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The second basket contained a luncheon picnic, and Caroline led her to the top of the bluffs. Lady Edith waited for them with her flute, Susan standing beside her with sheet music clutched in her hand.
Caroline waved at them and guided Arabella to a large stone.
Susan began to sing, cheerful, loud, and off-key. Lady Edith’s flute playing was charming.
“I wanted to serenade you myself, but my voice is even worse than Susan’s.” Caroline grinned at her, then fussed with bringing food out of the basket. She arranged cold chicken, fresh bread, cheese, and a cherry tartlet on a porcelain plate, and handed it to Arabella.
“Cherry pie.” She stared down at it.
“From our very first almost-kiss in the orchard.”
“You are so thoughtful.”
“You may have second thoughts when Susan starts her second song. She fancied trying an opera piece.”
Sure enough, Susan’s warbling hit a much higher key.
Caroline fidgeted with the edge of her cloth napkin. “I confess, I brought them here for a reason.”
Arabella took a bite of cheese. “To make sure we behaved ourselves and didn’t tumble our way toward the first flat surface available?”
Caroline gazed into her eyes. “To remind you that not only do I love you, but so does every Reeve in Inverley. I would give you my life and my home and my heart without question—but I also want to give you family. I told Jacob, Betsy, and Susan that I wanted you to move in with me, and that we are not exactly friends anymore.”
Arabella was shocked. She looked at Susan, who winked at her and sang even louder. “Theyknow?”
“Yes. They know. And they love us. I want you to know that my love has no conditions, and no boundaries. My brothers and sisters will be there for us. We won’t have to hide when we are at home.”
Arabella took a deep breath. This was a gift more priceless than she could imagine. She had not dared to dream that anyone beside she and Caroline, and Grace and Maeve, would know of her love affair. She hadn’t realized how wonderful it would feel to know that they had the Reeve family’s acceptance.
“You are so brave,” she whispered.
“You inspire me to be brave, Bell. You courted me and risked your heart in the process. You took a chance on your art and started a new portrait business. And when you overheard Mr. Taylor’s plan, you leapt into action to save Betsy. You are courageous.”
Arabella laughed. “When I made my suitress plans, I had thought about writing feats of bravery on my list, but I thought I would never ever be able to accomplish any such thing.”
“But you did. And you succeeded marvelously.”
Lady Edith and Susan finished their serenade, then came over to join them for luncheon. The conversation turned to Susan’s impending journey with Jacob to Somerset.
Arabella lost herself in thought as Susan and Lady Edith chattered. This was all better than she could have imagined.
She caught Caroline’s eye and smiled as she bit into the cherry tart.
She felt well and truly wooed.
* * *
Caroline had one last gift for Arabella as part of the wooing. She spent the next afternoon at Arabella’s cottage, a cup of tea in hand as they talked together as if it were the old days. At half past two, there was a knock on the door, and a man delivered a polished rosewood chair to the cottage.
Arabella stared at it after the man left. “What on earth is it?”
Caroline was overjoyed to see the piece of furniture in reality. She had tried to describe what she wanted as best she could to the wood carver, but the finished piece exceeded her expectation. “It’s a drawing chair.”
“A drawing chair?”
“For your portrait work. See, it folds up so that you can carry it in one hand when you are bringing it to the beach.” She demonstrated, closing and opening the chair with a snap of its hinge. “When you unfold it, there’s a cubby beneath the seat for your supplies, and there’s an arm that you can swing up to rest your paints on. There’s even space on the side to hang your reticule, so you will always have your ginger confits handy.”
“This is far too dear,” Arabella said, but Caroline saw the longing in her eyes as she gazed at the chair.
