"You fret for naught. Here." Anne removed the clasp from her neck. After carefully opening the locket, she withdrew the thumb-size paper. "It is a list. A guide to finding my dream suitor. He should have a kind heart and love animals as I do. A pleasant sense of humor would be nice but not required, and of course, he needs to get along with my brother. This would be the most challenging. Above all, he must be noble." She wouldn'tfall for someone who couldn't put others' interests above his own.
Flor's eyes widened. "Child, this is—"
"Ingenious, right?"
"You know what? Let your brother choose for you. He has excellent taste in spouses."
Anne shrugged and stored the paper safely inside her locket. Her gentleman would fall in love with her as Griffin had fallen for Julia, and he wouldn't leave at the first challenge.
Images of her mother's loneliness after her father died flashed through her mind, and Anne flinched. No. Selfishness would not be in her suitor's vocabulary.
Perhaps she had already found him...
Anne traced Mr. Gabriel Fontes’s signature.
Julia waddled inside the bedchamber, her tummy preceding her by a foot. "Anne, there you are. You are so talented with a needle. Would you help me?" She held a piece of butter-colored cloth by the seams. It was either a dog dress or a troll's nightcap, but Anne would not discourage Julia by asking.
"Mrs. Maxwell doing embroidery?" Flor cocked her hip. "Are you feverish?"
Julia gave the maid a mock scowl. "If I am to be the mother of a lady, I need to learn."
In Anne's dreams, Julia's child appeared as a black-haired, blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked girl. So, they took to calling the new baby a girl, to Griffin's and Tony's consternation.
Anne picked up her sewing basket. Julia had two left hands for needlework, but what she lacked in stitching, she more than made up for in winemaking.
On the way to the morning room, Julia halted, holding the back of a chair, her face frozen in pain.
Anne linked arms with her sister-in-law and guided her to the couch. After a quick recovery, Julia dismissed Anne’s concern, but her smile stretched her skin as if plastered on her face.
"When will Griffin be back?" Picking up James in her lap, Anne settled by Julia's side.
Julia turned to the painting on the wall. By the play of emotion on her face, it looked as if she was searching for Griffin on the painted landscape. "Three days. I'm having these contractions. I am sorry, I should not be speaking thus."
The baby was due in October. Wasn't it too soon for her to feel so? Anne's stomach knotted. "Did you talk with the midwife?"
"I sent for her. I shouldn't burden you with my problems. You are too young."
"I want to help." She forced a grin and a lightness she was far from feeling. "Bear with me for a moment, will you? Maybe, just maybe, you could stay inside for a few relaxing days. I have a new novel. It's about an English family living in Oporto, and guess what—"
"I promised to visit the neighbors tomorrow and teach them the grafting process. Many have not reconstructed after phylloxera." Julia leaned back on the couch, and her tummy bulged.
Julia and Griffin worked so hard, and their efforts to save the vines from the plague were inspiring. But she couldn't risk the pregnancy by overworking.
Anne threw her palms and subtlety into the air. "You can't go away from the house. Not in your state."
Julia shook her head. "The king will visit the properties. We must show him we are making progress with phylloxera."
Anne had no experience with births, but if Julia kept bouncing on that buggy, her niece would come out too soon. But if she went in Julia's place, she could not meet Mr. Gabriel Fontes...
She crushed his message over her chest. If he were her dream suitor, he would understand. "What if I go?"
Chapter 5
WhosaidAnnecouldn'tdrive the buggy? Shaggy, such a lovely horse, responded to her inexperienced nudges. The morning air was crisp, the sun was shining, and she had a purpose, a meaningful one. Anne clicked her tongue, and Shaggy managed an easy trot, crossing the vineyards. Emerald grapes dangled from the branches like jewelry on a princess, infusing the breeze with their sweet scent.
When they bridged the Douro, the scenery changed. All the way to the horizon, the hills had sprouted thorns. The staked lines, where once the grapevines must have leaned for support, now were empty, standing atop the granite terraces like crosses. Anne yanked on the reins, and the wheels screeched, lifting plumes of chalk. James popped out from his carrying basket, and Anne scooped him back atop his pillow.
Shaggy raised his head, his ears flicking to the right. Plunged in shadows, a side path winded from the main road. The way to this forsaken property? Sunlight brushed the leaves of twin willow trees. Flimsy and wispy, the foliage flowed as if calling her inside.
