Page 27 of Miss Ashbury and the Anatomy of Mending a Heart

Arthur was about the same age as Benjamin, but his frame was slighter, and he was half a head shorter. Candace had told Vera in confidence that her husband, James, wasn’t concerned in the least—he’d been much the same as a child, only hitting a growth spurt when he arrived at the age of twelve.

“Sounds wonderful.” Vera smiled, thrusting all her uncertainty about the future into a mental box. She’d lock it away for the day so she could enjoy this time with her dear friend.

Their steps moved from marble tiles out onto a flagstone patio, then crunched across gravel in the garden pathways. The gardens of Montclare were lovely. The late flowers of the season nodded their final farewell atop stems. Leaves were starting to turn—several trees adopting the new colors of orange and yellow first, as if they were adventurous young ladies trying the new fashions from France.

“How are you?” Candace asked, beating Vera to the question. “It truly has been far too long. Adelaide had to be the one to tell me you’d moved to the baroness’s house.”

Because you were too busy to ask me yourself.

Vera squashed the little bit of hurt she felt. Of course her friend was busy—a new husband, a new son, a new household, her brother and expectant sister-by-law returned from Greece. There was much to be going on with; of course Vera had fallen through the cracks a bit.

“I’m well. Helping the baroness with her pets.” Vera smiled widely to cover her own fears and doubts.

“I hear the baron has returned from India. The entire town is talking of nothing else. How do you find him?”

“Between you and me?” Vera arched an eyebrow and Candace nodded. “He’s a terrible grump. I daresay he’s lost all conversational grace while he was away.”

If he had any to begin with, she silently added.

“Shocking, indeed. Once he’s rested from his journey, I’ll invite the entire household over for dinner, so I can examine him myself.”

Vera nodded, wondering if she’d still be in Devon when said dinner party took place. “We had a small gathering of our own yesterday evening. The baroness invited your brother’s secretary to dine with us.”

“Hamish?” Candace’s eyes went wide. “What an interesting development. Do you think he and the baroness…”

She trailed off delicately.

Vera smiled. “I’m not sure about that, but I don’t find the idea as shocking as some might. If Jacqueline were to settle down again, I don’t really see her choosing someone regular, do you?”

Candace pursed her lips and looked toward the distance as if studying the birds winging through the sky over the far pasture.

“I see what you mean,” she said finally. “I think you’re right—if she does decide to dip her toe into the pool of romance, I can hardly see her in a London ballroom. She would prefer a different sort of hunting ground.”

“Knowing her, she might find a match while hunting,” Vera quipped.

Candace laughed, a wonderful tinkling of bells that Vera had always envied. Vera’s own laugh sounded more like a low grinding. One of her brothers had uncharitably compared it to a carriage that had lost a wheel. Vera privately thought it was more like an elderly woman who’d smoked four pipes a day for nigh on thirty years.

“She has an excellent mind and she knows herself well,” Candace said. “Wherever she finds someone, I daresay they’ll be very lucky.”

“Indeed. What man wouldn’t enjoy a hunting partner as beautiful as she?”

They rounded the bend and caught a brief glimpse of the boys before they plowed through a hedge and scampered off.

“Poor Seamus.” Candace reached down and patted the large dog on the head. “He doesn’t even try and keep up when those two boys are running about like that.”

“He stays in their general vicinity, though. That counts for something.”

“It does. He’s a very loyal dog.”

“Has he tried swimming lately?”

The mastiff and Arthur had to be fished out of a lake only months earlier. The dog possessed fewer swimming skills than Vera did, which was saying something.

“No, thank goodness. We’ve kept him well clear of all water deep enough to drown in.”

“Probably for the best. How is James?”

“Wonderful, as always. I am the luckiest of women.” Candace snuggled deeper into her fine shawl and smiled.