Page 85 of The Sea Siren of Broadwater Bottom
No, if he was going to do this, the right thing would be to recommend Slocombe for the living itself.
Was he truly contemplating this?Robert Slocombeas the priest of his own parish church? Seeing Robert Slocombe regularlyfor the rest of his life?
His shoulder gave a twitch. He glanced at Elissa, and her eyes were crinkled with concern. Harrington, meanwhile, looked openly horrified.
And there was good-hearted Robert Slocombe, looking at him in a cringing sort of way, as if he had always known the answer would be no, but still he had to try.
Edward steeled himself, then said in a rush, “I think it a capital idea. Excepting this business about you serving as curate. You are precisely the sort of man Lord Redditch has been looking for. I intend to recommend he grant you the living.”
“The—the living?” Slocombe sputtered. “I never imagined… the… the… ”
Harrington’s jaw was gaping open. Edward ignored his brother, keeping his focus on Slocombe. “You should ride back with us this afternoon. There’s room in our carriage. You can stay the night at Harrington Hall, and I will introduce you to Lord Redditch in the morning.”
Slocombe’s voice was rich with emotion. “I can’t thank you enough for this, Fauconbridge. I’ll do a good job. I promise.”
“Excellent.” Edward’s voice sounded a bit shrill to his own ears, but overall, he thought he was managing rather well. “We’re over at the Angel Inn. Where are you staying?”
“I’m at a lodging house on Iffley Road.”
Edward nodded. “We’ll stop there to collect your things.”
Slocombe’s ears turned red. “Oh! Um… why don’t I just run and fetch them? I can meet you back at the Angel in, say, a half-hour?”
Edward suspected this lodging house was not the most respectable establishment. “That will be perfect. It will take that long to have the carriage made ready,” Edward reassured him.
Slocombe hurried off. Edward dug some coin out of his pocket and handed it to his brother. “Follow after him and settle his bill, won’t you?”
“Have you lost your bloody mind?” Harrington hissed.
“Harrington!” Edward nodded toward Elissa. “There is a lady present.”
“But that’s Robert Slocombe!”
“I know. Now hurry along, and—”
Harrington tugged at his sleeve. “Look at me, will you?”
Edward turned to his brother and found nothing but concern in his eyes.
“I’m worried about you, Edward. Are—are you all right?”
He considered. “No. I’m not all right.”
It was true. He still had problems. He knew he did. He was coming to realize that the way he had looked at the world and the way he had thought of himself for most of his life was fundamentally flawed.
Twenty years of thinking the wrong things couldn’t be undone in a week.
But by showing a little bit of his true self to Elissa, and to Harrington, too, he was starting to see that his flaws weren’t as unforgiveable as he had always assumed.
And he was stronger than he’d realized.
He had proven that to himself today.
“I’m not all right,” he repeated, laying his hand upon his brother’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze, then shifting his gaze to Elissa, who was on his other arm. “But for the very first time, I think I will be.”
Harrington studied him for a moment, then nodded.
Edward gave him a push. “Now hurry, before Slocombe gets away.”
