Page 18 of A Spinster to Heal the Duke
"I know, and it surprised me that I managed that, enjoyed it even," Noah admitted.
"You didn't seem ill," Anne said, trying to make sense of the Duke's explanation."
"I wasn't." Noah replied. "Not until I ate the desserts."
"But Esther and Judith are both excellent cooks," Anne replied.
"That may be, but their cooking doesn't agree with me. Very few people's food does. That is why I was so resistant to eating whenI first arrived," he explained, taking a long sip of his drink and avoiding looking at Anne.
"Why do you think this happens to you?" Anne asked.
"I don't know. The doctors believe it is a manifestation of my anxiety. Since my father passed and I assumed the role of Duke of Grandon, this has been my life," he explained. "I've had food sensitivities since I was a child, but it worsened around the time I stepped into his role."
Anne nodded and was silent for several minutes.
Then, she asked, "So you never eat?"
"I have found a cook that is tolerable, but I don't eat very much or very often. To limit the risks, she cooks from a limited menu with little more than salt and pepper to season anything," Noah said.
"That sounds dreadful," Anne replied.
Then, she quickly clasped her hand over her mouth and said, "I apologize, Your Grace. It's just cooking has been something that has connected me to my mother since she passed, and meals together brought our family through my parents' passing and the transition to Charles and I living here."
"I understand," he replied. "I can see where meals with the family you have left could be a comfort."
Anne smiled meekly but wasn't sure what she could say.
Finally, she said, "I'm nervous to offer you such rich foods, or anything really, for dinner now."
"Yours has been the first food I have been able to keep down and enjoy since I was eighteen," he confessed. "I am feeling much better and look forward to joining your family at the dinner table this evening."
Anne felt pleased by such a compliment, but she still felt concerned.
CHAPTER 6
Dinner, breakfast, and no incidents,Anne thought as she sat in the parlor with a book.
She wasn't reading, only creating the illusion of such while she observed the Duke instructing her brother, Charles.
I suppose a man of his position would bare many anxieties and stresses,she considered.But he tutors Charles with such confidence, not just in paperwork but in how to deal with people. How can such a confident, nay, arrogant man suffer anxiety?
Anne turned a page in her book, having not read a word on the page.
Her grandfather joined them for his post breakfast pipe and listened along as the Duke shared his knowledge with Charles.
"See here," Noah said, pointing at an error in Charles' work. "You appear to have correctly accounted for the mines and reported harvest since I corrected you yesterday, but I'm noticing you do not in any of your records have details for the entails of the people you oversee in the region."
"Entails?" echoed Charles. "Does it matter? They stand to inherit no titles and have very little land to work between them. Shop ownership seems to go without saying unless there is a sale."
"Nothing goes without saying, my boy," Noah replied with a rather know it all tone that bothered Anne.
Still, she appreciated Noah bringing this information to her brother's attention if it was something he should be monitoring. And it seemed like he should. She could only imagine someone in their landholding passing and two sons looking to her brother for judgment in an inheritance dispute.
Her grandfather said, "I go out and speak to the elders in each family pretty regularly to keep a finger on such information. I can fetch my diaries, and we can report what each family holds and who the namesakes are."
"That would be most helpful, Drowton. Thank you," Noah replied appreciatively.
"Very well then," said Grandfather Jeremy excitedly. "I'll grab the journals from my bedroom, and the three of us can review them together."
