Page 14 of Discovering Grace

She drew the book up, covering it with both hands. “Nothing of importance. I am merely trying to fill the time.”

He tried to walk around her, but she turned again, keeping her back to him. He stopped, and she stared at him like a rabbit in a trap.

And then he knew, as abruptly as if a wave had swept his feet out from under him, what had happened. He moved without thought, taking her by the shoulders, forcing her to turn and face him.

Though the woman tensed in his grip, she did not pull away, nor did her expression turn mutinous. Rather, as he feared it would, her cheeks flared pink and her eyes met his with an open, pleading expression.

“Jacob,” she whispered, “please, don’t—”

He cut her off with one word. “Grace.”

* * *

When Jacob spoke her name, Grace went cold inside and out. Her own father had not yet realized the wrong daughter remained at home. How had Jacob deduced such a thing in less than five minutes in her presence?

Judging by the way his face went slack, and how he lowered himself to the bench with slow, deliberate movements, he did not take the revelation well at all.

“How did you know?” she asked, watching him carefully. She could not afford to give herself away again. Not for two weeks, at the very least.

He groaned and dropped his face into his hands, muttering something she could not make out, though it certainly did not sound complimentary. He raised his head up, keeping his hands over his mouth, and narrowed his eyes at her. “Never mind how I knew. What in the name of King George are you doing?”

Jacob never swore. Invoking their mad king’s name was the closest he ever came to it. Which meant he was angrier than he let on. She opened her mouth to answer, to tell him how she had no wish to leave home, could not imagine herself bound for the West Indies on a small ship atop a large ocean, but Jacob spoke first.

“I cannot understand how Hope could do this to you.” Jacob thrust one hand into his hair in an agitated manner. “She runs off to do as she pleases while you remain behind to take the brunt of your family’s displeasure when the truth comes to light. With the Carlburys, she faces little if any consequences.”

He thought the whole thing Hope’s idea? Grace understood the reasoning behind that. The most mischievous ideas in the neighborhood often came through her sister.

“Actually, I did not wish to go—”

“I know you did not,” Jacob stated readily, shoving himself off the bench. “But circumventing your father like this, ducking her punishment and leaving you to take the full blame is hardly a sisterly act. She knew you would go along with it, too. You would do a great deal to please Hope even if it means denying yourself. It has always been that way.”

Grace narrowed her eyes at him and held her book tighter. He made it sound as though she let Hope rule all her decisions. True, she often smoothed Hope’s ruffled feathers and made excuses for her sister’s sometimes thoughtless actions, but that did not mean Grace went along with everything her sister suggested.

“I ought to go right in there to your father and tell him everything.” Jacob paced to the hedge marking the boundary to the fountain’s courtyard, then came back to her. “She is only gone to London for now. There is time to stop her.”

“No!” Grace surprised herself by shouting, and given the way Jacob stared at her he hadn’t been expecting such an outburst either. Panic had taken hold. Jacob might ruin everything. “You cannot do that to me, Jacob. I know you are upset about this.” And she knew why. His distress at Hope’s decision to leave had been written plainly upon his face, as his anger was now. He had feelings for her sister and had been thwarted in retaining Hope’s company not once, but twice.

“It has nothing to do with me,” he insisted, stepping closer to her. “It has everything to do with what is right and honest. Hope has put you in a terrible position.”

“No.” Grace reached out, daring to lay a hand upon his arm. She could feel the tension in his body, saw it in the way his jaw tightened at her touch. “She has saved me. I could not go on that voyage. I’m frightened of the ocean, of being away from all I know. Hope did not do this for selfish reasons. If you tell my father, he will be angry at both of us and take me to London. He will force us to switch back. I cannot do it. Please, do not make me.” Her voice cracked on the word please and she grasped his arm tighter.

Jacob stared down at her, wincing as though her words pained him. She could see the war within his eyes as he tried to decide what was to be done, where his loyalties must fall.

“Hope will not forgive you for interfering,” Grace added, lowering her voice. “And I will suffer for it, too.” She thought the former consequence more likely the winning one. If he had any desire to win her sister, if he wished to gain her favor and court Hope, revealing what she had done to their father would end all hope of such a future.

At last his shoulders sagged and he brought up a hand to lay over hers. “Hope has put me in a difficult position then, too. I would never do anything to harm either of you.” He turned away, his arm sliding from her grip, and he ran a shaky hand through his hair. “How long do you think you can keep your deception going, Grace? There are those who will realize, as I have, that something is wrong.”

The moment she had seen Jacob approach, her confidence had faltered. Jacob had been friends with both sisters for a long time. Having a particular affection for Hope likely made it easier for him to sense the difference in the sisters. Grace’s private feelings in regard to him also kept her from acting as Hope did in his company.

For more than two years, Grace had watched as Hope remained oblivious to Jacob’s growing tenderness toward her. Grace had been aware of it likely before Jacob knew what was happening. Grace had felt the difference in how he treated the two of them, how he looked at the two of them. The sting of her disappointment came shortly after noticing the change in Jacob. Grace had admired him, had held his friendship as the most dear to her, for many years. When she realized his preference for Hope, Grace also discovered she had fallen in love with him herself.

“The servants have yet to notice,” Grace admitted, attempting to conceal her relief with a matter-of-fact tone. “My own father has not seen the truth, though I spent some of the morning in his company. Truthfully, I cannot understand how you realized it with such speed.”

“You have different ways of expressing yourself,” he said blandly. “You were not as outraged or as hurt as Hope would have been.” Jacob walked away from her, his hands clenched into fists at his side. “I cannot be part of this, Grace. It is wrong and against my principles. My ordination is less than a fortnight away and participating in this kind of ruse is more Shakespearean than Anglican.”

“I understand.” Grace crossed her arms, hugging her book to herself. “But please, do not give me away. Hope will sail from London within two weeks. She will send me a letter the day they are to depart so I will know it’s safe. As soon as I receive word from her, I will tell my father the truth. You have my word.”

He did not immediately turn around. He stood with posture erect and every inch of his body stiff as a statue. As she began to despair, Jacob’s shoulders dropped along with his head. “I will not say anything.”