As You Are by Sarah M. Eden

Author:Sarah M. Eden [Eden, Sarah M.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: emotion, LDS, love, truth, clean, trials, past, transform, Fiction, Romance, lies, villain, courage, marriage, Historical, walls, widow, attract, overcome, Regency
Publisher: Covenant Communications Inc.
Published: 2014-01-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Clara hadn’t seen Corbin in four days. He’d sent a remarkably large groom to Ivy Cottage each afternoon to accompany Edmund to Havenworth. The same groom, or one nearly as large, always brought him back. In yet another way, Clara found herself indebted to Corbin Jonquil. He was not in the least obligated to look after her, yet he was doing precisely that.

She had come to church this morning unusually nervous. She’d tried to convince herself over the past few days she had no reason to be unsettled over him. Despite her efforts, she was entirely unsettled. She had come to trust him, at least a little, and until she could explain to herself why this was, her nervousness remained.

To her utter bewilderment, she wanted to see him again. She had, in an odd sort of way, missed him, despite the fact that they didn’t meet all that often. Perhaps it was nothing more than wanting to see which Corbin Jonquil would arrive at services today. Would he be dressed flamboyantly or like a street sweeper? Would he talk aimlessly on and on or sit in silence? Would he be the confusing, unpredictable man he sometimes was or the gentle man who treated her little family with such tenderness?

The entire congregation hushed as the Jonquil party entered, just as they had the previous Sunday. Grompton was unaccustomed to the nobility sitting amongst them. Clara refused to look back and gawk at their entrance. The attention, she knew, made Corbin uncomfortable.

There was something of a commotion behind her. Clara determinedly faced forward.

“Mrs. Bentford?”

She didn’t have to look to know it was Corbin. His voice had become as familiar to her as either of the children’s. He stood at the edge of their pew.

“May I . . . I—”

A chuckle sounded behind her. Clara saw Corbin shoot a look at whomever sat there.

“There isn’t . . . I don’t—” He stopped abruptly, the way he often did. Now why did that make her want to smile? “There is no more room on the pew with my family.”

Clara was not sure how that fact related to her or why Corbin had brought it to her attention.

“Might I . . . Would you be put out if . . . if I asked to join you?”

“Your family won’t make room for you?” she asked, surprised.

Corbin looked frustrated as he shook his head.

Clara glanced over her shoulder. Charlie and Jason were directly behind her, both looking as though they were barely holding back their laughter. What was it, she wanted to know, that they found so funny? Did they expect to make her uneasy?

She refused to be humiliated. Her days of enduring embarrassment and torment were gone now.

“Of course you may sit with us.” She slid Edmund, Alice, and herself down the pew to the far end, allowing Mr. Jonquil plenty of room.

“Mister!” Half the congregation must have heard Alice’s whispered exclamation.

Corbin sat closer to them than she had anticipated. Alice climbed onto his lap, and he looked at Clara, causing her heart to beat frantically in her throat.

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