Discovering Grace: An Inglewood Romance

by Britton, Sally

  Once established, Jacob could obtain a respectable situation in society and afford to marry. Which was why Hope’s adventure struck him as horribly ill-timed.

  He clenched his hands around the reins and his horse, a spirited creature belonging to his eldest brother, protested with a toss of its head. Forcing his hands to relax and willing the tension from the rest of his body, Jacob attempted to find the equanimity he depended upon.

  By the time he arrived home, two miles from the Everlys’ estate, he had managed to stuff most of his emotions back into his heart where they belonged. He had waited this long to tell Hope of his admiration for her; he could wait a little longer.

  Perhaps when she returned, her thirst for adventure would be sated at last. Not that he wished for that part of her character to change, but he would have a better chance of securing more than friendly affection if her eyes were not always directed toward the horizon and away from Aldersy.

  Jacob left his horse in the stables with the grooms, too agitated to take the time to soothe the animal himself. Notwithstanding his outward calm, his mind had not stopped racing.

  Hope, gone for a year. Too far for letters to even reach her regularly.

  Inside the house, an airy 18th century construction his father had inherited from an uncle, Jacob went in search of the one person who might be able to calm him.

  He passed his eldest brother on the staircase. “Matthew,” he said, “have you seen Mother?”

  “In the music room,” Matthew answered without stopping in his descent, hat tucked beneath his arm and gloves in his hand. Perhaps he was going to pay a call on the lady he had been courting. Jacob shook his head, wondering how his brother had waited until the age of thirty-two to begin looking in earnest for a bride.

  Turning around, Jacob went down the stairs to the music room, ignoring his brother’s departure from the house. The music room was at the rear of the house, facing eastward, where there was a fair prospect of a dip in the land, full of long grasses and sheep. A few miles further than the eye could reach stretched the North Sea.

  The gentle strains of a melody seeped through the door, his mother’s talent with the harp easy to appreciate. For a moment, Jacob stood there, allowing the rich notes to wrap around him in a familiar and comforting embrace. His mother played a bright tune, reminding him of flowers and fairies more than the storm clouds gathering outside.

  When the song drew to a close, Jacob pushed the door open and entered. “Mother, you play like an angel.”

  His mother, tall for a woman and as elegant as any duchess, cast him an affectionate glance from where she sat beside the window. The room was dim, thanks to the weather, and she had not lit any candles.

  “You are a sweet flatterer, Jacob.” She stilled the remainder of the vibrating strings, their almost inaudible humming stopped. “Why are you back so soon? Given when you left, I did not expect to see you until dinner.”

  Even with having six children to keep after, his mother always seemed to know where they were and what they were about. As a child, he had wondered if she possessed some sort of supernatural ability to track them.

  “I was met with some unexpected news when I arrived at the Everlys’.” He came into the room, his hands tucked behind his back. “And they were too busy to keep company today. Actually, I am surprised we did not hear of their news until now.”

  Arching an eyebrow at him, his mother folded her hands in her lap. “What news is this? You certainly are not pleased by it.”

  “Have you heard the Carlburys are to go back to the West Indies?” he asked, stopping a few feet from where she sat. Her deep brown eyes searched his, her blonde eyebrows drawn down. He had inherited his coloring from his mother, as had most of her children.

  “I had not. I suppose that would send the Everly girls into something of a fit. They rather dote on Miss Carlbury.” His mother seemed puzzled, obviously aware such news would not be the reason he had cut his visit short.

  “The Carlburys are taking Hope with them,” he said, the words escaping from him in a horrid rush. He looked away before he saw his mother’s reaction, anticipating pity though he hoped for something more comforting.

  She remained silent for a long moment before she stood, the swish of her skirts against her stool bringing his eyes back to her. Mother reached out a hand to him, laying it on his cheek. “I can see this is a blow to you, dear boy. You have not told Hope a word of what you feel for her?”

