All I Ever Needed by Jo Goodman

Author:Jo Goodman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2015-11-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

"Oh, dear." Cara Trumbull caught her lip after this whispered utterance and looked down the table to see if she was overheard. Four pairs of eyes were turned expectantly in her direction. Two of those pairs she had some leverage over, and she glanced at their plates and saw they were near to being cleaned. "Go on, children. Mr. Barnard will be waiting for you in the schoolroom. You might astonish the man by appearing before the appointed hour."

Jon regarded his mother with patent disappointment and saw that she was quite unmoved by this ploy. His uncle had taken some pains to show him how pulling this particular face could be used to wrest sympathy from his mother. Jon decided he had not the way of it yet and more practice was in order. He took his sister's hand and helped her down from her chair. Julia did not seem at all put out by the prospect of attending Mr. Barnard in the schoolroom, which supported Jon's view that females were clearly not right in their upperworks. His father had begged him not to share this view with his mother if he wanted to see his out ninth year, so as Jon passed that worthy on the way to the door he merely winked.

Cara frowned and regarded her husband suspiciously. "What was that in aid of, Mr. Trumbull?"

"I couldn't say. Our son comes by peculiar notions from time to time."

Sophie sat quietly during the exchange that followed. Her hosts traded opinions as to whose side of the family was more burdened by eccentricities, and while Sophie did not keep a running tally, she thought the Whitneys might have a slight edge on the Trumbulls. It seemed clear, though, that whatever Jon's peculiar notions might be, he came by them naturally enough.

Not that Sophie saw such evidence before her now. Her experience with Cara and Benjamin Trumbull was quite the contrary. Eastlyn's sister and brother-in-law were possessed of sound judgment so that even when one was given to a flight of fancy, the other could be depended upon to indulge it only as long as it was practical.

A less gracious and accommodating couple would not have welcomed her into their home so readily. It was East's letter that had provided her entree, Sophie knew, and not her own character or circumstances. She did not know what he wrote to his sister, for she had never read the correspondence, nor had she asked Cara to share the content.

Sophie's stay had not yet numbered a score of days, but she acknowledged that the largest part of her discomfort vanished early on. She was taken in with such force of good will that she was made quite breathless by it. Cara Whitney Trumbull clearly loved her brother dearly, and it made no difference what manner of problem the scapegrace had encountered, she told Sophie, but that she would do whatever was required to assist him.

It was impossible not to like Eastlyn's sister, though it might have been better if it were otherwise.

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