Page 4 of Discovering Grace

“Not at all, Mr. Barnes.” The butler’s eyebrow twitched again. “The ladies will be pleased for the distraction your visit will bring.”

“Distraction? What am I walking into, Garrett?” Jacob did not bother hiding his amusement. Something had annoyed the butler and it obviously had to do with one particular miss in the house. Everyone knew that when there was an upset or uproar, Hope most likely sat at the center of it.

“Effusions of joy and a confusion of packing,” the butler said, then snapped his mouth shut. His eyes widened as though he could not believe his own audacity to speak of any matter pertaining to the family with an outsider, no matter how well he knew Jacob.

Jacob chuckled and pushed his blond hair back away from his forehead. “Never fear, old fellow. I will not breathe a word of your clever quip to anyone.” Garrett had been a butler in the household for ten years and was perhaps only fifteen years Jacob’s senior. He had been an upper footman who had dared to take Jacob to task once for encouraging “the young misses’ misbehavior.”

“Thank you, Mr. Barnes.” Garrett gestured to the stairway. “Allow me to show you upstairs.” The stiff primness returned, and with it the eyebrow twitch. For something to rattle the butler, there must be an interesting state of affairs in that sitting room.

Jacob did not allow himself to worry, knowing that all would be revealed soon enough. Whatever new trick Hope had got herself up to, or misadventure she had dragged her poor sister into, could not be so terrible as the time she decided to dress the sheep in every bonnet and shawl her family possessed. Or the time Hope had sent anonymous letters to all of their neighbors pretending she had spied upon them and discovered their deepest secrets. That had been a true mischief and she had been sentenced to her room for an entire month when it was discovered.

With that memory still fresh in his mind, Jacob entered the sitting room and delivered his customary bow. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Everly, Hope, and Grace.” No one even batted an eye at their using Christian names with one another. How could they? Jacob, Hope, and Grace had shared nursery games almost as soon as the girls knew how to walk. He was only two years their senior, and quite a fixture in their home.

Even as they had all aged, adding new friends to their acquaintances, the three of them had remained close.

He took in the attitudes of the women in the room, sensing some sort of anticipation in the atmosphere. Mrs. Everly rose from her favorite chair, but she held a scrap of paper in her hand rather than her customary sewing. “Dear Jacob, how good it is to see you today.”

Hope stood in the middle of the room and offered her curtsy, which was abbreviated in order for her to quickly take up pacing, which must have been her activity of choice before he entered. She moved rapidly, her eyebrows drawn down, but a wide smile turned up her lips. She said nothing to him, though her lips moved silently as though rehearsing something to herself. Jacob followed her progress across the room with his gaze before turning to Grace’s customary place.

But her chair was empty.

Where was Grace?

“Good afternoon, Jacob,” she said at last, giving away her position at the window, nearly tucked behind a curtain. “How is your family?” That was always Grace’s way. She did not stand upon ceremony, but she always looked after the social niceties.

“They are quite well, thank you. Anticipating a visit from my Aunt Barnes, actually. I am come to visit and to ask your family to a card party while my aunt is here.”

“How thoughtful of you,” Mrs. Everly said, somewhat distractedly. Returned to her chair, she now scrutinized the paper in her hands and barely glanced up at him. “But some of us may have to decline the invitation, depending upon the date. We are all rather distracted at the moment, you see.”

“Ah, are you?” Jacob came further into the room, standing nearly directly in Hope’s way when she turned and retraced her steps. They must have been out of sorts, given that no one had even asked him to sit down yet.

Hope nearly ran into him but stopped muttering to herself long enough to realize he stood directly in the middle of her path. “Jacob,” she said, nearly gasping out his name. “You do not know.” She looked from him to her mother, then to where Grace stood.

Jacob, though he would much rather study Hope’s curls brushing across her neck, or the way her lips parted when she said his name, decided to glance in Grace’s direction as well.

“I do not know what, exactly?” He offered Grace a teasing grin, thinking she would share with him their customary expression whenever Hope ran away with her thoughts.

But Grace’s lips remained pressed together in a grimace and she turned away. Odd.

A melodious laugh turned his attention back to Hope and her face beamed. “My incredible news, of course.” She reached out and took both of his hands in hers, leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner. Jacob’s heart barely had time to adjust its speed from the excitement of her nearness when she made her announcement, causing it to stop. “I am to go to the West Indies.”

The room changed from warm and bright to cold and cramped. No, he must not have heard her correctly. Forcing a smile, Jacob managed to utter a one-syllable plea for the misunderstanding to be cleared up. “What?” He did not release her hands, squeezing them gently instead. She was real. The room was real. This was not a dream. Nor a nightmare. And Hope could not go anywhere—

“The West Indies,” she said again, shaking his hands in her enthusiasm before she pulled away, executing an excitable spin. “Across the Atlantic Ocean, to the beautiful island of St. Kitt’s. An adventure, Jacob. At last!

Jacob stared after her, his hands still hanging pathetically in the air as if to urge her back. He numbly turned to Mrs. Everly, who still studied her paper, then looked to Grace. He needed confirmation, unable to trust Hope’s own words.

Grace turned just enough to glance over her shoulder at him, her eyebrows drawn down and her lips a straight line. She nodded once, correctly interpreting his unasked question.

“With the Carlbury family,” Grace said, her voice barely loud enough to carry to where he stood. “They are going back for a visit, and Hope is to accompany Miss Carlbury.” Though he could tell from the way she stood, stiff with her arms wrapped about herself, that this news was as poorly received by Grace as it was by him, she managed to keep her tone quite neutral.

He supposed he ought to follow her lead. Swallowing past a tight knot in his throat, Jacob tried to focus on Hope’s joy. In all the time he had known her, Hope had been as daring as any boy who crossed his path. Her fearlessness, her desire for daring exploits, had landed even him in trouble a time or two. A trip such as this one would be something out of her dreams.

“That is wonderful,” he managed to say at last, surprising himself with how cheerful he sounded. “You have always wanted to travel.” He forced his mouth to form some semblance of a smile, but the facade was weak at best. Jacob stepped further into the room, determining that no one would remember to ask him to sit. “How do you fare, Mrs. Everly, knowing your eldest daughter is going on such a journey?”

Hope’s parents could not be happy to have her out of their sight, could they?

“I would be a good deal happier about it if we could finish the packing list,” Mrs. Everly said with a sigh. “Hope, darling, do you think you ought to take an umbrella or purchase one upon arrival? And ought you to bring one for the sun and another for rain? I should hate for you to take up too much space in a trunk with umbrellas. Do you suppose they have umbrellas for purchase in the St. Kitt’s markets?”