His strong brows arched. “Is there something wrong, darling?”
She shouldn’t say anything. Better to be gracious and forgiving and praise the Lord for seven days away from him. And yet she felt her eyebrows move to mirror his. “We were to go to the Ellicotts’ that Friday.”
He looked genuinely distressed. For a single moment, that is, before determination flashed through his eyes and then softened into regret. “I am sorry, Mari. It slipped my mind. You know I haven’t the head for dates you do. Your heart was not set on that particular invitation though, was it? I have a whole slew of others we can attend when I get back.”
“Of course. It hardly matters.” Except that Lucien had done the exact same thing twenty-seven times. It wasn’t the disappointed hopes that bothered her, or the need to write an apology after she’d already written an acceptance. It was the fact that neither of them ever saw fit to explain the situation before announcing it. For being “the most important thing” to them, she got surprisingly little consideration.
Not so surprising, considering they lied through their teeth as adeptly as their mother.
“I’ll make it up to you. I promise.” Too much heat saturated his words, especially for being spoken in company. He squeezed her shoulder, chuckled—no doubt at the blush she was too tired to restrain—and turned his head back toward his mother. “I dislike the idea of leaving the two of you alone for so long with no able-bodied man about, though. Discontent is too high in the city.”
Three of them. Marietta reached for the butter, largely to shake off his hand. “Walker is here and able-bodied.”
“And distracted with his breeding wife. And heaven knows Pat and Norris are too old to scare away any miscreant. Not sufficient. I have asked Mr. Osborne to stay behind and keep an eye on things in my absence.”
She could only imagine the anticipation that would have surged through Slade upon that request. An entire week to snoop without the fear of Dev coming upon him. If he were the praying man his taste in reading indicated, this was an answer to it.
And why couldn’t she put it to use too?
Mother Hughes was making the expected reply, thanking her son for his thoughtful provision. Barbara, on the other hand, focused her curious gaze on Marietta. Seeing what? One never could tell with her.
Dev didn’t stay long. No doubt he was eager to get to the rail offices and schedule his trip. Marietta took a bite of the toast she didn’t feel like eating and let her gaze go unfocused.
What was he about in western Maryland? Railroad business? Possibly. Yet with the Confederacy’s surrender being touted as a surety, she doubted he would leave his precious KGC unless the trip had something to do with their plans.
Images flashed, but they were too quick. Too random. A few lines on the back of a page from the study…she shook them away. Perhaps she should take a nap sometime today to clarify her mind.
“The sun is shining again.” Barbara’s soft voice broke through the clouds of her mind. “Perhaps we could take a walk.”
“That sounds lovely for the two of you.” Mother Hughes took a delicate sip of her tea. “Bulah and Nadine are coming by to visit this morning, and we old ladies would no doubt bore you young things to tears.”
Barbara’s smile didn’t falter. “Nonsense. But we are happy to grant you time with your friends.”
“And so very happy you are well enough to receive them, Mother Hughes.” Marietta’s smile was no doubt wearier than her friend’s, but she could manage no more. She ate enough to sustain her until midday, hurriedly delivered the packet for Granddad to Walker, and tucked the second into a volume of Thomas Aquinas. For now, it would stay on the shelf, where no curious eyes would notice the pages making it bulge. She would direct Slade to it later.
Soon enough, she had pulled her cape on and smiled to see Barbara in the new one she had purchased for her. To be sure, the young woman had refused to abandon her full mourning. But at least she had submitted to sturdy, serviceable fabrics in place of the ones worn to threads.
Marietta liked to think that Stephen smiled down on her. For perhaps the first time.
Barbara linked their arms together as they stepped out into the cool morning. Bright as the sun was, the air was frosty and carried the scents of coal and wood smoke. “You cannot fathom how much this means to me, Mari. Strolling with you as friends. I thought it would never be.”
Marietta told herself the stinging in her eyes was naught but the wind. “And I have walked along like this with so many acquaintances, yet none true friends. I have never…I have not been a very nice person. All the women I know are as happy to gossip about me behind my back as they are to welcome me into their parlors.”