Uncle Douglas and Aunt Alex are in the drawing room. I, ah, heard you speaking to Darby and came to fetch you to them.”
Very weak, Meggie, she thought as she saw Darby blink at her, and hoped he would keep his mouth shut. Darby took his duties very seriously and here she was, interfering. Who cared? She took Jeremy’s hand again and tugged him after her. “This way.”
“You’ve grown up, Meggie,” he said from behind her in a beautiful smooth voice. “You’ve grown up very fine.”
That brought her to an immediate halt. She turned to look up at him. “Thank you. You’ve grown very tall and handsome. Although I remember you as tall and handsome. I think you were twenty-three or -four when I last saw you.”
“Something like that, I guess.” He had dark brown eyes. They were twinkling down at her as if he believed her to be flattering him—as a cousin would flatter another cousin.
Well, blessed hell.
“Jeremy, I’m glad you are here.” It almost seems like fate, but she couldn’t say that.
Uncle Douglas took over then, clapping Jeremy on the back, ushering him into to greet Aunt Alex. Meggie stood there a moment, until Darby cleared his throat.
“Miss Meggie, is there something amiss?”
She turned slowly to look at him. “Yes, Darby, there certainly is. I must figure out what to do about it.”
“He has become a very nice man, hasn’t he?”
Meggie nodded, thinking, he has become a lot more than just nice. He was a lot more when I was thirteen. Now he’s here and he’s here for me. Thank you, God.
Uncle Douglas called out, “Meggie, have Darby fetch us some tea and cakes, won’t you?”
“Immediately, Miss Meggie,” Darby said, gave her a slight bow, and took himself off to the nether regions of the big house.
The first thing Meggie heard when she stepped into the drawing room was Aunt Alex saying, “You knew that Meggie was an exceptional horsewoman, didn’t you, Jeremy? Ah, here you are, my love. Come and sit beside me and hear what Jeremy has been doing.”
Jeremy said to her, “The last time I saw you, Meggie, you were thirteen years old, and you were carrying around little Alec, teaching him the names of all the flowers. I remember asking you the name of one particular pink blossom, and you said it was a lost cause, you couldn’t remember, and you’d made up so many names that Alec couldn’t remember either. Alec burped, if I remember correctly.”
Meggie grinned. “I had promised my father and Mary Rose that if she had the babies I would teach them what was what. The names of flowers, however, defeated me. They still do. To me, a rose is a rose is a rose, all the rest is different smells. Alec is now seven years old, can you believe it? And Rory is four.”
“I look forward to seeing your family.”
Douglas said, “How long will you be in London, Jeremy?”
Jeremy said, “Well, Uncle Douglas, as it happens, I’m here for a very specific reason. Then I will be returning to my home in Fowey.”
Meggie sat forward, words spilling out of her mouth because she couldn’t dam them up. “Come, tell us, Jeremy. Spit it out. You’re here for my first Season, aren’t you?” You came because you had to come, something powerful brought you here, and now that you’ve seen me, you know what it is.
He looked perfectly blank, but just for an instant. “Not only your Season, Meggie.” He paused a moment, then looked at his aunt and uncle, opened his mouth just as Darby said from the doorway, “My lord, Cook has sent you her favorite lemon tarts. She informed me that they were Lord Stanton-Greville’s favorite.”
“Yes, they are,” Jeremy said. Conversation was desultory as Alex dispensed the tea and offered the cake plate around.
“They are delicious,” Jeremy said. “How is Oliver doing at Kildrummy, Meggie? I haven’t received a letter from him in nearly six months.”
Meggie said, chuckling, “He is altogether too happy—you can just see him leaping over the sheep killers that haven’t yet been filled in—you remember, Jeremy, the huge gouges in the earth that sheep, because they’re stupid, have always fallen into? Anyway, he’s filled in a number of them over the years. Oh yes, Oliver’s very happy. You can just stand there and hear him whistling as he counts the sheep and cows and goats and directing any repairs on Kildrummy and the crofts, see that exuberant smile of his when he greets everyone in the village.” She paused a moment, giving everyone a chance to laugh, then added, seeing everything so very clearly now, “Do you know what else—he has announced, just last month, that he is ready to marry.”