Thinking about that shifted something inside her.
She no longer wanted to guard against Jonathan. Not at all. In fact, now she truly wanted him here. And it wasn’t just out of curiosity or intrigue. It was because she knew that he reallycared for Noah, that his feelings were genuine. And she wanted Noah to have that.
“I think he would do it,” Noah was saying. “But you two aren’t still fighting, are you?”
“What?” She blinked. Agnes and Dorothy both looked at her curiously.
“I know you were angry at him a few days ago,” Noah explained. “I told him he needed to apologize to you so that you two could be friends again. Did he do it? Are you friends now?”
Her friends were watching her keenly. Violet felt heat rise to her cheeks. She didn’t want to explain to them what had happened—how she had misjudged Jonathan’s intentions and gotten angrier at him than he had rightly deserved.
She addressed Noah. “We spoke about it,” she told him. “It wasn’t all his fault that I was angry that day. There was a misunderstanding. Everything is all right now.”
“So youarefriends?” Noah confirmed.
“That’s right,” she told him. “We’re friends.”
“All right,” he said. “Good. Because like I told him, you’re bothmyfriends, and I don’t want you to be enemies.”
“No. I promise we aren’t,” she said. “You don’t have to worry about that.”
He grinned. Then he turned to Agnes and Dorothy. “It was very nice to meet you ladies,” he said, giving a bow. “I hope to see you again in the future.”
They both chuckled and made their compliments to him as well, and Noah took his leave.
“He really is something,” Dorothy said admiringly. “I like him quite a bit, Violet. He’s a very sweet little boy. I think you’re lucky to have him—and I think he is lucky to have you. You’re going to be a wonderful presence in his life, whatever form that ends up taking.”
“I agree,” Agnes said. She was still smiling—but there was something about the penetrating way she was looking at Violet that seemed to be assessing the situation. Violet wondered what her friend had noticed, what she was seeing. It had to be something to do with Noah’s comment about her argument with Jonathan. Agnes must be wondering what had happened there. But if she was, she seemed content to simply wonder, and not to try to satisfy her curiosity in any way, for she didn’t ask any questions. She simply allowed the matter to rest.
The three ladies returned to their book club, discussing the events of the novel they were reading, but Violet couldn’t bring herself to focus on that. She sat quietly, letting the other two dominate the conversation while she tried to resolve the thoughts that chased one another through her mind.
This racing thought pattern seemed to be a nonstop thing lately. She had been unable to get rid of it.
It was Jonathan. It was always Jonathan. Once she started thinking about him, it was difficult to stop. That smile of his. That charm. The way he could surprise her at every turn, doing the most strangely kind things out of nowhere when she least expected it. Except that, truth be told, she was coming to anticipate it more and more. When Noah asked him for more books, she felt certain he would say yes. That was the kind of man he was—it had just taken her a while to see it.
But he’s also the kind of man who stands in front of me with his shirt off, looking at me and making me forget my own name.
CHAPTER 15
“Noah,” Violet said one morning. “I though you and I might go out for a picnic today. How does that sound?”
Her mind was full of plans. The idea had come to her last night, and she had lain awake for hours in pleasant thoughts about how it would go. They would go down to the river that ran behind the house and lay out their blanket there. Perhaps they would bring along a book to read together, or maybe they would just sit and talk. They would eat sandwiches and bring some of Molly’s cookies as well. It would be a truly beautiful day.
Noah, who had been sitting on the settee and staring at the pages of a book without turning them, looked up at her. “A picnic?”
“Did you ever go on one with Margaret?” Violet asked him.
“No, we never did that.”
Violet was glad. So her plan would not stir any painful memories for the boy. “This could be something you and I do together from time to time,” she said. “It could be our special bonding activity, a way for us to get to know one another better. Why don’t you go and change into play clothes, and I’ll have the kitchen get a picnic basket ready for us to take out?”
“Okay!” Noah jumped to his feet. “I’m going to be so fast, Violet. This sounds like fun!”
He ran off, leaving Violet feeling pleased and proud of the idea she’d had. It would be wonderful to spend this time with Noah, to really get to know him and see what he was like now that the two of them had gotten past his initial resistance to her. She imagined watching the water, Noah cuddled up against her, and listening to her read to him. It was a fantasy she had had in her head for a long time—mothering a child like that—but it had seemed out of reach for so long. Now it was really about to happen.
She went to the kitchen and asked Molly to prepare their picnic. Molly went to work immediately, slicing bread for sandwiches. There was a picnic basket in the kitchen, and she began to pack it. “The dowager duchess had us purchase this basket once—she actually sent me to market for it back when I was her lady’s maid,” she explained, handing it over to Violet. “But then she never used it. I never knew why she had wanted it, but maybe she foresaw that you would have a need for it one day.”
“That could be,” Violet murmured. She picked up a few pieces of fruit from a plate and added them to the basket. “I think I’mrealizing that my aunt was very good at anticipating my needs, even though we hadn’t seen one another in some time. She must have understood me much more thoroughly than I ever realized she did.”
