“What I can’t comprehend,” Georgina said, knitting her brow, “is that you would find it so engrossing that it would keep you awake.”
Busying herself with the slice of toast she’d procured and a dollop of jam that needed spreading, Emily shrugged one shoulder. “It stirred my imagination.” With the hope of avoiding additional questions, she addressed Mary. “Have you planned any activities for the week ahead?”
“Oh yes.” Excitement sparkled around Mary’s words. “We’ll have a treasure hunt, a picnic, an archery contest. Games on the lawn.”
“And a play that the children have been preparing,” Cassandra added with pride.
“It’s about a group of animals that have been captured in the jungles of Asia and Africa and how they experience being brought to England,” Penelope said.
Emily took a bite of her toast.
“I’m to play the zebra,” Daphne declared.
“You’ll make an excellent one, I’m sure,” Emily told her with love expanding her heart. It hadn’t occurred to her how much she’d missed her and the rest of the children until they’d welcomed her with hugs and kisses yesterday. “Do you have a good costume?”
Daphne scrunched her nose. “I’m still working on that.”
“I’ve finished mine,” Edward said, earning an eye-roll from Bridget.
“You also have the easiest one,” she said. “A lion. That’s a one color outfit and something to use as a mane.”
Emily ate the rest of her toast while following the children’s continued discussion on costumes and rehearsal. She discovered that Peter and Penelope had the bigger parts and that both wanted everything to be perfect.
“Perhaps we should go for a walk after breakfast,” Mary suggested, pulling Emily’s focus back to her. “Before the rest of the guests start arriving.”
Emily’s gaze went instinctively to the vacant seat adjacent to Caleb’s. She wouldn’t ask. To do so would be too obvious. “Has Lord Griffin not yet risen?” The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them.
Caleb disengaged from the conversation he was having with Emily’s father, no doubt alerted by the mention of his brother’s name. “He has gone for a ride. I met him in the foyer before coming in for breakfast.”
“Perhaps we ought to prepare a plate for him,” Emily said, words still flowing from her mouth of their own volition. “He will likely be hungry upon his return.”
Caleb held her gaze for a moment. Until Emily felt like squirming. “That is incredibly thoughtful of you.”
“Yes,” Mary murmured. “Very thoughtful indeed.”
Emily broke eye contact with Caleb, which allowed her to notice her mother’s secretive smile and the flicker of understanding in Cassandra’s gaze. Feeling like a bug beneath a magnifying lens, Emily grabbed a clean plate and proceeded to pile food onto it. “It’s easy to do since the food is already out, and it will save the servants the trouble.”
It had nothing to do with the fact that she cared about Griffin’s wellbeing or that she wanted to do something nice for him. Even if she might have ruined things between them last night by turning him down. She could only hope that she hadn’t, but his continued absence as the morning wore on concerned her. He still wasn’t back when she and her friends returned from their walk, and while Emily had initially been nervous about seeing him again and not knowing what to say or how to act around him any longer, anxiety started to grow in its place.
By the time she sat down to lunch, an uncomfortable restlessness kept her from enjoying the meal. There could only be one explanation at this point. Griffin was either avoiding her or he’d had an accident with the horse. Her heart thumped loud and fast at both thoughts, and she caught herself glancing at doors and praying for him to walk through one of them soon.
“He’s done this many times before,” Caleb said, breaking through Emily’s worries that afternoon. She was standing on the terrace, staring out across the fields and wringing her hands. Every awful possibility played out in her head, making her sick with dread.
She flinched in response to his words for she’d not heard him approach and was startled to find him standing close to her shoulder. “I beg your pardon?” Caught off guard, she wasn’t quite able to make sense of his meaning.
“You’ve been searching for something all day, and judging from your questions during breakfast, I expect it must be Griffin?”
“I…” She swallowed the lie on the tip of her tongue and gave a small nod. “I must admit that I’ve gotten used to his presence.”
“And now you find his absence unsettling?” He rocked back on his heels while studying the landscape she’d been scanning. Rolling hills lay in the distance, beyond the flat fields bordering the Montvale property. A forest of dense trees sat to the left, and to the right Emily could glimpse a few houses where the nearest village began. “But you don’t have to worry. Griffin’s just thinking.”
“Thinking?” By saying he meant to go for a ride and then not returning? “How do you know that?”
“Because it is what he did when he was a lad and needed to work through a problem.” He dropped a glance at her and grinned, his appearance so similar to his brother’s and yet so different. Having gotten to know Griffin better, Emily could easily tell them apart now, even without the scar. Each had his own unique expressions. While Caleb smiled broadly, showing off neat rows of teeth, Griffin tended to just lift one corner of his mouth. And then there was the way in which Griffin frowned. His eyebrows would arch in a way Caleb’s didn’t, his brow puckering mostly above his nose while Caleb’s frowns were more evenly spread across his entire forehead.
“Your Grace,” a footman announced from behind them, causing them both to turn. “The Earl of Langdon has arrived.”
“Thank you.” Caleb gave his attention back to Emily. “Stop worrying. You shall see my brother again very soon. If you’ll excuse me now, I must go and greet my guest.”
