Page 67 of The Seaside Homecoming
The life of spies is to know, not be known.
—George Herbert,Outlandish Proverbs
Sarah sat with her mother and three of her sisters—Emily, Viola, and Georgie—in Sea View’s parlour, chatting over tea and needlework, or in Emily’s case, pen and notebook.
Sixteen-year-old Georgiana sat half-heartedly picking out some threads she had stitched incorrectly, her mind clearly elsewhere.
Mamma still expected her youngest to finish a sampler as a rite of passage for a young lady, a project Georgie had been working on for many months now.
Sarah’s own sampler, along with Viola’s, hung in Mamma’s room. She had not yet hung Emily’s, which would win no awards. And Claire’s was upstairs in Sarah’s trunk, where Sarah had hidden it, bringing it with her during the move. Neither the sampler nor Claire herself were where they should be.
Despite this glum thought, it was good to have Viola back with them after an absence of several weeks. She described with animation their wedding trip: the roads, the delays, theinns good and bad, the scenery, the beauties of Lake Windermere in Cumbria, and the rugged peaks and lochs of Scotland.
A wistful longing seeped into Sarah’s soul as she listened. She tried to tell herself that she was merely missing Claire and wished her eldest sister could be there with them. But she knew, deep down, it was more than that.
As Viola described the clear water of the lochs, Sarah saw Callum Henshall’s sea-green eyes, looking at her with warm admiration. When Viola talked about the beauty of the highlands, she saw his handsome face, with sunlight bronzing his high cheekbones. When she spoke of the lovely music they had heard at Scottish inns along the way, Sarah recalled listening to him play his Scottishguittar. She also recalled his bravery in rescuing stranded townspeople during the flood, and how her breath had hitched when his hand touched hers.
All the memories were not good ones, however. She had not responded well when he suggested she might carry her desire to organize and be useful into a new life as mistress of her own home. And before his departure, when he’d asked to write to her, she’d responded with a hasty,“To what end?”She could still see him flinch. At the time she’d told herself a clean break would be better, easier, for them both.
She had come to regret it. If only Scotland were not so far from Sidmouth....
“Sarah?”
“Hm?” Yanked from her reverie, Sarah looked up to find her mother staring at her over half-moon spectacles.
“Did you hear me? I asked if you had spoken to Fran recently. I had hoped she would join us today.”
“Oh. I hoped so too. She is probably busy at home.” Sarah had guessed they would see Fran far less often after she married and moved to her husband’s home two miles away. How infrequently would a woman see her family if she lived four hundred miles away?
Eager to shift the focus from herself, Sarah turned to Emily. “And where is James off to? I saw him leave the house, but I did not think he was going to Killerton today.”
Sir Thomas had given James the use of a horse and two-wheeled carriage to travel to and from his country estate. James stabled the horse at Westmount with the major’s horses.
“He is not,” Emily replied easily. “Sir Thomas asked him to do something else today. To meet with some local man, apparently.”
“Someone here in Sidmouth?”
“James did not divulge details, and I am learning, slowly, not to pry. Some of his work is confidential. Government secrets and all that. Though I doubt this meeting is anything so important.”
“Interesting. Well, I’m sure he’ll tell us if he can.” Sarah returned to her sewing.
After a time, Georgie grumbled, “I wish Claire could join us. After all, this was her home too.”
Sarah said gently, “Only briefly.”
Emily turned to their mother. “I know you might not want Claire to come here to the house, but perhaps we might all take tea together at the York Hotel. Would that be so terrible?”
“Your father was adamant she not rejoin the family.”
“That’s not fair.”
“He thought it best. He wanted to protect this family from scandal and protect all of your futures.”
Emily said, “I hardly think that matters much anymore, considering our reduced circumstances and the fact we keep a boarding house.”
“Guest house,” Mamma corrected, as she always did.
Undeterred, Emily went on, “Besides, Viola and I are already married. And Sarah could be if she wanted.”
