A Hope Remembered (26 page)

A
knock at the back door of the cottage set Phoebe to barking. “Come in,” Nora called from where she sat at the table. Her response to Livy’s latest letter, announcing the arrival of their son, Tommy, was almost finished.

Somehow Nora had managed to fill several pages, despite leaving off any mention of Colin or the vandalism to her property. If Livy got wind of what had happened, Nora felt certain her dear friend would hop ship to England, new baby in tow, and storm Elmthwaite Hall intent on righteous retribution.

Jack opened the door, a towel-covered dish in his hands, and stepped into the kitchen. Phoebe growled in protest.

“You silly dog. It’s only Jack.” Nora nudged the puppy with the toe of her shoe. “I thought Mary might come over again.” Bess’s oldest daughter had brought dinner to Nora the night before—and stayed a good hour, talking all about Lyle. It pleased and pained Nora to hear Mary prattle on about how much she liked the young man.

“I asked to come. Where should I put this?”

Nora motioned to the counter. Phoebe finally stopped making noise at their guest, but she didn’t return to her spot under the table. Instead she sat beside Nora’s feet, ears alert. Nora shook her head at the dog’s strange antics. “Please tell your mother she doesn’t need to make dinner for me anymore.” She’d been on her own for two days now, though she did appreciate the meals Bess had provided.

“I’ll tell her, but I doubt she’ll listen.”

Nora laughed. “True.” She stood slowly to avoid the dizziness she still felt if she moved too quickly or remained on her feet too long. “Want to join me?”

Jack hesitated. “Is there enough?”

“If there’s as much as there was last night, we’ll both have plenty.”

“All right.” He took a seat and set his cap on the table. Phoebe let out another low growl.

“I wonder what’s gotten into her,” Nora said, removing two plates from the cupboard. She dished her and Jack some of the sausage and set the plates on the table. After offering grace, she began to eat.

“What happens with the sheep in September?” she asked after swallowing a bite.

Jack pushed his sausage around with his fork. “It’s hefting.” He clearly caught the blank look she gave him over her dinner. “That’s when the ewes return to their particular spot on the fell with their lambs. If they don’t
heft
, then the lambs will wander all over the mountain.”

“Kind of like me,” Nora quipped, but Jack didn’t laugh. Instead he took a bite and set his fork down.

“There’s something I need to tell you, Nora.” His expression was uncharacteristically serious, even for Jack.

“Okay.” She stopped eating to listen.

“There’s no easy way to say it.” He stared at his plate. Nora could hear his boot tapping a steady beat under the table. A flush had begun creeping up his neck. “I need to tell you…I mean I want to tell you…”

“Tell me what, Jack?” she prompted, hoping to ease his nervousness.

He lifted his head to look at her. “It was me who threw the rock through your window.”

Nora’s mouth fell open, her mind reeling, unable to make sense of what he’d just said. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

“The note, the garden, the stone wall—it was all my doing.” He hung his head.

Prickles of ice ran up Nora’s spine and she shivered. Jack had been the culprit?

“That isn’t all, though. I…um…took your dog…and hid her.” His face turned as red as his neck now. “I only meant to worry you, honest, not send you up the fell by yourself.”

The revelations were coming too fast. Nora folded her arms against the chill racing through her and shook her head, trying desperately to think clearly. She only managed to get out one word, “Why?”

Jack ran a hand under his nose and gazed in the direction of the door. “Mary told me about Colin’s plans to persuade you to leave so he could buy your land. She overheard him and his father talking at breakfast one day.” He twisted his head in her direction again, his eyes full of sorrow. “I thought if I could make you believe Colin was behind those pranks, that you’d…”

“Choose you over him.” The answer was so startlingly clear Nora couldn’t believe she hadn’t suspected Jack before. Each act had come on the heels of her spending time with Colin—the shearing day at her farm, flying in his plane, seeing him after he’d worked in the stables with Jack, and finally, the party at Elmthwaite Hall. Jack had been jealous.

“I’m sorry, Nora. You may not believe me, but I am. I didn’t mean for it to go so far that you got hurt.” He fingered his cap beside his plate.

