Colin?” His mother’s voice followed him down the corridor and halted his hurried steps. Lyle had agreed to go flying with him and Colin was looking forward to a good, long flight before supper. He needed an escape to the skies right now.
Releasing an impatient grunt, he turned back to the open doorway of his mother’s sitting room. “Did you need something, Mother?”
She sat at her desk, a stack of papers near her elbow. “Come in a moment, will you?”
Colin pulled off his flying cap and stepped into the room. Had he been in here since coming home? He couldn’t remember. The room hadn’t changed much since his days as a youth. The blue-flowered wallpaper and light-colored furnishings were still the same—a sharp contrast to the darker hues of the rest of the house. He felt a measure of satisfaction that the war hadn’t altered everything.
He perched on the edge of one of the white chairs drawn up near the cold fireplace. “What are you working on there?”
“Invitations for the party to celebrate Elmthwaite’s three-hundredth anniversary.”
Colin recalled his father mentioning something about the party at breakfast that morning, but his mind had been on other things. He was still reeling from the news Nora had shared with him yesterday about her being Eleanor Galbert’s daughter and about someone destroying a part of her stone walls.
His jaw tightened at the thought of further sabotage against Nora. He wished he could figure out who was behind it. A few choice words and a well-placed fist or two ought to settle the matter. The damage to her property wasn’t the only reason, though, for the annoyance roiling through him. Colin didn’t like the idea of Nora spending the entire day with Jack, repairing her wall, even if the young man was now her distant cousin.
“Colin? Did you hear me?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, you were talking of the party.”
His mother shook her head, her dark eyes sparkling with hidden amusement. “I asked if Lyle will still be here, to attend.”
“I believe so.”
“Wonderful. I’ve very much enjoyed his visit.”
Colin leaned back in the chair and lifted one foot onto his knee. “I don’t know that Father has.”
“Don’t worry about your father. His attention is elsewhere right now.” Lady Ashby reached for what he assumed was another invitation. “How is the stable renovation going?”
“Quite well.” A deep sense of fulfillment rose inside him at what he and the other men had accomplished in a few short days. Lyle had even volunteered to help. The work was hot and tiring, but Colin enjoyed every minute of it. His father, on the other hand, had objected to his son assisting the local hired help, but he hadn’t forbidden Colin from continuing. Colin hoped in time to change Sir Edward’s opinion about the benefits of laboring alongside the villagers.
“You like the work.” She didn’t phrase it as a question.
Colin fingered his leather cap. “I’d like to find something else to do when we’re finished. Maybe I can fly Father’s hotel guests around or something. I need to do more here than simply sit at a desk. I want to help people, feel useful.” He lifted his gaze to his mother’s. “What about you? Don’t you miss what you did during the war?”
Lady Ashby shifted to face him, a sad sort of smile on her lovely face. “Very much. I met so many interesting people working in that canteen—soldiers like you and Christian, other wives and mothers. There were always people to talk to.” She lowered her eyes toward the floor. “Those two or three days were the best part of my week.”
“Then why not insist Father let you do something else?”
Her chin lifted. “My place is here, with the two of you, and I willingly accept that. Though I will be forever grateful for the experience of seeing the world beyond Elmthwaite and Larksbeck.” Her probing glance made Colin suspect she wasn’t talking solely of herself. Was it time he also accepted his place here, while being grateful for the things he’d learned and experienced away from the estate?
“Lady Sophia and her parents will be coming to stay a week in conjunction with the party.” She bent over the stack of invitations again.
Colin didn’t bother stifling a groan. “Father must be overjoyed.”
“He wants you happy, Colin.” Like Nora, his mother’s perceptiveness was uncanny.
“I rather think being yoked to a silly, rich heiress is the antithesis of happiness.”
A frown creased her brow, but she remained silent. Colin released a breath through his nose as shame replaced his irritation.
“Forgive me, Mother. I shall hope to find an heiress as genuine as you.” Though he doubted it would happen. The only woman he’d met who possessed the same type of unpretentiousness as his mother was Nora, and his father certainly wouldn’t classify inheriting a sheep farm as equal to being wealthy.
