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CHAPTER7
Pippa prepared the platter of tea and biscuits and carried it upstairs. It had been nearly a week since Elinor fell and broke her arm, nearly a week since Pippa had welcomed William into her house for tea, and she hadn’t seen the man since. She hadn’t left the house very much at all in that time, and she was nearly mad from the lack of direct sunlight on her skin.
She knocked softly before pushing Gram’s door open, and she stepped inside the dimly lit room. Gram sat on a rocking chair near the fire, her brittle hands resting in her lap.
“Can I open the drapes, or do you prefer the room to be dark and depressing?” Pippa asked, raising her voice to be heard.
Gram’s pinched lips didn’t so much as twitch. “You want to give me grapes that you’ve pressed? Is that your modern term for wine, Pip?”
“No, no wine, Gram. Can I open the drapes?”
“I suppose I’ll take some grapes. But I do not want wine. You know how it does not agree with me. Tea, please. Only tea.”
Pippa suppressed a smile. “Very well, here is your tea.” She put the platter down and poured a cup for Gram, handing it into her trembling fingers before moving the plate of biscuits closer.
Gram slurped noisily at her tea, and Pippa wondered if she was aware of how loudly she drank. She crossed the room, tugging open the drapes and looking back to gauge her grandmother’s reaction, but she didn’t appear displeased with the added light.
“Mabel let me read her last letter from Charles,” Gram said, setting her tea cup down and taking a biscuit. “He is to have another baby soon.”
“Yes, Gram, quite soon,” Pippa agreed. Her cousin Charles’s wife had been pregnant for nearly nine months now. The babe was set to arrive any day. Pippa poured herself a cup of tea and added a large chunk of sugar.
“Will they bring the children to visit soon, do you think?” Gram asked. Her mouth turned down at the ends. “I do enjoy having them here, though they are quite noisy.”
Pippa took a sip of tea and coughed, covering her mouth with her wrist. Charles and Amelia’s children were considered noisy? Did Gram not hear James and Elinor make their own ruckus daily? To say nothing for baby Liam.
“I’m certain Amelia will not be in a state to visit in quite some time, but she will come to us when she can.” While the drive to Graton, where Pippa had been born and her sister lived most of her life, wasn’t too far, it was far enough to warrant caution when one was about to give birth. “Has Elinor come to see you?”
“Yes,” Gram said, taking a bite of her biscuit. “She will not find a husband while her arm is in that horrid contraption.”
“She is five, Gram. She will heal well before that becomes a concern.” Not that an arm brace would in any way come between Elinor and a husband, of course, had she been fifteen years older.
“She told me of the dashing hero that came to her aid,” Gram said, a smile tugging at her lips as she reached for another biscuit. “A handsome man, was he?”
Handsome was attributed to men like Mac, or their good friend Hattie’s husband, the duke. No, William Blakemore wasn’t merely handsome. He was devastatingly attractive. Swallowing that traitorous thought, Pippa merely nodded.
“Well, who is he?” Gram pressed. “These old bones haven’t been house-ridden for long, and I haven’t seen a handsome face in Collacott in years.”
“I’ll tell Mac you said so.”
“Hmm?” Gram asked, tilting her head in confusion.
Pippa raised her voice. “I will tell Mac you said so.”
It took a moment, but Gram’s lips flattened when she understood the joke. “Mac is not available, and you well know it. I’m thinking for you, Pip.”
Need she remind everyone in her family that she was only nineteen years of age? Mabel had been six-and-twenty when she married Mac. The way Pippa saw it, she had another five years before she needed to hunt for a husband seriously. She had time on her side. She needn’t pounce on every half-decent-looking man who crossed through their small coastal town. No matter how easily that man seemed to make her pulse race.
“I’m afraid Elinor’s savior is quite off the table, as well.”
“Why was he on the table?” Gram asked, leaning forward, her eyebrows bunching her wrinkled skin.
“No...I just mean...” Pippa gave up. “You will likely meet him, Gram. He’s our nearest neighbor now.”
“A near neighbor?”
Pippa understood her grandmother’s confusion. No other house was within a reasonable distance, so out of the way they lived at Camden Court. “They’ve moved into Ravenwood Cottage.”
Gram’s body froze. When she spoke, her voice was low and steady, sending a shiver down Pippa’s spine. “Do not say Black Heart Blakemore has returned.”
