Page 75 of Hearts of Briarwall

“Ruby, how wonderful to see you!” Lydia’s joy was not feigned. She could use the support of a Wendy League girl at the moment. She turned. “Sir Lawrence, will you excuse me? I have need to talk to my friend.”

He nodded to both ladies. “Miss Wooding. Miss Burke. Good day to you.”

Lydia threaded her arm through Ruby’s and all but pulled her toward the cemetery. “I’m very glad to see you.”

“So I gathered. I have it on good authority that you would appreciate my interruption.” Ruby nodded back toward the road, where Violet gave a small wave before getting into her car with her mother.

“Yes, well, I’m grateful. And flummoxed.”

“By Sir Lawrence?”

“Certainly. He is suddenly ...”

“Interested?” Ruby offered.

“Too close,” she corrected. “He keeps kissing my hand. And he’s begun whispering to me. What is that all about?”

“Do you truly need me to explain it to you?” Ruby stopped and looked at her, kindness and patience in her gaze.

Lydia sighed. “No. Only perhaps you can explain to me why he has decided that, after years of regular association with my family, he is suddenly ...”

“Interested,” Ruby repeated.

“I suppose.”

She shook her head. “I can only speculate. We are not girls anymore.Anyman would be ridiculous not to take notice of you, whether he is a family friend or a new acquaintance ... or even arenewedacquaintance?” She lifted her dark brows.

Lydia groaned. “What did Violet tell you?”

“Only that Spencer Hayes may be in love with you.”

Lydia frowned. “That is not funny.”

“It wasn’t meant to be. She also said you may be in love with him.”

Lydia’s cheeks flamed, and her breathing became difficult. “Well, she’s mistaken.”

Ruby pulled her closer to her side and resumed walking. “Violet is the most reliable observer of all of us.”

“Aside from you,” Lydia said.

“I am too shy.”

Lydia shook her head. “You are quiet. Often that makes you the best of us. You see things we miss in our exuberance. Yet I know you to be more confident and wiser than I feel most of the time.”

“That is quite a feat, considering I am in the middle of six brothers of varying heights and energies, and I constantly feel as though I somehow stepped on the wrong boat and it is too late to return to port. I assure you, it is no confidence booster to hear your parents boast of their sons and mention you as an afterthought.Oh, and this is our Ruby. Heaven knows what the Lord was thinking sending us a girl in the middle of all of this bedlam.”

Lydia frowned. The Wendy League received regular anecdotes of Ruby’s life with her brothers, but they were usually laced with long-suffering humor. She’d heard Mr. and Mrs. Burke refer to their daughter in such a way at gatherings, though.

“I’m sorry you’re made to feel distinctive in such a way. Your brothers adore you, Ruby. I’ve seen it. Even when we’re wielding our feminine minds in their direction.”

She smiled at the ground. “Well, I can’t argue that.”

“Knowing how protective myonebrother is of me, I can only imagine how it might be to havesix.” Lydia made a face.

Ruby looked up and grinned. “The poor boy who comes courting Miss Ruby Burke ...”

“Will be the luckiest man on earth—if he survives it.”

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