  He shook his head slowly, not wishing to dislodge his mother’s reassuring touch. “I have not dared. I wanted to secure the living first. She hasn’t any idea—” He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. At least he wasn’t crying. As upsetting as the news was to him, it had not broken him. More than anything, he was overwhelmed by a sense of disappointment. “I will not say anything now. It would not be fair to her, for many reasons, to burden her with my feelings before she goes away on a grand adventure.”

  “Usually one does not view affection as a burden,” his mother said, giving his cheek a gentle pat. When he opened his eyes and met hers again, she offered him a gentle smile. “But you are right. Telling her now would put you both under an obligation until she returned, to at least think on the possibilities of what could be. Perhaps it is best that she goes, and you take time to accustom yourself to your position as a vicar. Your calling is a demanding one, my dear.”

  His hopes further deflated, leaving Jacob nothing but weariness and disappointment. “You may be correct.”

  “I usually am.” She reached out to offer him an embrace, which he readily returned. “You are a good man, Jacob. Any woman would do well to have your heart. Take this time to learn more about yourself and your duties. It might be that when Miss Everly returns you will both be ready for a conversation on the matter of marriage and love.”

  Though it was not what he wanted to hear, Jacob accepted his mother’s words. She knew him better than anyone, and she knew Hope quite well, too. The fact that she did not encourage him to try and speak to Hope right away, perhaps even try to talk her out of leaving with the Carlburys, showed that she had judged the situation as he had. Hope Everly would never give up the chance at a true adventure, no matter who asked or what they offered.

  When his mother released him, she kept her arm around his waist, and he put his around her shoulders. “When will Hope leave?”

  “Next week,” he answered, his mother walking in the direction of the door.

  “So soon.” She shook her head, a blonde curl dislodging itself from the lace cap she wore. Though fifty years old, his mother appeared as elegant now as she did in the wedding portrait hanging in his father’s library. “I am certain she will have a marvelous time. What I wonder,” she added, her voice lowering, “is how Grace will do with the departure. Those two have ever and always been at each other’s side. Grace will have to stand on her own.”

  “I worry for her.” It was a relief to say so. The vision of Hope and Mrs. Everly consumed with Hope’s journey, practically ignoring Grace’s obvious upset, disturbed him. “They have always been different, and expressed themselves differently, but there was a balance with the two of them together.”

  His mother’s lips pressed together, and her eyes narrowed. “You mean that Grace kept Hope in check, while Hope dragged Grace into all manner of trouble.”

  Although Jacob had not thought exactly that, he nodded. “Sometimes, yes. They are the best of friends.”

  “You know,” she added as they went down the hall, “Some say the reason neither of them has married is because they will not be parted.”

  Jacob barked a laugh at that. “I think no man has been brave enough to attempt dividing them.”

  Releasing her hold on him, Jacob’s mother went to the library door and paused. For a moment, she regarded him in a most puzzling manner, as though she debated with herself what her next words would be. “Now circumstances will prove they survive well enough apart. I wonder if any gentleman in the county w
ill take notice of Grace?” Then she shrugged the matter away and opened the library door. “Come, I wish to show you a new ladies journal I have received.”

  Jacob, somewhat amused by her thoughts on Grace’s status as a single young woman, followed with steps less heavy than when he had entered his family’s home.

  Chapter 2

  Obliged as Grace was to accompany her sister on visits, she had forborne to maintain a pleasant countenance and manner while Hope took her leave of the neighborhood. Hope and the Carlburys were bound for London in three days, and the Everly sisters had visited nearly every house in the county, or so it felt.

  Again, and again, Grace listened to her sister speak effusively about her coming adventure. It seemed Hope had no regrets for anything or anyone left behind. The more she spoke of islands, potential storms at sea, and the unknown situations she might face when confronted with new people and places, the more excited Hope grew. Though it had been difficult to hear at first, Grace could not deny the joyful anticipation in her sister’s eyes.

