Beyond a Doubt

chapter Thirty-One




And thus went the rest of the week. After the cupboard incident, Lucy tried to avoid Bryce, but he kept after her. Now that the dam had broken between them, he didn’t want the walls to be rebuilt.

Each day she discovered some “new” project only he could complete, and each day he would find a way to involve her. Just like a fish on a line, she came kicking and screaming, only to be still when he finally touched her.

The errands she’d talked about earlier in the week, which at first had seemed so important, never materialized, as Lucy was unable to leave the house alone. Most days she stood to the side, chewing on her nails and watching Bryce. He would direct a grin her way, and she would turn red from embarrassment and pretend she had been doing something else all along.

Neither one of them mentioned the potential for his departure. Bryce ignored the subject in hope it wouldn’t come to pass.

As the days wore on, Lucy became visibly restless. Increasingly she talked to herself. Sometimes she ticked her fingers off in the air as her lips moved. Lucy paced back and forth, agitated and preoccupied, and suffered bruises from desks and chairs in her path.

Bryce worried that his continued interference into her daily affairs was causing a mental breakdown of sorts. The lass certainly didn’t seem herself. Then one afternoon, while he’d come in for a drink, he saw her as if for the first time.

Lucy wore a gown of rich dark blue fabric, trimmed in lace, that reached to her feet and swished as she walked. Her long hair was pulled back from her face and clasped with a pearl clip.

She jumped, startled by his appearance. She opened her mouth but stuttered; it seemed she was trying to form a coherent sentence. Eventually Lucy gave up and said, “I’m going out.” Without a backward glance she walked out the door.

Bryce followed. By the time he reached the open door, she was seated inside a closed hackney coach and riding away. If he’d been in a different frame of mind, he would have grabbed the next carriage and followed after her.

Worry became his constant companion as he waited for her return. In a foreign city, Bryce knew not the first thing to do besides wait. So wait he did.

To occupy his time, he went to the study. The room had clearly been designed for a male. Bookcases, desk, tables, and chairs were made out of a deep, rich, dark wood. The shelves were filled with books on law, animals, hunting techniques, woodworking, philosophy, art, and other such pursuits.

A perusal of the tomes littering the tables revealed one Bryce had seen before. Several times in the Sinclair keep and once at Greenbriar this same book had come into his contact. It was a copy of the Bible in his native tongue.

The Catholic Church was against such things. But Martin Luther’s new ideas, his translation of the Bible from Latin into German, had changed things, giving a clear sign that the Word should and would be read in the future by the common man.

Even with his simple dreams of sheep farming, Bryce loved to read. People he’d met while traveling with Grant had taught and encouraged him. The Bible was his favorite book. The material within had molded his beliefs just as a potter molds the clay.

He sat down and dropped his head into his hands. While not completely sure of Lucy’s beliefs, he felt certain she recognized the significance of the fish symbol. After all, she had been the one to draw it in the dirt.

Before they became closer, perhaps he should ask her some questions in this regard. To fall in love with someone of a different faith created a hardship he didn’t wish to bear.

Oh, who was he kidding? Falling in love? He was already there.