Read Online Emma Barry by Brave in Heart - Free Book Online Page A

impressive. Clearly, Margaret had many people to win over in the coming weeks and months.
    “Good morning!” she said, with all the brightness she could muster given her melancholy train of thought. It wasn’t enough to win over the housekeeper, but it was a start. “Isn’t it a lovely day? I didn’t get a chance to thank you last night for all your hard work putting together such a beautiful meal. I apologize we gave you so little warning.”
    Mrs. Ruskin raised a brow and allowed her eyes to apprise Margaret. Her pinched lips communicated all was not to her liking, but just the same, she moved to the side to allow Margaret to enter.
    “Mrs. Ward is in the breakfast room. Shall I take you to her?”
    “By all means.”
    The house through which she led Margaret was, in a word, grand. While Theo had alluded to his money during his proposal, she had thought of it even less than she had of his mother. The decorations were in the Empire style, with fine, heavy furnishings and beautiful, dark fabrics. The house made Margaret stand a little straighter and press her shoulders back to fit in. There was no possibility of slouching here. Apprehension racked her body.
    At least in the breakfast room there was sunshine. At the head of the small table, framed by golden streams of light, sat Mrs. Ward. She smiled faintly and indicated the chair oppose her, silently bidding Margaret to take it.
    “Tea?”
    “Yes, please.”
    The pouring ritual occurred. Hands, water, porcelain, silver, with the accompanying soft chiming of metal on china, the rising of steam, and, finally, the smell of tea. It was comforting and familiar.
    Then they sipped in a long, conspicuous silence. Perhaps they could spend Theo’s absence entirely in this monk-like manner.
    Alas, it was not to be. Crossing her hands in her lap to match her ankles, Mrs. Ward at last asked a question. “When does Theodore intend to return home?”
    Margaret blushed at this veiled reference to their honeymoon but responded firmly. “If he has a plan, Mrs. Ward, he hasn’t shared it with me.”
    “I see.” The pronouncement all but thudded on the table.
    Margaret felt frustrated and self-conscious. Maybe she could create some common ground? “The past week has been overwhelming for me as well. There has been little time to make let alone discuss plans.”
    Mrs. Ward regarded her over the lip of her cup. “How do you feel about my son’s enlistment?”
    She blamed Margaret for putting her son in danger? Well, it was a natural, and not entirely incorrect, conclusion. “I worry for him. He is after all
my
husband.” Margaret knew that she had to assert her claim too. “But we, neither of us, could keep Theo from that which he feels so strongly about.”
    Mrs. Ward set her saucer on the table with the faintest clatter and said coolly, “None of your people were at the service yesterday.”
    Just as coolly, Margaret replied, “As you know, I have very few ‘people.’ My parents are dead. My only surviving sibling, my sister Emily, is with her family in Virginia. She could not travel under the present circumstances, even if she had warning, which of course she did not. A few teachers and students from the seminary were present, but most had already departed for the summer recess.”
    “Do you intend to resign your post?” Mrs. Ward followed up.
    “I
have
resigned as headmistress. She must reside at the school, and Theo feels my place is here, with him … and you. Depending on the board’s decision, I may retain a position on the faculty, however.”
    Her future at the seminary confused her. When she’d faced eternity there, she wanted to leave. Now that she’d been offered way out, she wasn’t sure she wanted to take it. Particularly if the alternative was more time with this lovely woman.
    “I see.” Those words and that heavy, judgmental silence again. Maybe Theo’s four-decade-long stasis made sense.
    This was becoming tedious, however. She had but little