Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I’d read through quite a bit more of Marie’s journals but found not a single word written about anything “dire,” and she almost studiously avoided referring to Harmony at all, except to say things like, Harmony wore the loveliest dress to church today, and the like.
I’d then turned to Unity’s journals, and although Unity, Harmony’s younger sister, was far more verbose, she was also quite a bit younger, so her language was dreamy and flowery (whereas Harmony fell in love with Charlie, Unity fell in love with what seemed like every soldier that came through The Downs, both wounded and not).
She was, however, very aware of Harmony and Charlie’s love affair, though only as an observer. She fervently hoped they would ride into the sunset for their happily ever after. She was devastated when they did not.
But around the date of Marie’s grim entry alluding to something happening to Harmony, Unity was blissfully unaware of it, not only since she didn’t mention anything, but also because the blithe, teenaged tone of her entries didn’t change.
I’d given up and gone back to where I left off before curiosity got the better of me.
I had a ton of stuff to get through, and now only just over a week to get through it. But also, since Rally and Courtney were leaving after tea, I didn’t have a full day to work and needed to be in the blue salon at three because I liked them. They were lovely, it felt good to be around two people who were so in love, and I wanted a bit more time with them and to be there to say goodbye.
So I was hard at it when I sensed movement at the door.
I looked up and my heart jumped into my throat as Battle walked in.
How on earth could he make simple sweaters and jeans look so scrummy?
We’d eventually been joined by Prue and Chassie at breakfast (both of them not as good aristocrats as Tempie, since they were both hilariously hungover), but Courtney told us Rally and Battle were taking a “morning wander with Bartholomew.”
This was the first time I’d seen him since last night.
“Hey,” I greeted, smiling at him because he was gorgeous, he was there, also, I worried he might feel awkward or embarrassed about last night, and I wanted him to know he shouldn’t be.
“Vivi,” he replied, walking in.
I looked at my phone and saw I had an hour before tea.
“Something up?” I asked him.
He was perusing the crates, and he didn’t answer.
He then turned to my desk, which probably appeared to him as being messy with papers and books, my laptop and notes, but to me, it was organized chaos.
“I see you’ve made yourself at home,” he murmured as he reached out to one of the three framed photos I brought with me, all three standing pride of place facing me from a corner of the desk. This where they always were anywhere I worked.
I had to steel myself as he looked down at it, because him just touching that photo felt like a caress.
Not a sexy one.
A tender one.
It was a picture of Mom and Dad horsing around at a campsite before they were married.
He studied it, and as he did, I felt something tingly move over my skin. Not unpleasant, but wholly intimate.
“Your parents?” he asked the picture.
“Yeah. Mom and Dad. The soon-to-be Amy and Brian Dupree. That was taken before they were married. Actually, it was taken on the camping trip where Dad proposed.”
After a moment’s more contemplation, he put that down and picked up the picture of me and my sister.
“Me and Solène. My sister,” I said. “And yes, Dad’s last name was French, and he has French ancestry, obviously. But he wasn’t that big into it, according to Mom. She was the one who was fascinated by all things French, so she named us.”
“Like you’re fascinated with all things English?” he asked.
And yeah, all three of my historical fiction books had been about English history, obviously my next book was, and two of the four romance novels I wrote were set in England.
Though, admitting this seemed like I was admitting something bigger.
Therefore, it was whispered when I said, “Like I’m fascinated with English things.”
Fortunately, he made no response to that and instead put that picture down and picked up the one of me cuddling my niece and nephew.
“Matías and Estrella. And their names are because my brother-in-law, Alex, is Mexican American,” I explained.
“Mm,” he hummed before he put that picture back and moved to the shelf bearing the crates to look out the window. “I’d like to request a favor,” he said to the garden.
He was acting strange, and because of that I was on my guard.
“Shoot,” I invited.
“I know you have a lot of work to do, but I’d like to ask you to work in tandem with Tempie to get Prue and Chassie to London.”