“I might have died, Jack. If Colin hadn’t found me…” She couldn’t finish her sentence. A lump clogged her throat. She wanted to lash out in anger at him, but at the same time, shame at herself made her hold her tongue. She’d condemned Colin for something he hadn’t done.

Jack scraped back his chair, causing Phoebe to bark again. Nora was no longer surprised the puppy wasn’t friendly toward him. Phoebe had witnessed his treachery firsthand. “I think I’ll go.” He stood up and plopped his cap back on his head.

“Yes, I think you should.”

He paused at the door. “I don’t blame you for being angry, Nora. I just hope you won’t hate me forever.”

“I need some time, Jack, but I don’t hate you. You, your mother, and brothers and sisters are the only family I have left.” Especially now that Colin was out of her life. She pressed her lips together, knowing she was seconds away from crying.

“Good night, Nora.”

She nodded in response. The door clicked shut behind him as the first few tears escaped her eyes. Jack’s confession changed everything. She rested her elbow on the table and pressed her hand to her forehead. Her head had begun to hurt.

Her shoulders shook with her quiet sobs. Phoebe stretched her hind legs onto Nora’s knee and licked her free hand, but Nora couldn’t muster the strength to soothe her.

She’d thought herself a fool for trusting Colin, but she felt more foolish at having convicted him without proof. He hadn’t tried to make her leave after all, as his father had requested. Instead he’d been kind and solicitous.

“What am I going to do?” Her question sounded loud in the quiet kitchen, though she’d hardly spoken above a whisper.

No longer hungry, she set her and Jack’s plates on the floor for Phoebe to finish. She needed to do something, anything to get out of this silent house. She couldn’t weed the garden—she hadn’t replanted it—but there might be something out front to pull up. The need to rip up something drove her down the hallway and out the front door.

The flowers and plants below the window had grown a bit wild with neglect. Nora knelt down and began pulling out the weeds. When she finished one area, she moved across the doorway to the other. Among the grass, she spotted some shriveled flowers. She picked up the small bundle. They weren’t like any of the other flowers growing around the cottage.

Nora studied the withered heads and tried to remember where she’d seen this type of flower before. The memory of dancing outside Elmthwaite Hall with Colin entered her mind. She’d plucked a flower similar to these from a bush while they’d been talking. These flowers came from Colin’s house. Had he brought them to her? If so, he must have tossed them aside after she’d refused to see him.

The dead petals crumpled under the weight of her fingers and resurrected her tears. While Colin hadn’t been completely honest about his motives, at least not in the beginning, he had genuinely cared for her—according to Bess and Lyle. Did he still? Or had her hurt and stubbornness cost her what her heart most desired?

She might have hurt him in return, but perhaps she hadn’t lost him—not completely anyway. Nora climbed to her feet and brushed the bits of flower from her hands. There was a way she could set things right, a way to prove to Colin that she was no longer angry. That deep down she still loved him more than anything else.

First thing tomorrow morning, she would go to Elmthwaite, as promised, to give Sir Edward her answer about the farm. Then she’d ask, beg, demand, whatever it took, to see Colin. She no longer cared if she made a fool of herself in front of his family or their guests. It was time to silence her practical side and let the passionate one have sway for once.

The morning sunlight warmed Colin’s back through his jacket as he gripped Lyle’s hand in a firm handshake. It was shaping up to be a perfect day for flying, with hardly a cloud in the sky. “Take care of yourself—and those cars—while I’m gone, all right?”

Lyle nodded. “I still can’t believe your father gave me a job. He won’t say how the idea came to him, though.” He threw Colin a suspicious look. “Only that I’m the right man for it.”

“You are, so never mind how he came up with it.”

“How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

Colin glanced in the direction of Nora’s cottage, though he couldn’t see it from here. “A month, I think, maybe longer. Depending on Lady Sophia,” he added with a rueful smile. The earl and his family had already departed for the train station. Colin would fly his aeroplane and meet them at their home outside London.

Lyle chuckled. “I’ll admit she has improved upon further acquaintance.” His expression sobered. “But I don’t think she’ll ever quite measure up to…”

“Nora.” The name tasted as sweet as it did bitter on Colin’s tongue.

“You’re certain you don’t want to try to talk to her again?”

