“Ten thousand acres,” he said. “Including the farms. The gardens and lake and park are three hundred acres or so, and there are about two thousand acres of forest and meadows.”
Her eyes went wide. “The park is three hundred acres? I’m glad I’m not the one tasked to cut that grass.”
“Yes, there’s a dozen men who do it, and, as soon as they finish, they have to start again. I’m considering letting more of the land go to meadow.”
She nodded vigorously. “I think that’s an excellent idea.”
“I’m afraid Mina and I have scarcely allowed you any time to yourself, Miss Beasley.”
Susannah was the one who needed to apologize. She was here to write a storybook for the earl’s granddaughter, but more than a week had gone by, and she had still not started.
He continued, “You must tell me if we are pests.”
“I’m the pest. Taking your money and then also making you entertain me. I’m so good at delaying my work that I may have to give back those half-crowns yet.”
She laughed, and she could hear the false note in her laughter and was embarrassed.
“There isn’t any hurry. At least, not on our part.” But the earl sounded worried, so she looked at him and finally saw how he had gotten those lines in his forehead.
“Mina is growing.” She smiled to ease his worry and nodded her head towards the little girl, who was now wandering among the rosebushes, singing to herself. “I must write the book before she is too old and only wants stories of lovers meeting at midnight in a haunted castle.”
“I’m sure you could write that one, too,” he said and then looked as if he regretted saying it. He cleared his throat. “Is there any urgency for you? Do you need to go back to Much Wemby?”
“Yes.” A silence. “I mean, eventually, I will have to go home.”
But Much Wemby wasn’t home anymore, not really, and not just because the Beasley cottage was actually in Little Wemby. The whole place hadn’t been a home to Susannah fora long time. But it was home for Nolly and Hodge, and if they ever came back, she had to be there because she didn’t want either of them to risk their lives going into the village to ask where she and Dando had gone.
Susannah would have to leave Bledsoe Park—and the earl and Mina—before Dando left the cottage. She’d write her brother tomorrow so he knew to write back and warn her if he was about to move to Charingham.
The earl’s brow was still furrowed, so she added, “But I don’t need to go home for a good bit.” Shemustget started on the book.
“Yes,” Henry said, and his voice was rough, not cool and clear. “Home is best.”
“Your home is best, certainly,” she teased.
“It is a great gift to live here. But it’s also a burden.” Then, “Bledsoe Park is why I married my wife. Diana was of the Cooke family.”
Susannah shook her head. That meant nothing to her.
“The Cookes were and are ship-builders with a vast fortune, and I needed Diana’s dowry when I became earl. My brother had married for love, but I did not see how I could do the same. I didn’t have time to find both love and money in the same woman.”
“But . . .” She was lost. “Your wife was very beautiful.”
“Yes.”
“You must have come to love her.”
“I did not. She was . . .” He paused and looked to the side, away from Susannah. “She was vain and loved attention and enjoyment above all things. And I was harsh and inflexible and could not accommodate her. After Charles was born, she lived in London, and I lived here.”
Poor Henry. “Where did your sons live?”
“I wanted them here. But I knew I was a bad father, and?—”
She would not let him say such a thing about himself. “I cannot believe that of you. You’re wonderful with Mina.”
“Yes.” His eyes were a little glassy, but he made one of his almost smiles. “I will not waste my second chance. And the determination not to do so has changed me for the better. No, Mina herself has changed me for the better. She has made me curious. Made me see the world as she does. Made me have new experiences. I would never have had occasion to meet you, for example.”
Susannah felt the warmest kind of pleasure and not because he had said meeting her, insignificant her, was something that wasfor the better. It was because he was talking to her, telling her about himself.
