The Endless Forest
Page 103

Elizabeth made an effort to relate the details as thoroughly and objectively as possible. The differences ten years had wrought, the style and cut and expense of Jemima’s clothing. The changes to the way she spoke and held herself. The boy, what he had looked like and his demeanor. The things Jemima had claimed, or her husband had claimed for her. The implicit threat to Martha and Callie both.
She said nothing about Ethan and Callie’s plans for fear of saying too much.
Lily levered herself into a more comfortable position with the help of a bolster, but the whole time she watched her mother.
“You observe me sometimes like a bug in a jar,” Elizabeth said when she was finished.
That made Lily smile. “Do I? Really I was just thinking about the hundred questions I’ve got.”
“I doubt I have so many answers, but I can try. What have I left out?”
Lily pulled back in surprise. “Between you and Da, I think I’ve heard pretty much everything. And anyway, it’s not Jemima I want to hear about. In fact, the less said of her, the better. But you could tell me about Daniel. Da wasn’t very forthcoming.”
“Whatever your father told you,” Elizabeth said, “I hope he remembered to thank you for supporting your brother’s wishes.”
Lily’s expression turned thoughtful. Elizabeth held her breath, alarmed and unsure. For one uneasy moment she wondered if she had misunderstood Lily’s position on her brother’s choice of a bride.
Just as suddenly as she had disappeared into her own thoughts, Lily turned back, her expression so open and full of light that Elizabeth knew what had happened even before she spoke.
“Mama,” she said. “The baby is moving.” She caught Elizabeth’s hand and placed it on her belly.
“Do you feel it? A fluttering.”
Elizabeth nodded. “Yes,” she said. “I do.”
She had always been prone to tears in happy situations, but now they came in a rush. She stood up, and then leaning over, pressed her lips to her daughter’s head. For that moment Lily rested against her mother’s breast and Elizabeth was too overcome to speak even a single word.
It had been so long since she had held Lily like this.
When she sat down again she accepted the handkerchief Lily offered and wiped her cheeks; a fruitless exercise, as the tears continued.
“It started some days ago,” Lily said. “But I wanted to be sure before I said anything. I swore Simon to secrecy.”
Elizabeth was smiling through her tears, and now Lily was weeping too.
“What an awful harridan I’ve been,” Lily said. “I apologize, I really do. It was just that I couldn’t stop worrying—”
“I understand,” Elizabeth said. “Of course I understand.”
“And what’s all this, then?” Nathaniel was at the door, his expression wary.
“Come in, Da,” Lily said. “There’s nothing wrong. Daniel’s run off to marry Martha and I couldn’t be happier.”
Nathaniel came into the room and crouched beside Elizabeth’s chair. One side of his mouth curled. “I see Lily’s not alone in her unbridled happiness.” He used a thumb to wipe her cheek. “If we’re going to celebrate we should call the whole family in.”
“Ethan,” Elizabeth said, catching Nathaniel’s hand. “You don’t know yet that Ethan and Callie have gone to Johnstown.”
Nathaniel’s brows knit themselves together, and Lily went still.
“Callie insisted. She wanted to follow Daniel and Martha,” Elizabeth said. “And Ethan agreed.”
Lily said, “To attend Martha at the ceremony?”
“Or to stop it,” said Nathaniel.
“But why?” said Lily. And then: “Do you think she’s in love with Daniel?”
They looked at each other for a long moment.
“That’s one possibility,” Nathaniel said. “But we’ll have to leave it to them to sort out. Could we get back to the weeping for happiness?”
“I’d like to hear more about the little boy,” Lily said. “Does he favor Nicholas Wilde?”
“I couldn’t say.” Nathaniel put a hand on his daughter’s head. “I hardly remember what the man looked like to start with. Dark hair is all I recall. Did you think the boy favored Nicholas, Boots?”
“I wish I knew,” she said. “It’s really a question that Callie has to answer.”
Lily said, “It’s strange, but I am most worried about Ethan just at this moment. I can’t imagine what he hopes to accomplish, taking Callie to Johnstown.” She sought out her father’s gaze. “Da, do you have any idea?”
Clever Lily, who could see below the surface. Now that Elizabeth looked, it was clear to her too. Nathaniel was not entirely uninvolved in whatever was going on, but neither was he willing to talk about it.
She hoped he would change his mind before things got out of hand.
Chapter XXXIV
They arrived at Cady’s offices at three, spent an hour in conversation and the drawing up of papers, and at five they assembled in the parlor to be married by the hastily summoned justice of the peace and county clerk. Cady was a personable man but first and foremost he was a good lawyer, and knew how to tie a knot.
Mrs. Cady had offered Martha a chamber where she could wash and change, a kind and thoughtful gesture that Daniel, at least, could have done without. He didn’t like having Martha out of his sight. For his own part, he needed no more than ten minutes to strip himself out of the rumpled clothes he had been wearing for three days and put on the things he had packed in such haste.