  After visiting with the Kimballs, Grace stepped into their low phaeton with a lighter heart. How could Grace deny her sister anything that brought her such happiness? As Hope had said, this was the very adventure she had waited for her whole life. They could not always be together, though Grace may wish it. The time had come to part and lead separate lives.

  “The Kimballs are such lovely people,” Hope said as she took up the reins. They had two little ponies pulling them today, walking with high steps for their short legs. “I shall certainly have to find a gift to bring for them on my return.”

  “You shall have a whole trunk of nothing but presents upon your return.” Grace chuckled and settled back against her seat. Her sister had a most generous spirit, for all her wildness. “Will you write all your adventures down while you are away so I might read of them later?” she asked, wistfully.

  “I wish you could come and take part in everything with me.” Hope turned enough to look around the edge of her bonnet, meeting Grace’s eyes. That sparkle of life had not dimmed since the day she learned she would be on an adventure, nor had she stopped smiling. “I will write everything down in great detail. I will use the diary Mama gave me on our last birthday. I have left it woefully empty all this time.”

  Grace laughed. “If you could not keep one at home, where there is so little to distract you, how do you intend to keep a diary when you are facing new exploits every day?”

  Adjusting herself to sit more jauntily, Hope answered with a decided air. “I wrote nothing at home because there was nothing but the dullness of everyday life to write down. My days will soon be full of such delight that I shall want nothing more than to record every moment so I can remember it. And share it with you.” She nudged Grace with her shoulder.

  The pair laughed, and for the first time Grace did not feel so abandoned by her sister. “I am glad it is you and not I who will go,” she confessed. “I cannot imagine being away from all I know for so long.”

  “I would be such a dull creature if you left me behind.” Hope shook her head, her eyebrows furrowing. “Forever imagining all that you must be doing while I was left here to my embroidery.”

  “Your embroidery, and your sewing club for the orphans, and your Sunday school for the little girls in the village,” Grace said, easily listing the activities they worked on together.

  Hope clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and affected a shocked expression. “However will you get along without me? Will you busy yourself with all my responsibilities?”

  Her sister’s cheeky response gave Grace leave to playfully nudge Hope’s shoulder. “Oh, come now. You know everyone thinks those were your ideas. They might well fall apart when you have gone. I can plan and organize all the day long, but it is you who makes things happen. You make people excited to be part of your plans.”

  Hope put a hand to her chest, rather dramatically. “I am the fine actress upon the stage and you are in the orchestra, and behind the curtain, and painting the sets, and making certain I know my lines.” She fixed Grace with a serious frown at last. “Perhaps this will be good for you. It is not right that you do so much of the work and I receive the accolades.”

  While it was true that Grace often planned what she and Hope would do, she did not mind her sister accepting the praise and compliments on behalf of them both. What did it matter which sister people attributed the work to, so long as Hope and Grace knew the truth of the matter?

  “I haven’t any use for accolades. I only want to see the success. I needn’t be credited with it. You know the attention makes me terribly uncomfortable. I am quite grateful you relieve me from that burden.” Grace adjusted the ribbons of her bonnet when a breeze tried to lift the hat away, her attention drifting to the lane about to converge with theirs. “Oh, look. It is Lord Neil and Lady Olivia.” That ought to change the subject.

  Hope groaned and gave the reins a quick shake. “I had rather not greet them, if we can avoid it. They were most rude on our visit yesterday.”

  “I do not think expressing their opinions of ocean voyages necessarily rude.” Grace did not argue with the desire to avoid speaking to them, however. Lady Olivia and her brother were not the most pleasant people, though they exuded a strange sort of charm that apparently made them popular in Town.

  “Lady Olivia suggesting that a gentlewoman who wished to protect her virtue would never sail was certainly not polite,” Hope muttered, urging their ponies a little faster.