Colin shifted his weight, his hands finding their way to his jacket pockets. “It wouldn’t do any good. She would only see it as me attempting to persuade her again.” He shook his head. “I’ve given her enough reason to mistrust me—if she wants to change things, I have to let her do it.”

“You think some time away from her will make a difference?”

He lifted his eyes to Lyle’s. “I need to go, Lyle. It’s difficult…being so close and yet unable to see her.”

His friend clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I promise not to sweep her off her feet in your absence.”

Colin laughed, easing the tension that roiled through him whenever he talked or thought about Nora now. “That’s because you’ll be too busy sweeping some other girl off her feet. Rather convenient now that you both work at the same place.”

Lyle’s face flushed, but his smile didn’t diminish. He’d told Colin the night before about his attraction to Mary Tuttle. Colin hoped the two of them would be happy. Perhaps someday he’d find that same happiness, or at least a portion of it, with someone else.

“I noticed a picture as I was walking by your room this morning,” Lyle said, artfully changing the subject. “I don’t think I noticed it before. It’s the one of you and Christian from the
Daily Mail
article, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

Colin had returned it to the spot on his wall the night before. Afterward, he’d stood for some time staring at the grainy image. His and Christian’s grins were almost identical, their arms draped around each other’s shoulders in mutual comradery. Instead of grief and regret, a feeling of peace had filled him as he studied his brother’s face. This was exactly how he wanted to remember Christian.

“I’d better go.” Colin shook Lyle’s hand once more and climbed into the aeroplane. At his signal, Lyle jerked the propeller. When the engine roared to life, Colin lifted a hand in farewell. Within seconds, the plane was speeding down the lawn for the final time. His father would start digging the hotel foundation in a few days.

Colin pulled back on the stick, and the biplane climbed toward the sky. Of their own accord, his eyes sought out Nora’s cottage as he flew over the lake.

“Take care, Nora,” he murmured before setting his face forward. He had a long flight ahead of him.

A noise, like the incessant buzz of a fly, filled Nora’s head. She waved her hand in front of her face, without opening her eyes, in hopes of driving the insect away. Just a few more minutes of sleep, then she’d get up.

Ever since her accident on the fell, she’d had a much harder time rising at her usual early hour. But she couldn’t remain in bed all day—there was something important to do, though she couldn’t quite place what it was at the moment.

She twisted onto her side and burrowed farther beneath the blankets. Sleep had been long in coming last night. She’d been thinking about Jack’s confession…and about Colin…and about the flowers he’d thrown away.

At the memory of the flowers, her eyes flew open. She’d planned to see Sir Edward and Colin, first thing this morning, so they could put the last week behind them for good. Nora darted a glance at the clock and gasped. It was nearly nine. She’d slept in.

She threw off the covers, upsetting Phoebe in the process. The dog hopped up from the foot of the bed and barked in protest.

“Never mind that, Phoebe. I’m late.”

Nora changed into her green Sunday dress, the one she’d worn to the dance at the pub. After running a brush through her hair, she settled for tying it back with a ribbon instead of taking the time to arrange it up. She placed her matching green hat on her head and scooped Phoebe up into her arms on the way out the door.

She didn’t want to waste any more time preparing breakfast, so she grabbed a couple of biscuits from the tin in the cupboard and went outside. Sunshine filled the morning with light and warmth. Nora tied Phoebe up to the gate post. Now that she knew Jack was the one behind the puppy’s disappearance, she no longer feared leaving her alone outside.

After a quick pat on Phoebe’s head, Nora set off down the lane. Each rapid footfall matched the swift beating of her heart. Would Colin see her? Would he be pleased with what she planned to say to his father?

She reached the main road and turned left, toward Elmthwaite Hall, eating her meager meal as she went. As she drew closer to the grand house, she slowed her steps. It wouldn’t do to arrive sweaty and out of breath. When she reached the front doors, she stopped to straighten her hat and brush any crumbs from her dress.

“Here goes.” She knocked loudly, surprised she could hear the noise over the pounding of her heartbeat.

Nearly a minute surely passed before one of the doors was opened by the Ashbys’ butler. He stared down his angular nose at her, blocking her way with his tall frame. Though it was morning, unlike the first time she’d come knocking here, the moment felt ironically similar to her first night in Larksbeck. Only she wasn’t the same this time.