Page 44 of Forget Me Not

Kes’s voice broke the momentary spell between them. “We’ve climbed these mountains during previous visits. They weren’t overly difficult; certainly nothing as daunting as the mountains in Switzerland. Could a lady of fortitude but with no previous mountaineering experience manage the thing, do you suppose?”

Brilliant.

Lucas saw a flash of eagerness in Julia’s eyes, though she quickly and expertly tucked it away. His heart broke to see her clamping down on that bit of life. What sent her so constantly into hiding?

“There’s one peak in particular, Julia, that I’ve climbed ever since I moved here. There’s even an old shepherd’s hut that I’ve shored up and improved. We could stop there and rest for a bit if need be.”

She sat up a little taller, letting her knees lower to one side. “Do you really think I could manage it?”

“I absolutely do.” He scooted over to her, kneeling on the blanket in front of her. He took her hands gently in his. “And what’s more, I think you would enjoy it. We could have another picnic, this time at the top of the world.”

She raised an eyebrow, the look a little saucy. “I thought you said the mountains in Switzerland were much taller than these.”

He sighed dramatically and even rolled his eyes. “The comparative top of the world, then. Is that better?”

She shrugged a shoulder. “It’s more honest, at least.”

“Say you’ll go, Julia. I think you’d enjoy yourself.” Lucas held his breath as he watched her silently debating. He glanced at Kes, but no reassurances came from that quarter. If only the mischievous, adventurous Julia of their childhoods hadn’t disappeared so entirely.

“I climbed a few of the smaller European mountains with him,” Kes said. “And several of the Gents have undertaken more ambitious mountaineering with him. It was very interesting seeing the world from so different a vantage point. I would recommend it.”

“Who are ‘the Gents?’” she asked.

Kes looked to Lucas with surprise. “You have not acquainted her with your closest friends?”

He hadn’t, odd though it seemed now that he thought on it. The past years had pulled him so often from home that much of his life and hers had been unavoidably separate. “The Gents are a group of friends. We all met during our school years and remain friends to this day. We’ve traveled together and go about London together when we are in Town. We often visit one another’s homes.”

“And climb mountains,” she added.

“On occasion,” Lucas said.

Julia looked to Kes once more. “He didn’t grow frustrated with you because you were slow or inexperienced with mountaineering?”

Lucas opened his mouth to answer, but Kes shot him a look that told him in no uncertain terms to keep mum.

“Not once,” Kes told Julia. “I’ve seen him frustrated over things before, but not while mountaineering. Something about being on a mountain makes him a completely endurable fellow.”

His words reassured her; she seemed to relax a bit. “I would enjoy seeing this new view of the world... and of you.” She addressed the last to Lucas himself.

He didn’t think he’d ever breathed a sigh of such unmitigated relief as he did in that moment. Perhaps this plan to regain their foundation of friendship wasn’t doomed to failure.

Pooka chose that moment to scamper across the blanket and leap onto Lucas’s lap. The dog made a valiant attempt at licking his face but, being quite a small dog, could manage only to reach his neck.

“I know you’re fond of me, boy, but you’re making me look a fool when I’m trying very hard to impress this sophisticated lady here.” He did his best to hold back the enthusiastic pooch but was not overly successful. “Try for a bit of decorum, Pooka.”

From behind the chaos being inflicted on his dignity and appearance, Lucas was treated to a magical sight: Julia’s smile. At last! She’d once been ceaselessly happy, an unending source of joy in all their lives. He needed to discover a means of keeping her smile in place. And if the fates were kind to him, he might even hear her laugh again.

***

Knowing Lucas and Mr. Barrington were hunkered down in the round room, Julia retreated to the book room for her daily mathematics studies. Their picnic the day before had been enjoyable enough that she found herself less heartbroken than usual at being excluded from the room she’d come to secretly love so much. She would have future opportunities for sneaking in.

She scratched out a poorly executed attempt at solving a particularly complicated problem. She’d been trying to master this part of the lesson for nearly a half hour. Perhaps she ought to read the chapter again.

Lucas had taken courses in mathematics at both Eton and Cambridge. He would likely know what she was doing wrong. For just a moment, she was tempted to slip down the corridor and knock on the locked door.

“Notthisroom.”How often those words in his voice echoed in her mind. They did again just now.

“Things have been better between us,” she said quietly to the empty book room. “I would do best not to press my luck.”

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