Page 67 of The Remarkable Myth of a Nameless Lady
“I meant what I said about offering you reparations. This estate will be difficult to run without some help, and I have reason to believe that your father understands what is needed to make an estate function as it should.” Jacob played the last card he possessed, in trying to persuade her. “I would like to offer him a position here, as my… deputy. I do not know if that is the correct term.”
Alicia pulled the overcoat closer around her. “I will see what he says.”
“If he agrees, I will have rooms prepared.” He paused. “And, perhaps, you and I may come to know one another better while you are residing here?”
She held his gaze. “I would like that, Jacob.”
“My mother is keen to know you better, also. You are her niece, after all. I know she has treated you unkindly in the past, but she is eager to make reparations of her own, to traverse all of that lost time.”
Alicia’s eyes brimmed with tears. “I would like that, too.”
“Perhaps, that way, we may put all of these ghosts to rest. And, maybe, I will find a way to be worthy of your forgiveness,” he put his hand on the bench, though he did not reach for hers. Barely an inch separated their fingertips.
“After learning of all you’ve told me, and all I’ve discovered, I no longer know if it is you that I need to forgive,” she replied, putting her hand on his. “You are half-Irish, half-English, the same as me. You did not know of your true heritage, same as me—though I, at least, had some vague memories to help me along. You did not know what had happened to our families, as I did not. Your own brother tried to have you killed to punish you, as my father has punished me all these years. Perhaps, you and I are not so different.”
“No… perhaps we are not.” He held her hand tightly. “And I would like to overcome any differences we still possess.”
A strange, sudden laugh erupted from her throat. “Goodness, I am glad you’re not my cousin.”
“You are?”
She nodded eagerly. “Oh yes, very much so.”
He did not know if that was the sign he had been hoping for, and he did not act upon it. If she agreed to come and live at the house with her father, they would have ample time for that. Maybe, next time, he would muster the courage to kiss her. Maybe… For now, he was happy just to sit with her and hold her hand and think of what might be.
Chapter 44
Alicia watched from a distance, as her father and Jacob walked with Edwards, the steward, and surveyed the estate. Despite her initial fears, her father had relented rather easily when she had told him of the offer to have them reside at Ravencliff, which had since been restored to its former name of Ballyroyal, at Jacob’s behest.
A month had passed since the events by the wall, which had taken Owen’s life. He had been buried in the churchyard with his reputation intact. Only the disbanded Ribbonmen, herself, Tom, and Jacob knew what he had schemed, and no whisper of it had emerged, allowing the estate to start afresh with Jacob at the helm. And Alicia’s father at his side.
In that time, Alicia had woken with thoughts of Jacob, and rested her head on her pillow at night with thoughts of him. Every moment she had to spare, when the Duchess was not attempting to educate her in the ways of being a lady, she spent with him. Even if it meant getting in his way while he was attempting to work. She knew he did not mind, for his eyes lit up whenever she was near.
“Alicia!” Jacob called, spotting her.
She waved and headed toward them. “I didn’t want to distract you.”
“Aye, I thought you’d be at your needlepoint or something,” her father replied, with a grin. “Counting cattle ain’t no interesting place for a young lady to be.”
“Don’t tell the Duchess, but I much prefer it,” she whispered conspiratorially, her eyes never leaving Jacob’s face.
“That’s my girl.” Her father beamed with pride. He looked smart in new trousers and a freshly laundered shirt, his whiskers trimmed, and his hair neatly slicked. He had made quite the transformation since coming here a month ago. Truly, Jacob would not have been able to run the household as smoothly without him, for her father had remembered much from his own days as lord of this manor and knew how to keep all the cogs whirring perfectly.
Not once had he raised his hand to her. Evidently, his near-brush with death, which he would not have survived without Jacob’s quick thinking, had prompted the initial change in him. There was still a great deal left to repair, but Alicia felt confident that they could fix their relationship now that her father had found contentment again. And if he everdidtry to strike her again, Jacob would see to it that he was cast out for any harm he caused her.
Finally, her father had remembered what he had, and what he stood to lose if he slipped back into his old ways. And though she had resented his behavior for so long, she was pleased to see that he had the strength left to rise from the ashes and stick to his resolve to be a better man.
“I’ll go to the dairy with Edwards and look through the new ledgers,” her father said, making to move away. “It’s a fine afternoon. You ought to take a walk and enjoy it.”
Alicia smirked. “Are you sure the sun hasn’t gone to your head, Da?”
“A father can’t urge his daughter to take a walk?”
“Not my father,” she retorted.
He shrugged. “Well, walk or don’t, that’s up to you. I’m off to the dairy either way.” He set off with Edwards in tow, leaving Jacob alone with Alicia. They glanced at each other nervously, like new sweethearts who had yet to understand the minutia of one another’s personalities.
Of course, that was not quite the case. They had spent many an evening in one another’s company, talking by the fireside while the Duchess and Alicia’s father exchanged stories of Juliet and the old Duke. They seemed to be repairing their own fractured acquaintanceship, slowly but surely. Though they had a lot more water under the bridge to wade through.
