“Meets them? Goodness, it’s far exceeded my hopes.” She paused to brush her fingertips across the canvasses. And paintbrushes, too. There were several. “I cannot imagine the village had all of this?”
The housekeeper shook her head. “A day trip to Dover did the trick, however, to fetch what we couldn’t find.”
“Then you must have started the moment I mentioned what I was thinking about. Before I could even ask,” Isabel added. Her heart pattered over the company. The gift. The way they had listened to her and understood. “Who helped here? I should like to thank everyone individually.”
It was a trick she had learned early in her life, to ensure she knew the servants and their talents. Doing this here had worked wonders in the week since she had arrived. She knew everyone now, and they all knew her.
Mrs. Maple gestured behind her. “Oh, here and there. Johnny did the traveling, and Mary and Anna set everything up.
“And the furniture? I rather like the placement here quite well,” Isabel added earnestly.
“That? Oh. Well, I… I did,” Mrs. Maple said in a way that proved she was no good at lying.
Isabel raised an eyebrow. “Why are you hiding the truth?”
Immediately the older woman appeared sheepish, shrugging her shoulders and ducking her chin. “It isn’t that. I… well, I’m not certain everyone who did help, wishes to be known. He was rather modest about the rearrangement and orders for paints.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “He?”
Mrs. Maple opened her mouth and then closed it. Forcing a smile, she opened her hands. “I don’t know if he wants me saying anything, Your Grace.”
But she had said enough without actually explaining a word. There was no denying who thishewas bound to be.
Sebastian. Had he overheard her the other day? Isabel turned to look at the room. He must have. And then he must have come at once to work on the garden parlor. What compelled him to do such a thing, she couldn’t begin to imagine. All the same, it made her heart pound. Warmth flooded through her soul and she tried not to think too much of it.
No one has given me a gift like this in such a long time.
“Is everything all right?” Mrs. Maple asked, her eyes widening in concern.
“Very much so. Thank you so very much. For everything,” Isabel added. “I can hardly wait to use this room. I should like to sit here for a while before I prepare for supper.”
The housekeeper nodded in relief. “Very well. I shall be on my way, then.”
Letting out a long breath, Isabel went to the stool before the easel and took a careful seat. It was a perfect height not just for her long legs but for the arrangement of the easel. Her lips pursed, resisting the urge to smile. Had Sebastian helped with this part as well? She wondered where this stool came from, where he had found it.
Why would he do this? The man acts like I’m nothing more than a nuisance. We hardly speak during meals or when we find each other in the house. He never seeks me out… Or is this his strategy to get me out of his way?
Isabel was wondering this question hours later as she reached the dining room. But instead of taking her seat at the long end of the table, she carefully picked up her plate.
“Your Grace?” Edward, one of the older footmen, stepped forward. “May I be of assistance?”
“Yes, please. I need my glass and silverware moved. Follow me.” She carried her plate all the way down to the other end to sit at Sebastian’s elbow.
She had just set the plate down when he entered. “I was looking for you in the parlor… what is happening?”
Straightening up, she forced a smile. Edward had paused. Waving him back into motion, Isabel answered her husband. “I’m sitting at your side. There is no need for us to sit like strangers at the same table.”
“Is it proper?”
Her eyes trailed around the room before returning to him. “Does it matter?”
A short hesitation. And then he offered the slightest nod. “Very well, then, as you like. Shall we?”
Edward pulled out the chair for her. Nodding, she quietly thanked him before settling in and looking to her husband. “See?I think this is much better. Now we can properly enjoy each other’s company.”
Doubt clouded his brow. “I suppose so.”
The first course was brought out, some cooked greens. Eating better than she had in some time, Isabel was glad to have brought her small household staff here with her. They would all be eating better now. The London house was closed off, the key mailed to her parents with a note that she was wed and could be contacted at Eastwynd.
