She now felt a certain compatibility with him, for she, too, valued good land, and knew how important it was to nurture and maintain it. All her life, she’d toiled in her own garden at home, proud of her accomplishments, always delighted to see the green shoots sprouting out of the dirt. The feel of the soil under her fingernails—even though Diana had badgered her for being so irresponsible about her hands—had always provided her a secret pleasure.
“What aboutTwelfth Night?” Adam asked, bringing her thoughts back to the present.
“I’ve read it.”
“Did you like it?”
“Very much. It was hilariously complicated.”
He smiled at her and nodded in agreement. Then his attention went back to the books.
“What aboutThe Merchant of Venice?”
“I’ve read it.”
“The Merry Wives of Windsor?”
“Read that, too.”
He smiled down at her and said good-naturedly, “Perhaps it should beyoudoing the recommending, instead of me.”
She laughed. “Are there any books here, Adam, that youhaven’tread yet?”
“Only a few. I read most of them in Yorkshire, when Jane was alive. I needed a distraction, I suppose.”
Madeline found herself gazing into Adam’s eyes in the candlelight, wanting to fill in all the years he had been absent from her life. In a moment of abandon, she chose to ignore her resolve to keep her emotional distance and began asking questions she had no business asking.
“Tell me more, Adam. Tell me about the day you decided to leave Yorkshire.”
He set his candelabra on a table. “Surely you don’t want me to bore you with that.”
“I do. Tell me why you left your home when you had spent your entire life there.”
Somewhat reluctantly, he began. “Well, knowing I was going to spend the rest of it working someone else’s land, and earn nothing to pass to my children weighed heavily for me. I was tired of seeing my hard work go to support my landlord’s mistress’s apartments and baubles. Then one afternoon, his agent came by to discuss the harvest, and Agnes, wanting to be a good hostess, served him tea in Jane’s best china—china we had received as a wedding gift from my family. Mr. Westing took one look at his teacup and the silver teapot, and said that if we could afford china like that, we could afford to have our rent raised.”
Madeline felt her temper flare. “Poor Agnes. I hope she didn’t blame herself.”
He gave Madeline a look that told her otherwise. “It was only a few weeks later that the lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia came to recruit families to emigrate, and I was more than ready to hear him out. We came here on the very first ship and made a fresh start.”
“And now, you’re a landowner.”
“Sometimes I pinch myself.”
Madeline thought of what it must have been like, for Adam to sell everything, uproot his family and venture across an ocean into unfamiliar lands, when his children were so young. Penelope would have been only five years old. And Adam—without a wife to support his decision, or keep him company during the lonely years settling into a strange place—must have often questioned himself and worried for his children’s futures.
Madeline smiled warmly. “You’ve done well for your family, Adam. You should be proud.”
He nodded and let his gaze linger upon her eyes for a second or two, then he raised his left hand to look at it. “You know, I think I should take this off now.”
“Your wedding ring?”
“Yes. After our conversation about Jane, I’ve been feeling less burdened by what had been keeping it on my finger.” He pulled it off and put it in one of his desk drawers. “I have you to thank for that, Madeline. How can I ever repay you for your kindness?”
Even in the candlelight, Madeline could see his face go pale. He spoke awkwardly. “And I suppose it would have been bad form to still be wearing it when Diana came. Thank you,” he said again.
Madeline simply nodded to hide her own face going pale or flushing with pink. She wasn’t sure what it was doing, only that her cheeks were burning. For she had a dozen ideas about how Adam could repay her for her so-called kindness.
Adam regained the composure in his voice. “So, I’ve told you why I left Yorkshire. What about you? Why were you so eager to leave your home and marry a man you barely knew?”
