you talk about me?”
“A little.”
“What did you say?”
Again, she took her time to respond. “He talked about how different you and I are.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “That’s all?”
She pulled on her skirt and secured it with her back to me. “Mm-hmm.”
“What else did you talk about, then?”
After taking her waistcoat off the hook, she said, “A lot of things.”
“Luc talked about a lot of things?” This I couldn’t believe. He rarely spoke to me about anything other than aviation.
Grace seemed a little impatient with my questions, though I couldn’t imagine why. “He told me about his childhood in Paris and how his father and sister died. He also told me how he came to be an aviator.”
I stared at her. “He told you about his family?”
She turned to me, and there was a strange look on her face, almost like guilt. “I’m sorry, Hope.”
“Sorry?” I frowned. “Why would you be sorry?”
“I—” She paused. “I don’t know.”
I took a deep breath and continued to get dressed. “You have nothing to be sorry about. You’re simply doing what I asked you to do.” I tried to sound convincing. “I’m happy you and Luc are finally becoming friends. It’s what I wanted all along.”
But was it? Really? I had tried to forget how Luc watched her on the train from Calais to Paris and how he had crossed the airfield in Boston to join her before I was thrown from my aeroplane.
Grace started to brush her hair, and I didn’t ask any more questions.
Before I was finished dressing, she went downstairs to begin breakfast. I stayed above, wrestling with my sadness and my jealousy. I wanted Grace to fly with Luc—but I also wished it were me and not her. I wanted to be happy for her, but it was hard when she was enjoying something I would never do again.
But I struggled the most with my sister’s growing relationship with Luc.
More than ever, I resolved to convince Isaac to fall in love with Grace and give her one more reason to stay with me. It wouldn’t be easy, but I had to try. Hopefully I would see him at the wedding today, and I could start to put my plan into action.
The wedding was held in the groom’s home in Salem Towne, off Derby Street. He was a sea merchant and lived close to the harbor in a large house, recently built for his first wife. Bethiah, his new bride, was radiant, standing beside her groom in an expensive gown and new satin slippers as they spoke their vowsand signed the court registry. Magistrate William Stoughton presided over the ceremony. As one of the judges of the court of oyer and terminer in the witch trial, he was a powerful individual with deep ties to many of the colony’s merchants, politicians, and ministers. He was connected to several of the guests through marriage and family, something that was common and hard to avoid in a small colony.
The wedding was much more subdued than those I attended in 1912. There was no dancing or singing, no decorations or music of any kind. There was a lavish meal, however, following the simple civil ceremony. Many people took their food out of doors where it was hot and humid but offered a slight breeze off the cool water.
I joined Grace, who sat on a bench in the corner of the garden. We hadn’t spoken much since that morning, but there was little I could say to her about 1912 while we were here. Besides, I was watching for an opportunity to speak to Isaac.
“There you are,” Benjamin Putnam said as he approached with a plate full of food. He’d been staying at the ordinary with his brother, Nathaniel, for the past three days, and he’d eaten more than anyone I’d ever met.
I sat next to Grace and was forced to look up at him.
“I’m happy to get the two of you alone without Nathaniel nearby,” he said, looking over his shoulder. He came closer, his voice lowered as he smiled expectantly. “I’m willing to make an offer for either one of you.”
I turned to Grace, and she turned to me. I couldn’t hide the surprise from my face.
“I have no preference,” he continued. “You’re both one and the same to me, so I’ll leave it up to you. I’m certain Nathaniel will take whoever is left.”
