The fact that he’d used all the syllables of her first name—he usually called her “Zold’ or Miss Isolde—implied something serious was afoot.
Her heart leaped into a gallop.
He sat down on the steps of the folly, and she sat beside him.
And for long moments, he said not a word.
But his face was so pale and taut Isolde’s dread ramped.
Finally, she spoke. “Jacob….is aught amiss?”
He drew in a breath. “My father won half of a sugar plantation in Barbados in a game of five-card loo.”
This was such a very Eversea thing to do that Isolde almost smiled. But such was the tension of the moment, her lips couldn’t quite perform the proper curve.
He took another breath. “I have,” he said carefully, then paused to clear his throat, “volunteered to go have a look at this plantation for him, to determine whether it’s something the Everseas actually want to or ought to keep.”
Isolde could almost feel the ground drop out from beneath her.
She pressed her hand against the stone of the folly, to brace herself. She couldn’t speak. Her breath went shallow and ragged.
“That is, I am going to do this,insteadof going to China. In other words …I will not be going to China at all.” His voice was hoarse. “I will instead be away for six months only.”
She stopped breathing She stared at him, dumbstruck.
The moment was perilous and delicately beautiful.
For the West Indies were only a six-week journey away by ship.
She knew his decision must have been forged during sleepless nights, during those moments where he stood apart to watch her, during the all-too-brief moments when they touched each other. She knew the courage it had taken to make it.
The profound weight of the responsibility she bore for his sacrifice settled down over her. He’d done it for her.
Because she loved him, she wanted him to have everything he ever wanted. So, her heart broke a little for him.
Butshewas his dream, too, and he likely had calculated she could not, and would not, wait for him forever.
His face went soft and bright and his shoulders dropped in relief as he drew in a breath.
Which is when she realized her own face must have gone luminous. Her eyes began to burn with unshed tears.
She glanced up and noticed George standing still, shading his eyes and staring across at the two of them. He was frowning faintly.
Isolde cleared her throat. “Well, what a fascinating journey that will be. I know you’ll learn so much and make new friends. And six months will go by so quickly.”
They would go by torturously slowly. But she would endure that time for him.
Color was gradually returning to Jacob’s face. “I’ll be gone for my own birthday, but I promise I’ll be home in time for yours. And I will write if I can.”
She almost said “thank you”. But that would have implied that foregoing his dream of China was something she had asked of him. And never, ever would she have done that.
It would take more than six weeks for a letter to make the journey from the West Indies to Pennyroyal Green. They both knew she would be fortunate to have one even one letter from him in six months.
“When do you leave?”
And when he hesitated, she knew. And her heart plummeted.
“At the end of this week.” His voice was a rasp. He swallowed. “So, this afternoon is farewell, for now.”
