“Then I shall make my plans accordingly.”
“And what might those plans be?” she asked but was grinning at him.
“To go and collect my bride of course. First I shall need a special license for she said, once my heart was clean, she would marry me without hesitation and I mean to make certain she does.”
Chapter 20
Olympia sighed as she stared out the window of her bedchamber. It overlooked the drive up to the house, a drive she had spent far too many hours staring at over the last month. She had thought waiting two months for him to come to her would be easy but she was now struggling to hold to it. It was taking more and more of an effort to stay put and wait with each day, each hour, that passed. She missed him.
“Do you wish to go for a walk in the gardens, Mama?”
She turned and smiled at her son. “That would be lovely. Thank you.” She walked up next to him and allowed him to hook his arm through hers. “I was just thinking that it was a lovely day.” She frowned at him when he made a noise that was heavy with disbelief and mockery. “That was rude.”
“Aye, but a lie deserves a little rudeness.”
She sighed. At times she forgot what her son’s gifts were. He could undoubtedly sense her unhappiness, probably even her disappointment when yet another day passed and there was no sign of Brant. It was difficult to keep any secrets from him. There was one, however, that she doubted he could sense, and it was the one that might well push her to go after Brant before that two months was over. Ilar did not have the gift that could tell him whether or not she was with child.
“Yes, it was a little lie, but mostly to save face. No woman likes to be caught out sighing with longing for a man. It is embarrassing.”
“Why? You love him.”
“I do but that whole sighing and longing business is such a misery. I thought myself stronger than that.”
“Oh, you are. You still eat well.”
“Perhaps that is simply because I did not realize that sighing and longing after a man also required a touch of decorative starvation.” She smiled when he laughed.
“We are being followed you know.”
Olympia glanced back to see Lure and Dinner walking behind them. “I sometimes think that they are a little afraid that they will be left behind to fend for themselves again.”
“I have no doubt that that is exactly what it is.” Ilar peeked behind them and then grinned at her. “I also think that Lure believes you are his mother even though he gets his dinner from Dinner.” He giggled at his own joke.
“Very amusing,” she drawled but there was a hint of laughter in her tone. “I believe they also somehow know we are going into the garden and wish to come along.”
“True. They do not like to go out unless someone goes out with them. Life must have been very hard for them to be so averse to going outside. Dinner shall have to be put in the shed soon, though. I think she will come into heat in about a fortnight.”
Ilar knew too much about animals and their ways for her to question him. His love and understanding of them far outreached hers. It was one reason he never really argued about his long stay in the country. She knew he would like to see the city but also knew he had no inclination to live there.
She looked around the well-tended garden and suddenly thought of the one at Fieldgate. “I wonder if Brant has been able to clean up his gardens. They looked as if, once tended, they would be beautiful.”
“Did you wish to be the one to hire his staff?”
“No, although I might come to wish I had some say if I ever go to live there.”
“Not if, Mother. When.”
“You sound very certain of that.”
“I am.”
“Have you had some, well, feeling about it?” She really hoped he did not have a touch of foresight as well for he had enough to deal with as it was.
“No. But I have very good hearing and a carriage has just driven up to the door.”
Her heart skipped with both hope and fear. “It might not be him.”
“True, the carriage sound did not tell me so, but his voice calling for someone to tend the horses did.”
She stopped and stared at him. “I did not hear that.”
“You were thinking about his gardens and, as I said, I have very good hearing. I suspect he will join us here soon. Shall I be gooseberry?”
“Only if you wish your ears boxed.”
Ilar laughed with the confidence of a child who had never been struck. “I will go and visit with Agatha then.”
“You heard her, too?”
“I did. Very good hearing.”