“He loves you,” she said, her pen still, her gaze distant. “Losing Christian nearly killed him, but not for the reasons you may think. The death of a child changes you.” She lifted her eyes to Colin’s, the pain there evident. “He’s determined to save this place because I think he believes it’s the only thing of permanence in this world. Elmthwaite Hall is his lifeblood. I knew that when I married him.”
“So duty must always come before love?” Colin countered in a gentle tone.
Her face paled at the implication of his words, but she kept her head erect. “Before we married, I saw the way he prized this estate and knew he would extend that same care and respect to me. And he has, Colin. We’ve been happy together.” She fixed him with a compassionate look. “I want the same for you, whomever you choose to marry.”
Colin rose to his feet. How did she manage to make him feel both chastised and comforted at the same time? He crossed to her chair to kiss her cheek. “You are the real treasure, Mother. To both of us.”
She smiled and rested her hand against his jaw. “As are you, my boy.”
He started for the door but paused on the threshold. “May I invite someone to the party?”
“Certainly. Who?”
“Miss Nora Lewis. She’s Henry Lewis’s granddaughter.”
“Ah, yes. The one you’ve been spending so much time with.”
Colin lifted his eyebrows in silent challenge. Lady Ashby chuckled. “I don’t occupy all my time indoors, Colin. I have noticed a couple who like to walk around the lake nearly every day.”
A boyish grin tugged at his mouth. “Nora may come then? I can deliver her invitation myself.”
Her merriment faded. “You’re welcome to invite her, but do you think that’s wise?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?”
A flicker of something passed over her face, but Colin couldn’t read the emotion. “No reason. I’m more than happy to have her join us. I’ve been hoping for a chance to meet her for some time now.” She addressed an invitation and stood to hand it to him.
“Thank you, Mother,” he said, pocketing the invite. “I’m looking forward to introducing the two of you.”
He left her room and headed downstairs, a whistle on his lips. Lyle would be wondering what had taken him so long. But he wasn’t sorry his mother had detained him. The idea of his father’s party was no longer abhorrent—Nora would be there with him.
* * *
Nora slid the invitation across the table to Bess and took another sip from her teacup. She’d never cared much for tea back in Iowa, but living here, it had become as much a part of her day as it clearly was for the rest of the villagers. Perhaps it was her English background.
Bess lifted the invite and read it through. “You’re to go to the party at Elmthwaite tonight, are you? My Mary has talked of nothing else all week. Don’t know how the Ashbys’ cook does it, what with the sugar ration still on, but Mary says the woman’s got all manner of sweet dishes prepared.”
“There’s only one problem.” Nora clinked her cup onto its saucer.
“You don’t want to go?”
“No, that isn’t it.”
At least not entirely, although the idea of being in that grand house with all those wealthy, sophisticated people turned her stomach into a hive of nerves every time she thought about it.
She was very much looking forward to seeing Colin, though. They’d only been able to snatch small stretches of time together over the past two weeks, while Nora had been busy walling and selling off the male lambs with Jack’s help. Jack had even repaired her window. Thankfully there’d been no more acts of vandalism to her property.
“The problem is I’m not sure what to wear,” Nora admitted. “I don’t own anything fancy.”
“Did you have something in mind, love?”
“Let me get it.” Nora stood and went upstairs to collect the dress she’d worn to Livy’s wedding. She loved the soft lavender color and the silk material, but was it elegant enough for an estate’s three-hundredth anniversary party?
She returned to the kitchen and held the dress up for Bess’s inspection. The older woman studied the garment, her fingers testing the cloth.
“I hate to say it, but I don’t think it’ll do.”
“It won’t?” Nora sank into her chair. What was she going to do? None of her church dresses were extravagant enough. Perhaps she could procure a ride to the larger town of Keswick, but she might not find anything suitable there either.
“It’s a pretty color and the silk is nice, but according to my Mary, it’s the wrong style.” Bess sipped her tea before continuing. “The society women coming to the party will likely be wearing the new drop-waist dresses.”
“What do I do then, Bess?” Nora fiddled with one of the small pearl buttons on the bodice, desperation causing a lump in her throat. She didn’t care what the other women thought of her, but if she planned to enter Colin’s world tonight, she wanted to do so without embarrassing him or appearing the country bumpkin.
