“What?No, not boring.Not in the least.I’m just, ah…”
“Thinking about your next adventure?Where you will go on holiday?”Mrs.Digby ruffled Henry’s ears.“And which of the four employment offers you will accept?”She raised her shoulders up to her ears and gave an impish grin.“Four!I’m lucky to have snagged you when I did!”
Sophia felt herself flush.Yes, she should be thinking of those things.Her future employment.A holiday where she could relax and enjoy herself before taking up her duties at an exciting new school.Or a private residence in an idyllic location, working for a family and with a colleague she already knew and liked.She hadn’t decided yet.
A future that did not include Fairfax.
And there was the crux of it.
In such a short time, she’d come to enjoy his company.Too much.Her intellectual side knew that they’d never had a future together.Never could have.As he’d said from practically their first meeting, he was simply passing through on his way to Italy.And she was on her way to new employment.
But her emotional side … her wildly inappropriate, impractical side … that side already felt his absence like a missing piece of her anatomy.Missed hearing his rumbling voice that made her insides vibrate.His flirtatious grin, his invitation to mischief.Like riding on his broad shoulders to escape a flooding cave.Bantering in her bedchamber at their first meeting.
That’s all it was.Flirtation.
And that kiss they’d shared at the pianoforte?Flirtation.
The gentleman from London, visiting his great-aunts in the seaside village, had just been engaging in flirtation with her.
A bluestocking and a teacher, used to being surrounded by silly teenage girls, she’d known and understood what he was doing, and entered into it as a willing participant.For the fun and novelty of it.
Not because she was developing any serious feelings for him.Any serious attachment.
If she kept repeating the lie, perhaps in time she would come to believe it herself.
Chapter 20
The day dragged on.
While Mrs.Digby took her afternoon rest, Sophia worked on transcribing her shorthand into longhand.Xavier kept her company part of the time, practicing his shorthand skills.Wallace came into the library for a while and sketched the two of them working at the desk.
After dinner, Mildred entertained everyone by playing a variety of songs on the pianoforte, harpsichord, and even the harp.All the songs she chose were about love, but no one commented on that fact.
Sophia longed to confirm if Fairfax had indeed left for Italy but didn’t trust her voice or her expression to not betray her if she inquired.Didn’t want anyone to see her as the sad, pathetic spinster he’d flirted with and then left behind.
Perhaps he’d gone to London to fetch more paper from Mrs.Digby’s favorite stationer and would soon return.
Or perhaps he’d accompanied his good friend to get a marriage license, so she’d see him again.At least for Mildred and Mr.Huntley’s wedding.When the ladies of the household came together, conversation centered on plans for the wedding breakfast, not the groom.
“Holding your wedding on the beach is sure to cause a stir in the neighborhood,” Mrs.Royston said as Mildred selected another song to play.“Are you certain you wish for that kind of attention?”
“It’s where Matthew and I met.”Mildred’s lips lifted in a wistful smile as she stared out the window, as if she could see that spot from here.
“The neighborhood could do with a bit of stirring,” Mrs.Digby said, scratching Henry under his chin.
At breakfast the next day, Mrs.Digby eagerly opened a letter that Kendall brought in, though she usually waited until going to the library to peruse her mail.“It’s from Speranza,” she told Mrs.Royston.
Kendall gave Sophia a little shake of his head to let her know there was nothing for her.With a guilty start, she realized she had not yet replied to any of her four employment offers.She needed to choose—soon—and accept one before they all passed her over for another applicant.
Mrs.Digby handed the letter to Mrs.Royston to read.
“Oh dear,” Mrs.Royston said a few moments later, setting the letter down.“Do you think Vincent can arrive before it’s too late?I’ve never known Speranza to be this worried.”
A stone dropped in Sophia’s stomach.
Speranza must be a friend or relative of Vincenza, Vincent’s grandmother.
He hadn’t gone to London.
