“Oh, but you have that, too,” he said. “It is not the sort of beauty that turns men’s heads whenever a woman walks down the street, but that would be wearing, I think. Yours is more of a glow that lights up your face when you are excited or amused or pleased about something. And your hair, of course. You have the most glorious hair.”
He reached across the table to touch a strand which had worked its way loose.
She blushed and lowered her eyes. “So Henry always said. He liked to touch it… to wind it round his fingers.”
“He had excellent taste then, your Henry.”
She blushed more deeply. “We shouldn’t talk about Henry. He’s dead and gone, and… and my life will be… different now.”
He licked his lips, feeling his stomach churning again, but some things needed to be said. “Georgie… I know this is difficult for you, but I should not like you to feel you cannot mention him. He made you very happy, and that is a wonderful thing for you to remember. I have no intention of trying to dislodge him from your memory or your heart, so please talk about him whenever you wish. And if you have mementos of your life together, I want you to keep them openly, not hidden away. Do you understand?”
She nodded, still not looking him in the eye.
“You need not tell me anything private, of course,” he went on, “but I should love it if you share other memories of him. On special days — his birthday, or your wedding anniversary, say — I should be very happy to celebrate it just as you have always done. And it would please me if you continue to wear his wedding ring after we are married.”
She looked up then, her eyes filled with laughter. “That would be a sensible economy.”
“I did not mean— Oh! You are teasing me.”
“A little, yes. I don’t mind keeping his ring, but I thought you might mind it.”
“I have no wish to… to sweep him out of your life as if he never existed,” he said.
“You’re very good. I don’t have many mementos of him,” she said quietly. “His clothes were all sold, he left his watch and fobs to a cousin, and he never wrote me any letters. All I have is this.”
She opened her reticule and pulled out a miniature, a man’s silhouette in a delicate gold frame.
“It’s not very good, but it’s all I have left of him now.”
Jamie examined it closely, seeing only the outline of a man with a larger than average nose. “I cannot speak to the likeness, but it is beautifully set. This frame is exquisite.”
“It is pretty, isn’t it? My uncle had them made for us as a wedding gift.”
“Them? So there is a companion miniature of you?”
“There was, once, but Henry must have lost it for it was not amongst his things when he died. It was a better likeness, too.”
“Your uncle… is he still alive?”
She shook her head, real sadness in her expression. “Poor Uncle Claud! No, he died very soon after our wedding. He was not even well enough to give me away, and Mr Clark had to do it instead. Henry had vast numbers of aunts, uncles and cousins in Northamptonshire, but none of them bothered to come to thewedding, and Northampton is not so far from Oxford, is it? But they were never a close family.”
He placed the miniature carefully back in her hand. “Fifty miles or so. Maybe sixty. Is that where he came from? Or was he an Oxford man?”
“He only moved to Oxford when his widowed mother died. He lived with his wealthy aunt, who promised to leave him her fortune. I suppose I should go to see her, to tell her that I’ll be marrying again. She never liked me, so she’ll be glad to see the back of me, I’m sure. Well, I think we’ve probably said enough to rustle up a believable story about our marriage, so if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head for bed, and fortify myself for another day on the road.”
“I shall fortify myself first with a glass or two of brandy, I think,” Jamie said, and was pleased when she smiled in response.
“How appropriate.”
It felt like a private joke. But when she rose and made for the door, he intercepted her.
“Georgie… you have been very alone, I think. No parents, no relations apart from your uncle, and an aunt of Henry’s who was not someone you could depend on.”
“I had friends,” she said. “Rowena, my neighbours, people from church…”
“But that is not like family,” he said softly. “Family is so important… but I shall be your family now.”
He took her face in his hands, and because his heart was full and he wanted her to understand that he meant every word, he leaned forward and kissed her gently.