  Their neighbors had seen them and hurried their own animals along in order to meet where the lane turned into the larger road. Lady Olivia drove, her phaeton a similar style to the Everlys’ and made particularly for the use of women. Lord Neil sat next to his sister, his lopsided smile lazy and his eyelids half closed.

  Lady Olivia hailed them, her voice raised and bright. “Good afternoon, Miss Everly. Miss Grace.” She had adopted something of a lisp recently, and without explanation.

  Hope’s expression changed into a grimace and her eyes did not leave the road, so Grace took it upon herself to answer for both of them. “Good afternoon, Lady Olivia and Lord Neil.”

  The noblewoman was soon alongside them, handling her reins most expertly. “Are you still making your visits? Goodness me, I would have thought it would not take so long to visit the principal members of the neighborhood. There could not be above seven families worth visiting.”

  Grace sensed her sister growing tense beside her. She hurried to answer before Hope’s impatience made her tongue sharp. “Hope has a great many friends and we could not think of her leaving without saying goodbye to all of them.”

  “Miss Everly is not so discerning as you in her choice of companions,” Lord Neil said to his sister, his words slow and tone lazy. “Or perhaps people merely like her better.” He met Grace’s eye and offered a wink with those words.

  His sister’s hands flicked the reins and she pursed her lips. “Really, Neil.” Her ponies stepped faster with her handling of them.

  Hope smirked and flicked her reins as well, keeping pace with them. “Come, Lady Olivia, it is not as though friendships are a competition.” Hope and Grace’s phaeton pulled slightly ahead of the other. “Some have many acquaintances, others few.”

  Grace reached out and put her hand on her sister’s arm, a quick and light touch, hoping to bring attention to their increasing speed. Though the ponies might never win a race against a horse of regular size, they could certainly go faster than Grace wished.

  Lifting her nose in the air, Lady Olivia continued speaking as though she had not heard Hope. “I suppose when one puts herself forward constantly, she is bound to be known far and wide by such a reputation.”

  It took a great deal of control for Grace to keep her mouth shut over a retort on her twin’s behalf. Unfortunately, Hope did not exercise the same restraint.

  “Better my reputation than yours, Lady Olivia. Everyone knows you are a snob and make the very dullest conve
rsation.”

  Lady Olivia’s face flamed and she sped her ponies up faster. They were at a trot now, and soon would be at full gallop if someone did not put a stop to the competitive display.

  Instead of coming to his sister’s defense, Lord Neil started laughing and sat up straighter. “Touché, Miss Everly. What have you to say to that, sister? You are something of a bore.”

  “I say I have no desire to converse any further with such rude and ridiculous women.” Lady Olivia had forgotten to use her affected lisp. Her eyes flashed as she sent a glare in their direction. Her nose wrinkled and her lips curled back in disgust. “In second-rate carriages with fly-infested nags.” Then she fairly whipped her ponies, forcing them into a run.

  “How dare she?” Hope gasped. She glanced briefly at Grace. “It is a race.”

  Grace’s hands gripped the side of the phaeton, her fingers going numb. “Hope, no! Papa said—” She had to swallow the rest of her words when their ponies lunged forward at Hope’s urging. For such short, stout fellows, they moved at an alarming speed.

  Lord Neil’s laughter floated back to them, and they could hear his sister screeching insults. Whether her unladylike words were directed at her ponies, her brother, or the Everlys, Grace did not know or care. She merely gripped the side and seat as they hit small ruts and dips in the road.

  The lack of suitability of both the horses and conveyance, Hope had accustomed herself and them to riding about at a fast speed. She soon caught her rival, a broad grin on her face, and started to overtake Lady Olivia. Grace ground her teeth together and closed her eyes, hating every jolt of the wheels. Nothing good could come from this.

  “Olivia,” Lord Neil’s deep voice shouted, sounding serious. “Stop!”

  Grace opened her eyes, confused at why a man who exuded reckless confidence would call a halt to what had amused him but moments before.