and, with her arm outstretched holding her cloak, glided toward the door.
“Thank you so much for helping me make my dress and for putting the finishing touches on it.” Phoebe scurried after Abby and hugged her.
Abby pulled back and waved off her friend. “You are quite welcome, my dear.” Abby’s British accent imitation needed help. She sounded nothing like the Manvilles, their British neighbors back in New York City, or even like Rainee, their sister-in-law, who mixed British with Southern quite nicely. “And now, I must make haste and take my leave.” Abby swung the door open and, with a flourish, headed outside.
Leah shrugged toward Phoebe’s direction. “What can I say? You can’t help but love her.” With that, she followed Abby out the door and onto the wagon. They turned and waved goodbye to Phoebe before she disappeared into her house.
“So, we’re heading to Jake’s again.” Abby waggled her eyebrows.
“We sure are.”
“Well, then, sister dear, what are we waiting for?” Abby faced forward. “Make haste. Make haste, my dear.”
Leah shook her head. She should have never let Abby read the well-worn copy of Pride and Prejudice that Rainee had given Leah years ago. Ever since then, Abby imitated the British often. She hoped Abby never found the copy of Sense and Sensibility that she kept hidden in the bottom lining of her trunk. She shuddered just thinking about how Abby would act after reading that one.
Leah wondered if Abby would follow in her footsteps.
The real Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, not the one Elizabeth Bennet thought he was before she had gotten to know him better, reminded Leah of her father. Mr. Darcy had rescued Elizabeth’s family when Lydia’s infidelity would have shamed them. He was a man with integrity, a big heart, a protector, just like her father. From the moment that realization had struck Leah, her love and respect for Mr. Darcy had her praying that someday she would find her very own Mr. Darcy—a man who represented everything her father had stood for.
“C’mon, Leah. What are you waiting for?”
“Pushy.”
“Me, pushy? You were the one who was in such an all-fired big hurry to go.” Abby nudged Leah’s shoulder.
“True. True. I hate it when you’re right.” Leah tittered and with a quick slap of the lines on her horse’s rump the buggy pitched forward. “Oh, you won’t believe this, Abbs, but Jake knows about my advertisement.”
Abby whipped her head so fast in Leah’s direction that one of her curls whacked her sister across the face. “How’d he find out?” Abby’s eyes gleamed as she searched Leah’s. Her sister loved a good story and loved to tell them, too, but she wouldn’t tell this one. She’d been sworn to secrecy.
“He started getting newspapers from all over, including back East where I placed mine. When he searched the papers to see his ad, he saw mine and put two-and-two together.”
“Oh. What are you going to do if he tells Michael?”
“He won’t.”
“How do you know he won’t? Jake and Michael are good friends. If Michael finds out, you know he’ll tell the rest of the family. And Haydon and Mother will put a stop to your plans.”
“They won’t find out because Jake and I made an agreement and shook hands on the bargain.”
“Oh, yeah? What kind of agreement?”
“Well—” she shifted toward Abby “—he won’t tell anyone if I help him find a wife. You know, help him decide which of the letters he should respond to.”
“Ohhh. This could be fun.” Her sister’s eyebrows danced.
Fun? Leah hadn’t thought about it being fun. But it just might very well be. She gave a quick flick of the leather lines to get her horse to pick up her pace. “Don’t tell anyone, Abbs. This whole thing will be our little secret, okay? Promise?”
“I haven’t said anything to anyone before, have I?” Her sister looked slighted.
“No, you haven’t. And I know you wouldn’t, either. But with this concerning Jake, too, I just thought I would remind you, that’s all. Okay?”
“Okay.”
They rode in silence for a time. The only sounds were the horse’s hooves clunking on the hard road and a flock of geese honking above them.
“It’s too bad you have your heart set on moving to New York. Otherwise, Jake would make a great husband for you,” Abby said out of nowhere.
Leah glanced over at her sister. “Jake is a friend and nothing more. But if I wasn’t so dead set in pursuing my dreams, who knows, I might have considered Jake.” Turning down his proposal hadn’t been easy because she enjoyed his company immensely. Good thing she wasn’t in love with Jake. Saying no would have been extremely hard, but necessary.
“You would?” Abby clasped her hands together and her eyes sparkled.
“I said if, Abbs, if.”
“But Jake is sooo handsome,” Abby said dreamily with her clasped hands pressed against her heart.
“If you think he’s sooo handsome, then why don’t you marry him?”
Abby yanked her hands away from her chest and her wide eyes stared at Leah. “Me? He’s way too old for me. But if he wasn’t, I sure would try for him.”
“Why?” Leah found she really wanted to know.
“What do you mean, ‘why’? Just look at him. He’s dreamy and so handsome.”
Handsome, yes. But dreamy? She never thought about Jake as being dreamy. “Jake is handsome. I’ll give him that. But looks aren’t everything, and he is not my type.”
“I know, I know.” Abby rolled her eyes. “Your type of man is one who wears waistcoats, ties and fancy suits and lives in a big city.”
Only because that was how her father used to dress. Another pleasant memory she held on to.
Abby laid her hand on Leah’s. Gone was the humor from her face. Serious now replaced it. “What if you find someone, Lee-Lee, and once you get out there, it isn’t anything like what you dreamed it would be? Then what?”
Good question. Just what would she do? What if she got out there and the nightmares didn’t stop? No. She couldn’t think that way. She had to hold on to that hope. She just had to. “That won’t happen, Abbs, because before I go anywhere, if a man intrigues me, I’ll request a picture of him and ask a lot of questions. If I like his answers, then I’ll go out and meet him in person first.”
“You know Mother won’t let you go alone.”
“She won’t know.”
“You mean you’re not going to tell her?” That same horrified look she saw on Phoebe earlier now shrouded her sister’s face.
“No.
