The Hapless Milliner by Jessica Bull

Author:Jessica Bull
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Union Square & Co.

* * *

It is bitterly cold, with a clear blue sky and an arctic breeze. Jane is thankful it is dry. Her fingers will be clumsy in her mittens, but there is no need for her to totter around in her pattens. The tea has worked its magic. The butterflies in her stomach are set in motion by the prospect of resolving her future with Tom, rather than by the excess wine and spirits she ingested the night before. She fastens her cloak and pulls up the hood. With any luck, by the time she meets Tom, the chill will have brought some warmth to her complexion, and he will not notice her tired gown.

As she traipses through her mother’s garden, the vegetable beds lie empty of all but the most persistent weeds. Frost sparkles on the nettles. Throughout the farmyard, galinies and bantams ruffle their bronzed feathers as they claw at the hard ground, flicking clods of earth behind them in their relentless search for a tasty treat. In the stable block, Greylass and the other horses blow steam through their noses and kick against the gates of their stalls. The pony will be missing Cassandra. Jane resolves to take her a carrot. Even as she thinks it, she knows she’ll forget and berates herself for her lack of care.

At the Austens’ private entrance to St. Nicholas’s churchyard, at the top of the small hill, a scattering of ice crystals glitters on the rusty scrolls of the iron gate. The hinges creak and the latch sticks as Jane opens it. Inside the graveyard, all is quiet and still. Tangles of ivy escape over the flint wall. Moss and lichen in subtle shades of green and grey mottle the weathered granite tombstones. Jane reads the words carved into the granite as she passes. Grand Lord and Lady Portal lie side by side in their matching sarcophagi, while generations of Boltons are snug beneath one flat slab. They are people Jane has never met but regards as old friends.

Tom stands in front of the church, his head down and his hands stuffed into the pockets of his frock coat. Jane’s heart fizzes as she studies him before he notices her. A lapis-blue woolen scarf encircles his neck, its tasseled ends flapping in the wind. Which of his five sisters knitted it for him?

He beams when he meets Jane’s eyes. “You came.”

Heat infuses her shivering body. “And you’re here.” She skips toward him, and their white-cloud breath mingles in the air.

He closes his eyes and leans toward her, his sandy lashes meeting his chiseled cheekbones. “I’m here,” he murmurs, as he kisses her. His lips are warm but the tip of his nose is like ice. “I’m so sorry about the ball. My aunt—”

“Had a headache. I know.” Jane threads her arm through the crook of his. “It doesn’t matter, we’re together now.”

He places his gloved hand over hers and they set off down the lane. “So we are.”

Jane is content to let Tom lead the way.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.