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Chapter 18
The rest of the week passed in a slow, steady rhythm that began to feel as familiar as it felt comfortable. Giulia saw to Nick’s meals and checked his shoulder daily, helping him to stretch his muscles and regain his strength. She walked with him and Jack around the east wing, slowly adding stairs to their route until they could complete the exercise without Jack’s assistance.
She continued to respond to her father’s mail, the letters flowing in with equal speed and the pile remaining a steady mound. Giulia watched the incoming post with anticipation for anything from Ames, or anything postmarked from Italy, though she was less ready to admit that aloud.
And she completely and utterly ignored any of Nick’s attempts to discuss the things that he was learning as he read her father’s journal.
Giulia had become adept at sidestepping conversation regarding her past or any of the conversations he wanted to bring up regarding her father’s stories. She would simply ask, “Is it about my grandmother?” or “Does it pertain to our mystery?” and more often than not, Nick’s face would give her the answer she desired, and the topic would be dropped. On the occasion that he pushed the matter, she would ignore him, and if that proved futile she would simply leave. Despite his growing strength, she was still faster than him.
“Must you go visit your friends today? I was hoping we could venture outside.” Nick whined as he lounged in the wingback chair beside his fire while Giulia tied on her serviceable straw bonnet. She was preparing to attend her first literary society meeting, and felt uncomfortable in her plum riding habit, one of the few articles of clothing she still owned that was neither serviceable nor gray. It felt like a betrayal to her mourning, but the color was dark, and Tilly assured her that outside of those inside Halstead, and the ladies she was going to visit, she was unlikely to come across anyone else. And it was not as if she could ride without a habit.
“You still may,” Giulia said. “I am sure Jack would be happy to escort you outside.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I really do not,” Giulia corrected. “I am hardly any help on the stairs as it is. Jack will be happy to help you get outside. Though where you plan to go is a mystery to me. There is nothing around for miles.”
Nick slumped, his pout making him look like a child who had not gotten his way.
Giulia delivered an exasperated sigh. “My goodness, Nicholas Pepper, quit your pouting. I am going out for tea and I will not be gone long. Now run along and find Jack and he will play with you; just be careful not to fall into the moat.”
He shot her a wry look before pulling himself to his full height. When he towered over her like that, he really was quite intimidating, but she would never let him know it. She patted his arm twice and spun away, clutching the long end of her skirts as she sauntered out of the room, pretending to be the adult when she was nearly half the size of the man she belittled.
A low chuckle followed her into the hall, and she smiled to herself.
A groom by the name of Baker with a nearly bald head that belied his younger years accompanied her on horseback across the earl’s land and to the edge of the property.
When she had described her destination the day before, the groom had seemed to know precisely which unused barn on the Green’s land she was referring to and offered to lead her there instead of drawing a map as she had requested. Now she was beyond grateful for that offer, for she was certain she would have gotten lost had she ventured out on her own. There were trees scattered here and there which all looked the same, and for all she knew, they were traveling in a large circle.
Baker kept his horse beside hers. “If you go by road, there is a turn up the lane from Halstead. Follow that and it will lead directly to the property line that meets with the Greens’ land,” Baker explained, gesturing behind them to the direction of Halstead. Or, at least, that is what she thought he was pointing to. “And from there it is a direct left until you reach the barn. That is the long way around though and would take at least twice as long.”
“That is useful to know, thank you. I doubt I could travel this way again without getting mercilessly lost.”
Baker smiled at her. “Anytime, Miss Pepper. Will you be wanting me to wait to escort you home then?”
She thought for a moment before shaking her head. “That is unnecessary, Baker. I can follow directions well enough. And I don’t mind the longer route. I’ve missed riding horses.” She ran her hand along the mare’s chestnut-colored neck and felt the warm rumbling skin beneath her gloved fingers.
A large, looming barn appeared before them and took Giulia by surprise. It was old and weathered and appeared to be in complete disarray. It nearly looked as if it was going to topple over and she was suddenly fearful as she pictured the loft inside where the bevy of swans—she had begun to think of the graceful women as such—had told her their weekly Literary Society meetings took place. She gulped, offering a nervous laugh and a side glance at Baker, who continued forward as if nothing was amiss. The man must have thought she was crazy when she requested directions to this barn. He was a good, obedient servant, that was for certain.
Jumping down from the horse, she handed her reins to Baker and approached the door. Before she could knock, however, it swung forward, and Giulia jumped back to avoid being hit. Mabel grinned, casting her an apologetic look before taking the reins from Baker and dismissing him. The groom looked at Giulia for confirmation and she offered him a shrug before following Mabel and the earl’s horse into the barn. It closed behind her and she spun to find Amelia bolting the door. It was dim on the ground level, but there was light pouring from high above, over the edge of a large loft. Connecting the ground to the loft was a ladder that looked solid and secure and…new. In fact, the entire floor of the loft looked new. Or, at least, newly reinforced. It gave her a measure of comfort and she let out a slow breath of relief.
“You needn’t have worried,” Amelia said as she secured Giulia’s mare in a stall. She strung her arm through Giulia’s and led her toward the ladder. “We would not have led you into a dangerous situation.”
Giulia smiled sheepishly and ducked her head. “I only worried when I saw the state of the barn.”
“And rightfully so!” Hattie called down from the loft. “If Mae didn’t fall through and break her leg a few years ago we would never have gone to the trouble to reinforce the loft and it would be a very dangerous place, indeed.”
Giulia gasped. “She fell through? All the way to the ground?”
“Yes.” Amelia nodded. “We had to meet in her bedroom for months while that wretched leg healed.”
“And what an inconvenience it was for you, wasn’t it?” Mabel said dryly as she walked toward them from the stalls where four horses were locked in and happily munching on hay.
“Such an inconvenience.” Amelia chuckled as she climbed the ladder.
Mabel crossed the barn, a slight limp marring her elegant stroll. How had Giulia missed it before? Somehow Mabel’s tall stature seemed to overshadow the limp, her grace and poise making it seem small and insignificant.
Giulia followed Amelia, who looked dashing in her elegant black riding habit, up the ladder and gasped when she reached the top. High above the dismal decay of the barn floor with its pathetic stalls, dirt floors, and haphazard door was an oasis of color, comfort, and beauty. The loft was about one-third the length of the overall barn, which was still larger than Nick’s oversized bedroom. It was littered with rugs of various styles and colors, with two sofas in the center of the floor facing each other, and quilts strewn about in careless disarray; light flooded the scene from the large open barn door on the wall of the loft. Paintings dotted the walls in such magnitude that hardly any of the actual barn walls showed through, and oversized pillows were gathered in piles near the edge of the sofas in what looked like a makeshift bed.
