Mama was beside herself with excitement about the attention David gave me. Indeed, her excitement was the only thing that gave me pause. David had asked me to simply enjoy being engaged to him, and I did. But even though he’d asked me not to think about when or how it was going to end, I couldn’t help it when I saw Mama smiling softly whenever he put his hand on my back to lead me somewhere or when she would catch us laughing about an old memory.
Neither of us would relish returning to the life we’d been living up until David’s proposal.
We’d been engaged a week when David finally deemed the weather clear enough to spend an afternoon working on the Walkers’ roof. We went alone. Julia wanted to study, and it promised to be toolong of a day for Mama to enjoy it. And so I found myself with my arm linked in his, walking the same paths we had eight years ago.
The paths were the same, but gone were the days when a silent David would often trail behind me. Instead, he talked and laughed and held a brush and a long wooden paddle with grooves that he’d called a leggett over his left shoulder. I liked seeing him like this—his clothing rough and well worn, his tools of trade effortlessly a part of him. I could almost forget his father was a member of the House of Lords and instead remember that David and I were friends and perhaps even equals.
When we got to the Walkers’, however, I stopped. He turned and looked at me, puzzled.
“Do you not think it will be odd? Me accompanying you as you work on the roof?” I asked.
David raised an eyebrow. “I thought that was the entire purpose of this visit.”
“But if we go in together ...” I trailed off.
“Then we seem exactly what we are—two old friends who’ve come to visit.”
Two old friends. The words settled somewhere deep inside me. A smile formed on my lips, and I cursed my eyes for wanting to tear up at the most inopportune times. “You don’t think they will think something is amiss?”
“Because I managed to convince the most beautiful woman in the county to come with me? They might. But I don’t mind them being impressed with me.”
I bumped his shoulder with mine. “No, not because of that.”
“Are you nervous to see the Walkers?” he asked, dropping my arm and stepping away from me so he could look carefully at my face. I didn’t answer him, but he must have seen my answer in my face. He tsk-tsked his tongue and held his hand out for me to take. “You know they will be delighted to see you.”
How many times had I tried to coax him into a home just as he was doing to me now? Many, many times. Now it was my turn to decide whether we would go into this home together. I raised my hand to his and grasped it tightly.
Somehow, David and I had become a team, so I followed him into the small home, and when Mrs. Walker opened the door, her delight at seeing me again made all my worries melt away.
After twenty minutes of catching up, David and Mr. Walker brought the ladder and David’s tools up against the outside of the small house. I averted my eyes while David removed his jacket and waistcoat.
Mr. Walker held to the bottom of the ladder, and David made quick work of climbing to the very top, to the roof line. Once there, he grounded his feet firmly on the ladder and swung the leggett with a powerful blow. Dried moss flew up around him, but he didn’t seem to notice. His linen shirt billowed around him in the soft breeze. David pounded his way down the roof in a steady, well-practiced rhythm.
When the ladder needed to be moved, he balanced on the edge of the house, distributing his weight between his hands and feet so as not to put too much pressure on the thatch. Mr. Walker slid the ladder a few feet to the right, and David climbed back up to the top and started the process over again.
Every so often, he would glance down at me, and when he caught my smile, he gave a short nod and got back to work.
Together Mr. Walker and David moved quickly. After about half an hour, they had finished one side of the house, and Mrs. Walker turned to me. “I would invite you inside for a drink, but I’m afraid those two are making too much of a ruckus.”
“I don’t mind staying outside.” My eyes flicked to David again—he was working his way up the ladder again, his shirt no longer billowing in the wind but clinging to his arms and torso.
Mrs. Walker followed my gaze, and a smile quirked at her lips. “I don’t mind either,” she said in an appreciative manner.
“Mrs. Walker,” I hissed in surprise. She had to be nearing fifty. “Your husband is right there.”
“Yes, he is, and I don’t mind watching him work as well.” Her eyes flicked to her husband holding both sides of the ladder steady while David worked. “There is something satisfying about watching men perform physical labor, isn’t there?”
My face heated. I had no idea how to answer her. I certainly couldn’t agree with her, even if she had seen me looking quite impressed with David.
Mrs. Walker laughed good-naturedly at my discomfort, and I couldn’t help the little smirk that formed on my lips in response. Yes, yes, I had enjoyed watching David work so expertly on her roof, but my smile was the only affirmation she was going to receive from me about it.
David turned just at that moment to check on me again. His hair was damp from exertion, and several locks had fallen forward, the tips beginning to curl. Even more heat rushed to my cheeks, but I managed to meet his eyes. He raised one dark eyebrow in question, and I gave my head a quick shake, hoping he understood it to mean I didn’t need anything from him—I was doing well. Perhaps too well. I broadened my grin into a full-blown smile and waved him back to work.
David took one last glance between the Mrs. Walker and me and then resumed breaking the moss off the thatch.
I quickly turned the topic of conversation to Mrs. Walker’s four grown children, and fortunately, that was a subject she was more than willing to speak about at length. We didn’t follow the men when they went to the other side of the house. Instead, I offered to help clear out the Walkers’ garden patch to ready it for planting. Mrs. Walker was more than happy to accept my help.
Less than an hour later, the men came out the front door. David had his jacket back on, but he hadn’t bothered with his waistcoat. They must have finished and walked through the house to rejoin us.
