“I did ask her about Lewis, but she said she couldn’t say.”
Jessica tensed as he leaned closer, but then he lifted a large pot, one too heavy for her, and stepped around her. She watched him move the heavy pot to the other side of the room with ease. He returned, brushing dirt off his waistcoat. He was so good to help her. “Couldn’t say? That sounds suspiciously like an evasion,” Jessica noted.
“That is what I thought, too.” Gideon started to chuckle. “When did you get so wise, my lady?”
“I’ve always been this way, or so Fanny teases me. Fanny says I was born with an old soul.” Jessica was proud of that.
“So you were,” he agreed, smiling. “But don’t forget to leave room to have a little fun now and then.”
“I’ll never forgot that when I will always have you to remind me,” she said, glancing his way. Would he still be her friend if he married? He would certainly have obligations elsewhere then, and if he married this Mrs. Beck, he would acquire sons to raise as his own.
Jessica gulped at that thought. “Mr. Lewis has been at Quigley for as long as I can remember. He is devoted to you and has always been sensible. Whatever the problem is, no doubt it can be solved to everyone’s satisfaction.”
It wasn’t her place to do so but she could involve herself. Mrs. Harrow would probably tell Jessica what ailed Mr. Lewis if she asked the right way.
Gideon approached her. “What are you plotting in that agile brain of yours, my dear girl?”
She smiled sadly. Forever, Gideon would think of her as a mere child. She had grown up, but he couldn’t see the change in her. Everyone else had considered her a woman of marriageable age for the last year. Well, everyone but him and her father, apparently. “Never mind, sir.”
“You’re sad again.”
“Am I?”
“I wondered perhaps if you were unhappy with me for not inviting your family to my dinner last night. If I had known you were coming back so early, I certainly would have or changed my plans to another night.”
Jessica fought a flush of heat to her skin. “I’m not in despair that I missed out on an invitation. I’m not so childish as that.”
“It is quite all right for you to say so if you are.”
She sighed and forced a smile to her lips. “I don’t expect you to invite my family to every amusement you host, even if they are so very rare.”
When he married, their friendship would become less important to him. He wouldn’t understand why that saddened her. He would want her to be happy for him. She had to pretend she hadn’t seen him kiss that woman and when the engagement was announced, she would also pretend surprise along with everyone else.
“Jess,” he said softly. “I can always tell when you’re not being truthful, you know.”
She shrugged. She should count herself lucky to have had Gideon to herself for so long. She placed her hand on his arm, feeling his strength and warmth through the thin barrier of his linen shirt. Gideon was warm, both in personality and in person. He deserved to be happy, and if that woman made him so, she had to accept the situation. “I’m still tired from the journey and London, perhaps,” she promised. “I’m not sure where I belong anymore.”
“Your father’s marriage has displaced you as mistress of Stapleton Manor.”
“I don’t mind giving way to Gillian.” Jessica leaned against a dry portion of the potting table. “But I will need to find something else to fill my days with. This will not be enough.”
He leaned next to her. “What about your little cottage in the village?”
“What about it?”
“It is empty, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but…oh, I see where you’re going. You think I should empty the cottage of Aunt Grey’s furniture, too?”
“That wasn’t what I was going to suggest.” He nodded. “What do you think of leasing the place, furnished?”
“To whom?”
“To Mrs. Beck.”
“No!” The word sprang from her lips without any proper consideration. She turned away from Gideon as her face had grown very hot again. Usually she would listen first, but the thought of that woman meeting Gideon at her own property made her extremely angry.
“Very well. It was just an idea. No matter. I’ll find somewhere else for the school.