Page 6 of A Maid's Fateful Courtship
“Look, Cedric," he said with an excited voice, waking his brother who now had his legs upon one of the bench seats. "There is the road that leads to the local village. I cannot believe how good it feels to get back on familiar grounds. It feels like I am well and truly home.”
Cedric sat up, rubbing at his sleepy eyes because he had managed to nap once they were rid of that common merchant. He too looked through the window and started to see landmarks that he saw as familiar with their home.
“See, over there!” Ethan called out as if he had spotted something miraculous. “Can you see those two young ladies in that meadow? He pointed, unable to hide his joy. “It is the frilly bluebonnet that gives her away,” he said.
“Gives who away?” Cedric asked, attempting to focus on the field in question.
“It is Josephine!” Ethan exclaimed, banging on the roof of the coach.
Within a few yards, the driver had managed to stop the horses as they had only been going at a canter. Ethan knew that if he banged on the roof of the coach, it would get the attention of the driver. As the horses came to a stop, he opened the coach door and stepped out.
“My brother wishes for you to continue onto the manor house,” Ethan told the driver as he closed the coach door behind him. “I am disembarking here. I thank you for the safe journey, sir, and wish you a good day.”
With those few words, Ethan walked away from the coach. He attempted to enter an adjacent field, noticing that the driver wasted no more time and set the horses moving once again.
Chapter 5
“We ought to get back,” Josephine suggested. Their baskets were overflowing with an array of wildflowers.
“You are right.” Lettie sighed. “Mother has a long list of foods to make for the manor house party. Although I am not complaining because I love it when we are expecting guests. The whole household comes alive, it seems. Are they expecting many house guests?”
“No, not as far as I am aware. Oh Lordy! Look over there, there's a carriage arriving already. It is most likely carrying early guests,” Josephine called out, staring over at the Manor driveway nearby. “We truly do need to make haste.”
“Oh, wait!” Lettie called out. “It has stopped.”
Josephine turned to look back at the road. The door to the coach was opening and someone was stepping out. Putting her hand over her eyes to squint away the brightness of the sunlight, she could better see what was happening.
“Is that?” she mumbled to herself. “It is! My word, it is Ethan!”
“I would recognise that blue bonnet anywhere!” he called over to her, wearing a huge grin as he waved.
Josephine had never felt so startled in her life, so much so she was rooted to the spot, and speechless to boot. Her stomach flipped as though it were filled with butterflies. Her heart pounded so hard, she believed everyone could hear it thumping. He was home, and what was more, he had acknowledged her as if he had never left.
To get to them, Ethan had to fight his way through a short hedgerow. By the time he had got through it, bits of twig and leaves stuck to his body and his hair.
His approach dragged Josephine into the present, and she found her voice. “Indeed. A certain boy teased me wickedly when his sister gifted me this pretty blue bonnet,” she reminded him.
At his arrival, she and Lettie gave a small curtsy in the presence of His Lordship.
“In those times, I never looked upon you as a girl.” Ethan smiled, not taking his eyes away from hers. “I thought the bonnet looked odd upon your ruffled hair. But now, I cannot deny that you have blossomed into a fine young woman.”
“Lady Cynthia gifted me this hat because it kept falling from her head,” Josephine dared to say. Her mind was busy recalling the mischief they all used to get up to together.
“And yet you climbed higher and faster than any of us," he replied with a half-grin. "Even whilst wearing your brand-new blue bonnet.”
“I loved the gift from the moment m’lady handed it to me. It was a great sign of her friendship.”
“You have grown a little taller,” Ethan remarked. “I would say you are quite the lady now. Gone is your youthful stride, only to be replaced by that of beautiful young woman’s grace.”
“Hardly!” Josephine laughed at his teasing words. “We are about the grubby fields, tasked with the collection of wildflowers to welcome you all home.”
“Would you two charming young ladies allow me to accompany you back to the house?” he asked, noticing Lettie for the first time. “That is, if you do not mind a weary traveler for company?”
Lettie was practically hiding behind Josephine. Josephine could see that her friend was dumbfounded that one of the lords of the manor was interested in their company.
For a few moments, it was as if nothing had changed for Josephine, and her confidence returned. She turned to speak with Lettie. “I do not know," she teased. "What think you, Lettie? Should we allow a young gentleman to walk with us?”
She could not see the look of surprise on Lettie’s face at her flippant remark. Only because Josephine herself was too busy staring into the deep brown eyes of the lord before her. It was not until Lettie shook her arm that Josephine was brought back to into reality with a jolt to her brain.
