Page 3 of The Road to Cavan Town
Today would be his day. Of course, first he’d have to actually come close enough to her to speak the words.
The past months had taught him to be more forward than he was by nature. Standing about waiting for Miss Kilchrest to notice him hadn’t worked very well.
He stepped in front of one of the other men, moved around a few others. Miss Kilchrest was fully in his sights, and lovely as ever she’d been. What man could help but notice her, especially when she wore a bright smile as she did in that moment?
The rising wind rustled the few curls she’d let hang loose about her face. She was friendly to everyone, charming them and easing even the most nervous of her suitors. The women, too, seemed happy to see her when she crossed their paths. She’d make a good wife and a good addition to his neighborhood.
He caught her eye in the next moment. She smiled welcomingly. ’Twas all the encouragement he needed.
Isaac slipped up to her side. “A good afternoon to ya, Miss Kilchrest.”
She laid a light hand on his arm. “How are you, Isaac?” She’d taken to using his first name, though he’d not felt comfortable calling her “Sophia.” Perhaps after she accepted his coming request he would.
“It seems we are in for a bit of weather,” he said.
She nodded, glancing briefly up at the sky. Her gazed returned quickly to the men standing about. Some held hats in their hands. Others stood with airs of confidence. Isaac had made a study of which men she gave second and third looks. Those who arrived ragged or dirty, she seemed less than impressed with. She preferred a smile to a somber expression.
She also preferred to make the conversation than to follow it. Isaac usually obliged her in that, but if he were to pose his question, he’d have to take control of their usually short time together.
“I wondered if I might have a word—”
One of Miss Kilchrest’s particular friends arrived in that exact moment. Isaac stood back, waiting, while the women exchanged embraces and quick-paced words.
He looked over those men who hadn’t yet given up for the day. O’Leary from Drumora, who’d received ample attention from Miss Kilchrest. Kelly from Pullamore Far. Others he’d not met in person but recognized from their many weekends jostling each other about. Malone and Sheridan, both Cavan men, who Isaac knew were his greatest rivals. They, alone, had been granted as much of her time as he. Others had early on in Isaac’s courtship of her, but they’d fled the field, apparently having been deemed not quite what Miss Kilchrest wished for.
Her friend moved along with one last wave goodbye.
Isaac began again. “Miss Kilchrest, I wished—”
“Buy a flower for the fine lass, will ya?” a little flower girl, likely no older than ten, implored with a bit of forward cheekiness but wearing the dimpled smile of an angel.
He could hardly resist such a request, especially seeing the acceptance of the offering already hovering on Miss Kilchrest’s face. Whether the flower girl had anticipated it or not, she’d made a clever suggestion. Given the sheer number of men stilltrailing after Miss Kilchrest, all the little girl’s flowers were purchased and offered in a moment’s time.
“Oh, I do love flowers,” Miss Kilchrest said, her arms laden with blooms, likely the last they’d see in a while. The chill of late autumn hung heavy in the air.
A light sprinkling of rain began as it so often did. Isaac didn’t usually even note it. But the timing might actually prove helpful.
“There’s an overhang just this direction,” he said, motioning toward a nearby building. “If ye’ll just step that way ye’ll be out of the rain.”
“How thoughtful.” She shifted the flowers into one arm. She offered a wiggly-fingered wave to the other men, then slipped her arm through his.
Isaac took a deep breath as they walked swiftly away. His moment had come. Months of working to gain her notice were about to pay off. Soon she’d send the other men packing and he could move on to the next part of his plan.
Safely under the overhang, he charged ahead. “Miss Kilchrest, I feel we’ve come to know one another these past weeks.”
“Indeed.” She smelled her flowers, obviously at ease with him. A good sign.
“I think ye’ve come to feel something of a preference for my company.”
She touched his arm briefly. “Of course, Isaac. Who could possibly not enjoy your company?”
With that extra encouragement, he cut directly to the heart of the matter. “I wish to ask you, then, if ye’d be so good as to consider me yer beau, rather exclusively.”
She did not appear nearly as shocked as Alice had, though perhaps a bit surprised. Her smile, however, remained serene. “You sweet man,” she said. “I didn’t realize you were so fond of me.”
“Who could possibly not be fond of you?” He echoed her words of a moment earlier, thinking she might laugh at the sally.
Miss Kilchrest shrugged a single shoulder, returning her attention to her collection of flowers.
