Page 6 of The Road to Cavan Town
He wasn’t the only one. How could the man act so fond of her in one moment—acting jealous of another man, picking wildflowers for her—and be determined to claim Sophia Kilchrest’s hand in the very next instance? It seemed men were thicker in the head than she realized.
“Ya wish me to help ya win her over?” Her heart dropped at the thought.
He nodded enthusiastically. “What better person to help me than you? Ye’re a woman.”
“Noticed that, did ya?” she muttered.
“So what do ya suggest?”
Thick-headed, foolish man!
She picked up her pace, tension pushing her ahead. “I’ve no advice for ya, Isaac. Ye’ll have to sort this one out on yer own.”
“No advice, at all?” He spoke from a bit behind her, no longer keeping pace. “Because ya can’t think of anything? Or because ya don’t want to help me?”
Not want to help him? He made her sound selfish, petty. Could he not even guess at her reasons? She was jealous and heartbroken. But she was also worried. She didn’t know Sophia Kilchrest personally, but there was something about her she didn’t like. But shedidlike Isaac, more than seemed advisable in fact.
She slowed her steps enough for him to reach her side again. “Can ya tell me what it is about Miss Kilchrest that has captured ya?”
Something like relief entered his expression. He thought her question a sign she meant to help rather than a moment of self-inflicted pain. To know why she’d been passed over wouldn’t necessarily help ease her regrets. She only hoped knowing the whys would lead to some degree of acceptance.
“Well,” Isaac said, his tone filled with pondering, “she’s beautiful.”
There was no arguing with that. Alice knew she was no beauty, though she’d not thought herself wholly plain.
“And she is genteel and sophisticated.”
All things Alice knew she was not, and yet that ought to have been an argument in her favor. “What in heaven’s name is a genteel and sophisticated woman going to do living on a farm?”
He shook his head firmly, eyes turned directly ahead. “Ya make me sound as though I live in a tiny crofter’s cottage on a half-acre of barren soil.”
“I said nothing of the sort.” She’d learned over the four months she’d known Isaac Dancy that he could be a bit touchy about his land. “I know ya have some of the best land in all of County Cavan. And I further know ya’ve built a fine home for yerself. But, in the mind of a woman like Sophia Kilchrest, who has livedall her life in a town the size of Cavan in a fancy house with all the comforts she must have there, the life of a farmer’s wife will be entirely foreign to her.”
Isaac didn’t appear to even ponder her very logical argument. “She has a kind heart and giving spirit. Such a woman wouldn’t turn her nose up at the life I have to offer her. I’ve told her enough of my home and life. If she hated the idea, she’d not have continued giving me the time of day. And she certainly would have answered my question yesterday with a no.”
Alice wondered if Miss Kilchrest was simply stringing Isaac along. She couldn’t prove it, nor make any arguments that would likely convince him. Neither could she force herself to help the man who’d captured her heart win over another woman.
He’d long since set his mind to courting Miss Kilchrest. Though his determination and dependability were among the reasons Alice liked him so very much, his stubbornness could, at times, be so very frustrating.
“I wish ya luck of it, Isaac. I’ve a feeling Miss Kilchrest will not be easy to win over.”
He shoved his hands once more into the pockets of his coat. “Then how do I go about it? I gave her flowers yesterday, but so did everyone else. My offering didn’t seem to stand out to her.”
Sophia Kilchrest is a fool.Alice once again brushed her fingertips along the petals of the flower Isaac had only just given her.
The road made its lumbering turn around the lake, a wind blowing off the water that made her shiver. She’d need to start wearing her heavier coat as the season turned. Winters were not generally bitter in Ireland, but they were decidedly cold and, more often than not, wet.
“Do women have a favorite flower?” Isaac asked. “Perhaps if I chose better, she’d appreciate it more.”
Isaac is a fool, too, it seems.“Giving a woman flowers isn’t aboutthe flowers. A woman who really loves a man will love any flower he gives her, not because of the flower, but because of him. She’d not even need offerings. Simply being with him would be enough.”
Isaac had picked flowers for her now and then during their walks to and from Cavan, but she hadn’tneededsuch things. He treated her kindly. He shared his thoughts and his worries. They’d found an ease with one another and, she thought, a closeness unique to the two of them.
“If a woman really loved a man she’d light up simply because he was nearby and think of him when they’re apart," Alice pressed on. "She’d be just as happy talking with him as she would be spending an afternoon in silence. ’Twouldn’t matter in the least so long as they were together.”
She’d all-but bared her soul, nearly confessed what she never intended to. But did Isaac realize as much?
If his distant expression were any indication, he’d not made the connection. “I’m competing with half the men in County Cavan. I have to think of some way to stand out.”