Bess gave her a thoughtful look over her teacup. “Are there any of your mum’s things still up in the attic?”
“Yes, a whole trunk full. But those clothes will be more outdated than this one.”
Climbing to her feet, Bess shooed Nora from her chair. “Never mind that, love. You go collect what’s up there and we’ll get to work.”
Nora obeyed, though she wasn’t sure what sort of plan Bess was concocting. At the moment, her dear cousin was her only hope. In the attic, she removed all the dresses and garments that had once been Eleanor’s. She brought everything back downstairs to the parlor, where Bess waited with the lavender dress. Nora spread the clothes out on the settee and stepped back to let Bess peruse the pile.
“This might work, and this,” Bess muttered to herself as she considered each item. Those she wanted she piled into Nora’s arms, including a fur-lined cloak. “I think that’s everything. So we’re off then.”
“Off to where?” Nora asked with a laugh.
Bess opened the front door and waved her through. Phoebe raced outside ahead of them. “Do you have a sewing machine?”
Nora shook her head.
“Then it’s to my house, love.”
After tying up Phoebe in the Tuttles’ front yard, Nora followed Bess into the cottage, her arms still overlaid with clothes. The older woman directed Nora to use her room to change into the silk dress. All of Bess’s girls, except for Mary, were home and they trooped into the parlor as Nora came out. Bess gave Nora a shrewd looking over, placing straight pins here and there as she did so.
“What are you doing?” Ellie asked from her seat on the settee. She held a doll in the crook of her arm.
“Getting ready for the Elmthwaite party tonight,” Nora answered. “I think your mother is going to transform my dress.”
Ellie’s eyes widened. “Like Cinderella?”
Nora chuckled. “I hope so.”
“Go change back, and we’ll get started,” Bess directed.
By the time Nora returned to the parlor, Bess had the twins hard at work, cutting and unstitching pieces of Eleanor’s old garments. Nora handed over her lavender dress, and soon, Bess had the sewing machine humming.
“How are you going to do your hair?” Margaret—or Martha—asked her. Nora still couldn’t tell them apart.
Nora sat beside Ellie on the settee, feeling a bit useless. She could wield a needle well enough, but not to create something as fancy as an evening gown. “I’m not sure.”
Both twins studied her. “Why not wear it long with a headband in your hair?” one of them suggested.
The other nodded and looked around at the cluttered parlor. She scrambled to her feet to pick up a piece of lavender silk Bess had cut away from the dress. “We could turn this into a pretty headband.” She approached Nora and carefully placed the material at the top of her forehead and tied it around her hair. “What do you think, Martha?”
“It’s perfect,” Martha said, clapping her hands. “I’ll get a mirror so you can see, Cousin Nora.”
The girl returned with a hand mirror, which she held in front of Nora. Nora eyed her reflection in the mirror. She did like how the band swept the hair back from her face but left most of it to hang long over her shoulders and back. “I think that works nicely.”
Martha beamed. “We’ll have Mum sew the edges.”
With Bess hard at work, Nora volunteered to make lunch. Ellie helped her, keeping up a constant chatter. Jack and his brothers tromped in as Nora was setting the food on the table.
“Didn’t expect you here,” Jack said, removing his cap and shooting a surprised grin at Nora.
“Mum’s making her dress for the royal ball. Isn’t that right, Cousin Nora?”
Smiling, Nora ran a hand over Ellie’s copper-colored hair. “Something like that.”
“You mean the party at Elmthwaite?” Jack’s expression turned sour. “You’re going?”
“I’ve been invited, yes.”
Jack plunked down into a chair and grabbed one of the plates of food. “Sounds like a waste of an evening to me.”
Nora ignored his sullen remark as she called the twins and Bess to lunch. Though Bess declined, the rest of the family sat down at the table. Nora slipped onto the bench next to Ellie. After the blessing on the food, the twins struck up a conversation about what Mary had told them regarding the party and their speculations on what the other ladies might be wearing. Ellie listened, her eyes wide with fascination.
When they’d all finished, the boys spilled out the door, except for Jack. The twins went back into the parlor to help their mother, leaving Ellie to assist Nora with the dishes.
Jack paused at the back door. “You aren’t going to fit in up there, Nora.” His voice was as brittle as dead corn stalks.
