Page 20 of Snowdrops and Winterberry
He tried not to ponder too closely the fact that his mind had begun formulating a picture of that someone, and she had a fiery temper, the smile of an angel, and a lilt in her voice that spoke of a childhood spent in Scotland.
Chapter Nine
Adam talked more than usualas he and Robbie rode in a pony cart to the nearby village the following day.
“Lord Jonquil and I came here two days ago,” he said. “He showed me all the best shops. It’s a small village, but it still has shops.”
“Even small villages have shops,” she told him.
“I didn’t know that.” The poor boy had been to so few places; it was no wonder he understood so little about the world. “Lord Jonquil knows that. He knows a lot of important things.”
Important things.Like villages having shops. Robbie hid her amusement. She’d learned from experience that Adam was sensitive about being laughed at. He didn’t always understand the difference between someone finding enjoyment in what he’d said and someone mocking him. Lord Jonquil was a jovial person, who laughed often and frequently, but he was never unkind. That might help Adam come to understand the difference.
“What about Lady Jonquil?” she asked. “Does she know a great many important things as well?”
“Oh yes. More even than Lord Jonquil. She reads a lot of books. She showed me her books in her book room. She doesn’t read silly books either. She reads important ones about places all over the world and about mathematics and science. Lord Jonquil says she’s the smartest person he’s ever met. Did you know ladies can be clever?”
Again, Robbie tucked away her smile. “Oh, aye, I knew that.”
“Lord Jonquil says we can walk on his mountain again. He says I’m getting very good at it. I didn’t know I could be good at walking on mountains.”
“When I was a wee girl, I lived in Scotland. We’ve very tallmountains there.”
He looked up at her. “Did you ever walk on them?”
“I did nae.”
He nodded slowly, contemplatively. “Maybe someday Lord Jonquil and I will go to Scotland and walk on those mountains.”
“I suspect he would like that very much,” Robbie said.
“Did you know Lord and Lady Jonquil will have a baby come to their house this year?”
“I did.”
His dark brows pulled low in a look she knew well. He was worried about something. Again.
“Do you suppose when they have a baby of their own, they won’t want me to come see them anymore?”
Life had taught him to anticipate abandonment. And even here, in a place where he was more lighthearted than he’d just about ever been and was being shown he was wanted, he’d already prepared himself to be forgotten.
“They do not strike me as the type of folks who forget someone they love.”
He turned wide eyes up to her. In a tiny, hesitant voice he asked, “Do you think they love me?”
“My wee Adam, I’ve nae a doubt in the world that they love you.”
He was very quiet after that. She couldn’t tell whether he was reassured by her words. More than anything, he looked confused.
They reached the outer edges of Alnbury. The coachman who’d driven them there dropped them on the high street before making his way to the pub, where he meant to pass the time before they were ready to return.
Robbie held her hand out to Adam, but he didn’t take it. She was forever having to remind herself about that change in him. He’d returned from Harrow more distant in so many ways.
As they walked past shops, Adam told her about each and every thing they saw. Most of his explanations included Lord Jonquil’s opinion on the various items. How Robbie hoped she was right about His Lordship. He’d quickly taken on the roles of older brother, uncle, and father somehow all rolled up into one. If he did forget about Adam after his own family began to grow, it’d be yet another devastating blow to this child who had already endured too many.
They’d only just stepped out of the confectionery shop, each enjoying a peppermint stick, when their paths crossed with Mr. Simpkin. For reasons Robbie couldn’t fully explain, seeing him made her blush. She’d nothing to be embarrassed about. They’d passed a pleasant couple of hours working in the garden the day before. Their conversation had occasionally touched on more personal topics but nothing inappropriate or worthy of regret. The time they spent looking for trees from which to make Christmas decorations had been quite pleasant. Yet seeing him made her insides squirm about the same way they had when she’d worked for a family in Cumberland who’d had a stablehand she’d found particularly handsome. The same way they had when she was sixteen and working as a chambermaid in Derbyshire and one of the local lads had made sheep’s eyes at her. She understood the reaction for what it was—her heart growing a wee bit partial to a handsome man who’d shown himself to be good company—but she was hardly in a position to let those feelings grow, so she pushed them down and summoned her best manners.
Mr. Simpkin bowed to Adam, as was expected, for he, though a little boy, held one of the highest ranks in all the land. Only the royal family ranked above a duke. And the Duke of Kielder was one of the oldest and most respected titles in the kingdom. Adam, she didn’t doubt, would bring even more prestige to it as he grew. He was clever and determined. He held his father’slegacy in such esteem that she couldn’t imagine him ever allowing the title his beloved father had held to be anything but revered. And, if he was fortunate enough to retain the presence of Lord Jonquil in his life, he would have someone to guide him toward being a peer, in the best possible way.
