Once they were alone, she retrieved a folded sheet of vellum from her skirt pocket and handed it to him.“I received this in today’s mail.I thought it would be of interest to you.”
Vincent stepped to the window, to better read the spidery Italian writing of Speranza, Nonna Vincenza’s younger sister.Most of it was catching up on family news and local events, but the last paragraph made the hair on Vincent’s nape stand up.“Do you think Nonna Vincenza knows Aunt Speranza wrote this?She has not mentioned her dog to me in several letters.Not since the last time he tried to steal a neighbor’s chicken.”
He knew his grandmother’s dog had been getting on in years but hadn’t really thought about it.Not only had the dog died, according to Speranza, Grandmother was insisting on not getting another because she didn’t want a dog to mourn her when she died.Which Speranza was expecting to be soon, given how deeply Vincenza was mourning her dog.“She won’t eat?She’s always had a hearty appetite.”
Aunt Gert picked up Henry and cuddled him to her chest.He licked her cheek.“I don’t know what I’d do without my Henry.”She nuzzled her cheek to his face.He gave her another lick and wiggled to get down.
Gert let him go, looped her arm through Vincent’s, and they set off down the hall, following Henry to the drawing room.“She may say she does not want another dog, but I know something that would cheer her.”Gert gave Vincent a gentle shake.
“I can have Lawrence pack my bags tonight and leave at first light,” Vincent said.He gulped as he entered the drawing room and saw Miss Walden sitting at the pianoforte.Even from across the room, he could see the happiness radiating from her.She was already warming up, playing something vaguely familiar.With a start, he realized it was a different arrangement of the tune she’d helped him compose.
“Matthew is leaving in the morning,” Gert said, barely loud enough for him to hear over the pianoforte.“You will stay long enough to stand up with your friend at his wedding.Then you go to Vincenza.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Chapter 19
Instead of taking out an instrument or playing the harpsichord, Matthew stood beside Miss Ebrington by the fireplace, their heads bowed in conversation.At Gert’s throat-clearing, they took a half step back from each other but continued talking.
Xavier stood before the cabinet with music folios, discussing options with Aunt Agnes.
That left Vincent sitting on the sofa.Next to Wallace.
“I say,” Wallace began before trailing off, apparently unable to actually say.He plucked a white dog’s hair off of his dark brown breeches, then found another hair on the sofa arm.
“I am sorry for breaking your nose,” Vincent said.Because of Henry’s shedding, he tended not to wear dark colors at Gert’s.
Wallace whipped his head to stare at Vincent, mouth agape.He ran his finger along his nose, which had developed a slight crook when he was eight, courtesy of Vincent’s fist.After a moment he shook his head.“I deserved it.”
“Agreed.”
They both grinned, then Wallace grew serious again.“It has come to my attention that I have been laboring under a misconception,” he said slowly, as though he dredged the words from a deep, distant well.He cleared his throat.“For a long time.”He glanced at the painting above the fireplace.
Vincent followed his gaze.Nonna Vincenza gazed placidly down upon them.“Yes.”His throat was too thick to force out any other syllables.
“Can we…” Again Wallace ran out of words.He waved his hand back and forth between them.
Vincent clapped his hand on Wallace’s shoulder and managed a wan smile.
Wallace’s shoulders rose and fell on a sigh, and with an answering grin, he and Vincent sat back and together listened to Miss Walden play.
She had added numerous flourishes, and several times played a variation before returning to the original melody, like a child going off to play and then coming back to its nurse.She finished with a glissando and dramatic pair of chords, then stood, yielding the bench to him with a grand gesture.
“You seem especially cheerful tonight,” Aunt Agnes said with a sly grin.“You’re almost, dare I say, giddy.”
Miss Walden blushed.“I received good news today.It has set my mind at ease.”
“Anything you’d care to share with us?”Gert paused in petting Henry on her lap.
“Four offers of employment, to begin after I’m finished here.”
“Four!”Gert and Agnes said in unison.“How will you ever decide which position to accept?”Agnes added.
“One is an offer I did not apply for, working with a former colleague for a family I’m already familiar with, on their estate near where the Exe River flows into the Channel.”
“At the seaside,” Gert softly said, nodding her head.
“Another tempting offer is at a school in Dover.They plan to travel with some of the older girls each year to give them extra polish.To London and even to Calais and Paris.”