Nora pressed her lips together. She hated the way his words echoed the ones that had been running through her mind since Colin had given her the invitation.
“You’re not like them—and you never will be. Just like the rest of us.” He jammed his cap on his head. “You’re fooling yourself if you think they’re going to accept you as one of them.”
She whirled away from the sink, an angry retort on her tongue, but he left before she got out a single word. In silence, she finished washing the dishes. Was Jack right? Was she simply fooling herself into thinking she would be accepted by Colin’s family, simply because he accepted her? The nervousness in her stomach returned, making her wish she’d skipped lunch.
A tug on her arm pulled her attention back to Ellie. “Don’t listen, Nora,” she said with wisdom well beyond her five years. “He’s only mad ’cause we’ve never got invited to the big house.”
Nora crouched down and gave the young girl a hug. “Should we go see how the dress is coming along?”
Ellie threw her dish towel onto the table and grabbed Nora’s hand. Bess glanced up as they entered the parlor. “Give me another hour, love, and I’ll have her done.”
The twins soon wandered outside, but Ellie chose to stay with Nora. She read the little girl a book to pass the time while they waited for Bess to finish. Before long, Ellie’s eyes closed and her head found its way onto Nora’s lap.
Nora watched the child sleep, her small chest rising and falling with gentle breaths. Having never experienced life with siblings, she’d always envied Tom’s large family. She brushed an errant red curl off the girl’s forehead, and a motherly longing she hadn’t felt since holding Livy’s baby daughter wrenched her heart.
She and Tom had talked about having lots of children after they married. Was it possible that she might still be a mother one day? She’d told herself for so long she was content to live the rest of her life alone, but now Nora recognized it as a lie.
Deep down, where she’d buried most of her dreams until recently, she still longed for love with a husband and children. Was it silly, as Jack had said, for her to hope she might find that with Colin? There were so many moments when it seemed possible—when they’d gone flying, or when he’d sheared the sheep and worked on the stables, or when they walked around the lake. But tonight she would see a part of his world, a part of him, she hadn’t before.
“Ready to try it on, love?” Bess’s question broke through Nora’s troubled thoughts and woke Ellie. Sitting up, the girl yawned and stretched.
“Go on and use my room again to change,” Bess instructed.
Nora stood and accepted the dress without examining it too closely. She wanted her first proper look to be alone, with the dress on. Her heart hammered with both dread and hope as she went into Bess’s room and closed the door. She shed her work dress and slipped the lavender silk over her shoulders. Once she had the dress in place, she turned and faced the bureau mirror. Her breath caught in her throat at the vision before her.
Bess had completely transformed the dress. While she’d kept most of the lavender silk intact, she’d added a lace and bead overlay of ivory to the short sleeves and bodice, which now fell loosely to a lower waistline. A swath of fur ran from the back of the dress to right below Nora’s knees in a V shape that revealed the lavender-colored underskirt. The whole ensemble made for a luxurious evening dress.
A soft knock sounded at the door. “Come in,” Nora called.
Bess appeared in the doorway, a smile gracing her round face. “Well?”
“It’s absolutely gorgeous, Bess.” Nora did a little spin. “I can’t believe it’s the same dress.”
Ellie squeezed past her mother. “You look like a princess, Cousin Nora.”
“I feel like one.”
Bess disappeared for a moment, then returned with the lavender headband the twins had suggested. The sides were evenly hemmed now. Nora positioned it onto her forehead and tied the band of material around her hair. “What do you think?”
Bess’s eyes glimmered with tears. “You’re the picture of your mum. She’d be right proud.”
Fighting tears herself, Nora embraced Bess. “Thank you, Bess. You truly are a wonder.”
The woman waved away the compliment, but her eyes glowed with pleasure. “We’ll let you change back now, so you can carry it home.” She guided Ellie from the room and shut the door behind them.
Nora studied herself in the mirror once more. She might not be a rich heiress, but dressed in her new gown, her confidence returned. Whatever happened tonight, she would keep her chin up and be proud of where she came from. She wasn’t wealthy or from high society—she was the daughter of Eleanor and Matthew Galbert of England, and Frank and Grace Lewis of Iowa. And that was exactly who she wanted to be.