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The corners of his lips lifted.“I would have preferred a boy. He would race with me, I would teach him to joust and box, and I would tell him which of the masters at Eton were easy to impress,” Isaac said.
Tilting her head, Louisa asked, “And whatif it were a girl?”
“I would have become the overbearing older brother, rejecting every man who dared to look at her twice,” Isaac said, smiling. “I would have five maids chaperone her and a few footmen to safeguard her wherever she went. I would relent one day of course, perhaps when she got older.”
“And if the man were to prove himself worthy?” Louisa teased.
Isaac laughed.“He would have to be a saint.”
“I would imagine,” Louisa smiled. “You do seem to be very protective of all that you feel dear to you.”
He lifted her a little more and smiled. “I am, Louisa, very much so.Even worse because so many things had been taken from me. And do not doubt it, I consider you dear to me. I’ll do everything in my power to see you happy.”
“As will I,” Louisa replied gently.Even if it risks casting you into the way for rumors.“I will go to the graveyard with you. What time do you think you would want to leave?”
“They rest at Burial Ground, at St James's Churchin Piccadilly London,” Isaac replied.“So it would best for us to leave early, about seven.”
Louisa sat up, and in the dimness, reached for his face.“Isaac, I do not know your parents, but I am assured that they see the wonderful man you are from heaven and feel reassured that they had raised you properly. Despite what happened to you, you are a good man, Isaac, do not ever doubt that.”
He leaned into her touch and smiled. “Thank you, sweetheart. And I am grateful out told me to speak about them; I helped me to realized that I still love them, even with the passed time.”
“I’m glad,” Louisa smiled.
Isaac stood and helped her up, and as she stood, he wrapped his arms around her. “You are a singular woman, Louisa. I am so glad that you came into my life.”
Someone would have come along if I had not.
She smiled, then tipped on her toes and kissed hischeek.“I will have to go to bed now, but I will be ready by seven.”
“Goodnight, Louisa,” he smiled, then let her go and went back to his seat.
She turned to him and sighed internally at thepensiveness and tiredness that settled on his face as he stared out into darkness. Louisa did not want to leave but knew it would best for him to thinkabout his parents, so she left for her room.
It was the first time she had seen Isaac that vulnerable and in need ofcomfort. She felt pressed to turn around and go back to embrace him, but perhaps he needed to be by himself them. After all he had told her, he must want to reflect on his dear parents alone—so she left.
***
Louisa could count on one hand the times she had been in a graveyard.But none of those time had she entered a place as macabre but magnificent as this. The graves were well tended, andsome of the structures looked like houses.
Isaac must have noticedher confused look, so he explained,“Those are crypts, Louisa. Families purchase them to bury all their dead at one place.”
“Oh,” she replied softly. “It makes sense. Are your parents inside one?”
“No,” Isaac shook his head. “This way, please.”
He led them up a slight incline and that gently levelled off into a plateau. The brisk winds ruffled the skirts of the darkest gown Louisa owned and she briefly reached up to secure her bonnet that was liftingat times. Isaac stopped at the large, spreading oak tree and there, under it were two basalt graves.
One read: William Isaiah Montagu, Duke of Westwood, and the other, Elizabeth Celeste Montagu, Duchess of Westwood.
Isaac plucked his hat off and handed it to her, which Louisa quietly took and stood by as he crouched and brushed some leaves off his mother’s grave. He repeated the same with his father’s and Louisa pointedly looked away when he began to speak.
The wind stole some of his words, but she heard the others. He apologized, then asked for forgiveness for not coming to see them earlier. A brisk breeze muffled his other words, but when it died, she heard him mutter the worddisappointed.
She bit her lip as she waited for him to stop speaking and when he did stand and brush off his trousers, Louisa tipped on her toes and gently rested the hat on his head.
“How are you feeling now?” she asked.
“A bit exonerated,” Isaac replied, while rubbing a hand over his heart. “I feel better coming here. It is as if a load I was carrying is starting to lift from my shoulders.”
