“Yes, please.” Kitty set her mostly empty cup on the table so that Arabella could pour. While her hostess refilled her cup, she asked, “How old were you?”
“About ten,” Arabella admitted as she handed Kitty back her cup.
After a moment for the confession to sink in, all three women burst into laughter.
When the merriment subsided a touch, Lady Sampson told several stories about her own sons and stepsons. Between the four of them, they caused plenty of mischief. But they didn’t quite measure up to the Linfield brothers, at least as Arabellatold the stories.
“It would appear that your husband was the troublemaker, and his brother often saved his skin,” Kitty addressed her new friend. The tea and cakes had long since been finished or forgotten, but no one appeared interested in ending their visit.
“There is truth to that,” Arabella admitted, “but Oliver is not wholly innocent. More than once, Oliver was the culprit, but Tim took the blame.”
Kitty found that surprising, but she had no reason to distrust Arabella’s word. And the two men could easily be confused. Especially at a distance. “They do look very similar,” Kitty commented. “I’m not sure how anyone tells them apart.”
“It is simple enough,” the vicar’s wife responded with a twinkle in her eye. “My husband is the handsome one.”
“I am, it is true,” a deep voice replied.
Kitty spun towards the sound and discovered both the vicar and his brother standing in an archway that led to other parts of the vicarage. How long had they been standing there?
Arabella and her husband both laughed at his jest, while Mr. Oliver Linfield stood stoic at his brother’s side. Kitty took in his look of disapproval and straightened her shoulders before lifting her cup and taking a sip of her now cold tea.
“Welcome, Oliver,” Arabella greeted her brother-in-law. “What brings you here this afternoon?”
“I needed to consult with Tim on an issue with one of the Blackthorne Park tenants,” Oliver Linfield replied in a flat tone.
As Kitty watched Arabella converse with her husband and brother-in-law, she mentally amended her previous statement. Thetwo men were so different in dress and manner that she imagined that few people who knew both could actually confuse them.
The sun had made a rare appearance as Oliver rode to church on Sunday morning. When he reached the outskirts of the churchyard, he pulled his mount to a stop, swung his leg over the saddle, and slid to the ground. When his mother had claimed a headache and opted to stay home, Oliver had chosen the simplicity of his horse rather than having the carriage readied. But as he watched the crowds gathering outside the church doors, he regretted not crying off altogether.
Miss Childs stood near the door with Lady Sampson, and both of Oliver’s sisters. She smiled and laughed, just as she had in the vicarage parlor the day before. At least she had until she’d seen him. The moment she noticed his presence, she transformed back into the cold debutante. What was it about him that brought out that reaction in her? He wasn’t expecting her to fall all over him. But would it hurt to give him a smile?
After the women stepped through the doors, he considered his options. Nobody seemed to have taken notice of him yet. But that might change if he followed his temptation to climb back into the saddle and kick his horse into a run in the opposite direction. Instead of fleeing, he led his mount around the back of the church and into the vicarage stables. It wasn’t a large building, but it had room for one more. And unless Jerry, Tim’s boy of all work, came in,nobody would notice.
Once he was confident the way was clear, Oliver sneaked out of the stables, rounded the church, and slipped in through the vestry door. The small room off the side of the chapel served as a parish office, as well as a place for Tim to change in and out of his vestments for services. It also provided a place to listen to the sermon without having to join the congregation.
Sure enough, the services started, and Oliver could hear his brother’s voice clearly through the closed doors that led into the sanctuary. Confident it would not be a long sermon, Oliver settled himself back into a convenient chair. The parishioners loved Tim for his energetic service, but also for his brevity from the pulpit.
Oliver almost slipped out as he heard the services draw to a close after half an hour, but he was afraid he’d be spotted. Instead, he stayed right where he was. He would much rather face his twin than all of Whickfield.
More than a quarter hour after the services ended, the door from the chapel opened and Tim stepped inside. He studied Oliver for a moment before pulling his white surplice over his head and hanging it on a hook. He then removed his cassock and did the same, leaving him in shirtsleeves and trousers.
Once he had removed his clerical vestments, Tim pulled up a chair and sat directly across from Oliver. “Is there a particular reason you are hiding in my vestry instead of sitting in the pews?”
Not sure how much he wished to admit, Oliver simply replied, “You of all people know how little I enjoy crowds.”
Tim tapped his chin as though considering. “Who are you avoiding?” He then paused and snapped his fingers. “Miss Childs.She was here with Lady Sampson.”
“I am not avoiding Miss Childs,” Oliver stated firmly. Tim just sat silently, waiting for him to admit the truth. After a staring contest that would have made their ten-year-old selves proud, he cracked. “I am avoiding Miss Childs.”
“I know.” Tim crossed his arms and leaned back in the wooden chair. “But what I want to know is why.”
Oliver was not sure he could explain why, even to himself. Instead, he asked a question of his own. “What do you think of Miss Childs?”
For a moment, Oliver expected his brother to redirect the conversation back to his own motives. But at long last, he replied, “She seems pleasant enough. Arabella quite likes her. You heard their laughter before we interrupted their tea.”
He had heard their laughter. And seen Miss Childs’ glowing smile. Then the moment she spotted him, it was gone. “Miss Childs laughs and smiles with everyone but me, it would seem.”
Tim rubbed his chin as he replied, “Now that you mention it, she was very formal during our game of whist. She neither laughed nor looked directly at you the entire game.”
