“You needn’t try to impress her with material things.”Gloria wrapped her longest pelisse about her wrinkled dress and tied a bonnet over her tangled hair.“Toss out some obscure facts, and she shall swoon at your feet.”
Gloria certainly would not be.
Mr.Pringle had no imagination.If there was one trait she prized above all others, it was the ability to let the world go and just be silly once in a while.If only from inside the safety of one’s own mind.
When they arrived at the castle, he shot her a look of surprise.“Here?Where are we going?”
“We’ll try the aviary first.”
He wanted someone knowledgeable—nay, passionate—about obscure facts?No one fit that bill better than Miss Virginia Underwood.
When they entered the aviary, she was standing next to a pear tree tossing grain to a partridge.
At the sound of the door, Virginia glanced up from her task.“A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but a well-fed partridge prefers to dine upon dandelions.”
The moment of truth.Gloria sent a nervous glance toward Mr.Pringle.
An answering grin already spread across his handsome face.“How are Dasher and Dancer?”
“Dasher’s wing is mending nicely,” Virginia replied with satisfaction.“She’ll be flying again in no time.”
Gloria faltered.“You already know each other?”
Virginia’s eyes turned dreamy.“He showed me the stars once.”
A ludicrous stab of envy streaked inside of Gloria’s chest.They didn’t just know each other.They had shared a romantic evening.Two fact-obsessed souls joined beneath the stars.
Her stomach soured.“When was this?”
“A week or so ago?”Mr.Pringle guessed, then turned to Virginia.“Do you recall the date?”
She nodded.“A doodlebug’s hole gets ever larger during a waxing moon.”
Gloria steadied her breath.There was no reason to be vexed.She had specifically brought Mr.Pringle here to matchmake him with Virginia.If they’d already had a head start, it only made her job easier.
To give them privacy, Gloria drifted away and tried not to pay attention.
For a matchmaker, her recent history with men was appallingly blank.She didn’t need the conversation to be in French to feel excluded.She watched in silence as they laughed over some shared remembrance she had not been a part of.
Someday, the right man would sweep into her life, fall in love, and spend the rest of their days—
“—much like trout chasing each other to the waterfall.”Virginia turned to Gloria.“You should try it.”
Try what?Gloria blinked.Perhaps she ought to have been paying attention.
“I don’t chase waterfalls,” she stammered.“I’m not a trout.”
“How about rivers and lakes?”Virginia insisted.“We have those.You used to love ice-skating.”
Mr.Pringle’s eyes lit up.“Christmas has a skating pond?”
Virginia nodded.“Frozen over almost year-round.Gloria knows it.”
Gloria did know it.Her father had taught her to swim in those frigid waters, during one of the few months without ice.
Virginia was right.Gloria used to love the water.Before it had caused her to lose everyone she had ever loved.Her throat grew thick at the memory.
Mr.Pringle grinned.“We should all go.”
