Around her, the congregation was filing out, the murmur of their voices lapping at her like warm waves. The people of the valley would gather for a moment in the churchyard, she knew, to exchange greetings, pass messages about friends and family. She clung to the peace of the sanctuary a moment, closing her eyes.
Lord, I’ve made so many mistakes the past few years. I’ve been impetuous, headstrong and obstinate. Each time, I’ve come to You, and You’ve forgiven me. Help me now to do what’s right, for all of us.
She opened her eyes to find Mrs. Dallsten Walcott regarding her quizzically. “Is something wrong, dear girl?”
Samantha smiled. “No. Just appreciating this place, our people.” She wrapped her arms around the lady and gave her a hug. She knew it was impetuous, but she was fairly sure God looked kindly on such acts of love.
Mrs. Dallsten Walcott did so as well, it seemed, for she was smiling when Samantha released her.
“Come along now,” she said as if to hide the lapse in her normally composed demeanor. “I want to introduce you to the new vicar. He hasn’t Mr. Ramsey’s presence, but he’s very good about knowing his place.”
By that Samantha guessed the new vicar knew how to toady up to the lady. Though the Dallstens had once been one of the most prestigious families in the area, Samantha’s father, the former Lord Everard, had changed that when he’d purchased their impoverished estate and installed his wife and young daughter in the manor. Mrs. Dallsten Walcott had gone to live in the dower cottage at the foot of the drive, her provenance supplied by her daughter’s work as Samantha’s governess.
In other places the change in her status might have been enough to cost Mrs. Dallsten Walcott the respect of the community. But the local families still held the Dallstens in high esteem, which was evident by the number of people waiting to greet Samantha’s chaperone when she and Mrs. Dallsten Walcott exited the church.
But Jamie and his father were not among them. She’d known they’d been right behind her in church; Jamie and his grandfather had always sat in that pew when she’d been growing up. Then as now, his presence had brought comfort.
Jamie’s father was another matter. At times she’d found it difficult to concentrate on her worship, knowing Lord Kendrick might be looking at her back. Was her cap on straight? Was she standing reverently enough? Oh, but she shouldn’t worship to please anyone but her heavenly Father!
Yet the moment she spotted him and Jamie standing in the shade of an elm along the edge of the churchyard, she felt a similar wish to please Lord Kendrick. She wanted him to approve of the way she smiled and exclaimed over new babies, recent marriages and good fortune. She hoped he would join her in commiserating over deaths, illness and hard times. But though she felt his gaze on her as she followed Mrs. Dallsten Walcott from group to group, he remained on the edge of the yard.
What was he waiting for? Why didn’t he approach her? She could not have given him a disgust of her by admitting she fenced, or he was not the man she thought him. What kept him away?
She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or dismayed when Mrs. Dallsten Walcott finally drew her up beside Jamie and Lord Kendrick. Jamie looked dapper in a navy coat and trousers, his cravat tied in some complicated knot she thought must have given his valet fits.
But Lord Kendrick outdid his son. He wore a dove-gray cutaway coat over black trousers, his cravat simply but elegantly tied, the buttons on his silver-shot waistcoat gleaming in the sunlight. And those boots! The scarlet leather was tooled with fanciful birds and sweeping palms. She was certain there wasn’t another pair like them in England.
Lord Kendrick and Jamie had been talking with another fellow dressed more humbly in brown coat and trousers, and it wasn’t until he pulled off his top hat to reveal carrot-colored hair that she recognized him, and every other thought flew from her mind.
“Toby!” Samantha enfolded her friend and former suitor in a hug, then stepped back to eye him. “Oh, it’s been ages. How are you?”
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