Page 78 of Snapdragons
Lucas shook his head. “You’re not speaking of a mere preference for different counties. As things stand now, to move forward together, one of you has to abandon something that rests at the core of who you are. Either of you requiring that of the other is not mere alteration or a disinterested remover choosing to remove. I think the Bard would not mind if we added to his list that love is also not love which requires one person to disappear in the shadow cast by the other’s pursuits.”
“It’s impossible, then?” Niles hadn’t wanted to admit that to himself.
“Me ever regaining Julia’s trust,thatwas impossible.” Lucas looked over at his wife and oldest boy, both laughing together. “That’s what miracles are for, Niles, for when crucial things feel impossible.”
Penelope rushed over, her broad and beautiful smile restoring Niles’s hope every bit as much as Lucas’s reassuring speech. “It is your turn to bowl, Niles.” She took his hand. “You are currently losing to Philip, so I suggest you do your very best.” Still holding Niles’s hand, Penelope looked at Lucas. “That son of yours thoroughly enjoys being the center of attention.”
“I would say he gets that trait from his mother, but everyone knows that’s not true.” Lucas walked with bouncing step to his wife and son, taking the little boy in his arms and swinging him around.
“They are a very happy little family, aren’t they?” Penelope said. “And they clearly love baby Layton every bit as much as Philip.”
“Love is woven into the fabric of the Jonquil family.” Niles looked away from them and directly at the lady he had fallen so completely in love with. “That’s worth fighting for, don’t you think?”
“I do.”
He slipped his arm around her. “And do you believe inmiracles?”
She set a hand softly against his cheek and whispered, “More every day.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Penelope sat next to Violetin the drawing room that evening after supper while the ladies awaited the gentlemen’s arrival.
“I’m afraid I haven’t the first idea how to be a lady’s companion,” she warned Violet. “But I’m willing to learn.”
“And I haven’t the first idea how tohavea lady’s companion,” Violet answered. “But I’m willing to pretend.”
Seated across from them, Nicolette looked to Julia. “I imagine you would have invented creative things had I taken on the role of companion.”
“Creative?” Julia shook her head. “I believe the descriptor you were searching for is ‘delightfully brilliant.’”
“I’m certain it was simply a mistranslation from French,” Penelope said in very solemn tones.
“Undoubtedly.” Julia managed to keep her expression earnest longer than any of the other ladies, who all quickly dissolved into the laughter so common among them.
The gentlemen arrived in the midst of the mirth.
“I always feel a bit worried when I chance upon the ladies and they’re all laughing,” Kes said.
Penelope hopped up and motioned for him to take the seat she had been occupying.
“You don’t need—”
“Sit by your wife, Kes. Please,” she said, cutting off his objection.
“Yes, please do,” Violet said.
He clearly did not need any more prodding than that. And both husband and wife appeared utterly delighted to be in eachother’s company. Penelope made a mental note that providing opportunities for them to spend time together ought to be one of her aims as Violet’s temporary companion.
At the moment, though, she meant to abandon Violet for the joy of Niles’s company. He stood on the outskirts of the group and watched her with a small smile as she approached. That smile and the way her heart reacted to his nearness led her to believe her stint as a lady’s companion would prove very short-lived.
“What had all of you so diverted?” Niles asked, taking her hand without hesitation.
“We were discussing the difficulties of having or being a lady’s companion when one hasn’t the first idea how.”
“Will you be happy in that role?” His unwavering desire for her to be happy touched her.
“Were it anyone other than Violet or one of the other ladies here, I’d be less than enthusiastic. And if I’d no hope of the situation being temporary, that’d be quite dispiriting as well.”
