Charles and Mina were galloping amongst the flower borders as if they were on racehorses instead of hobbyhorses.
“I did not know such happiness was possible,” Henry said.
“I didn’t either. My heart is full.”
“My lord. Miss Beasley.” Eakins stood at the door. “Miss D’Oyly has come to call.”
Susannah suddenly discovered her heart wasn’t entirely full. There was room for more, and whether it was more joy or more heartache and longing, she didn’t know.
Henry squeezed her shoulder and looked down at her.Do you want to see her or should I see her alone?he was asking.
She nodded.Yes, I want to see her.
“Show Miss D’Oyly into the library, Eakins,” Henry said.
Susannah tried to ready herself. She stood, she tucked her hair behind her ears, she wrung her hands as if that might remove the ink stains from her fingers.
“Beautiful,” Henry murmured and kissed her temple. “Steady now.”
“Lord Ashthorpe, Miss Beasley. Miss D’Oyly,” Eakins intoned and retreated.
Emma was still the most beautiful girl in the world in Susannah’s estimation. And now Susannah could really take her in. The pink in her cheeks. Her eyes, hazel in color and shaped like Ned’s. But her little nose and how her face rounded? Susannah saw herself there.
“My lord. Miss Beasley.” Emma curtsied.
“Miss D’Oyly, welcome,” Henry said. “Are you and your mother and sister still visitors at Lady Newland’s?”
“Father has come, and we are to travel back home with him tomorrow.”
“Please tell Sir John I passed on his message to the marchioness.”
“You mean his move in their correspondence chess game?She has already answered and put him in check. He is most despondent.”
Henry laughed.
“I came to apologize for any distress my mother might have caused you.” Emma looked at Susannah. “Either of you.”
“You need not apologize, Miss D’Oyly,” Henry said. “It is very kind of you to take the trouble to do so, but neither of us is distressed.”
“Good. Mama is well-meaning, but her imagination leads her astray. I have, I think, at last convinced her that you are to be let alone. I wish happiness for both of you.”
Susannah finally spoke. “Thank you.”
“Will you stay for some lemonade, Miss D’Oyly?” Henry smiled. “No jam tarts, I promise.”
What a wag her earl had become.
“No, I?—”
Charles and Mina came in the garden door, both flushed and disarrayed and joyous.
“I won the race!” Mina crowed. “I am to have a prize!” She ran to Henry and hugged his legs.
“And what is the prize?” Henry asked, using his fingertips to brush away the curls that clung to her glowing forehead.
“Uncle is going to let me watch him race up and down the drive on a real horse from the stables, and I am to hold his pocket watch and measure how long it takes him to go four times. I am to be the timekeeper, he says. And I’ve decided my doll’s name is to be Louisa.”
That name had not been on the list of possible beautiful names for the doll, but Susannah knew it was Mina’s mother’s name.
