Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes [40]
And what about her? Surely she was no better than he. If she hadn’t been gazing up at him as though every word he spoke were important, he wouldn’t have seized the opportunity to take a liberty with her.
And all the while she sparred and flirted with Dominick Cherrett, her countrymen narrowly escaped capture by the British Navy. And she narrowly missed capture by a British adventurer.
“You’re the one who thinks you can learn something from him.”
She didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud until Patience faced her. “Beg pardon, miss?”
“Thinking aloud.” She glanced at the house. “It looks like no one’s there, but pull around to the stable or barn, Japheth.”
“Yes, miss.” He turned the horse up a tree-lined lane leading from the road to the stable yard.
A youth, his hair the color of the straw stuck between his teeth, ambled out of the barn and took the horse’s head. “Go-on-in.” The directive came out as all one word around the makeshift toothpick. He flushed a bit and pulled it out. “I’ll bring your bags in, miss, if your man can take care of the horse.”
“I can do that.” Japheth jumped down and held up his hands to assist Tabitha then Patience to the ground.
“I’ll take my satchel.” Tabitha hefted the bag and led the way along a flagstone path to a front door painted as green as the countryside. A knocker in the shape of a pineapple glowed against the wood. She lifted it and let it fall with a resounding bang.
A slight girl with dusky skin and a red turban opened the door so quickly Tabitha suspected she’d been standing with her hand on the latch.
“I’m the midwife,” Tabitha announced. “Is anyone at home?”
“Yes’m.” The girl giggled. “Where would they be going with Miss Sally as big as—”
“Abigail, let them in,” a strident voice called from another room. “You know better than to chat with the guests.”
“Yes’m.” The girl bobbed a curtsy and spun on her bare heel. She led the way through an airy hall from which the stairway rose and into a dimly lit parlor. “The midwife, Miz Belote.”
“Very good.” The speaker rose to an impressive height and held out her hand. “So good of you to come all this way.”
“I go where I’m needed.” Tabitha held out her hand to grasp Mrs. Belote’s. She saw a streak of grime across the back of it and returned it to her side. “My apologies, ma’am. Travel is so dirty. Perhaps my companion and I could wash first?”
“Of course.” Mrs. Belote raised her voice. “Abigail, come show Miss Eckles and her companion to their room and serve her some refreshment.”
“Yes’m.” The maid reappeared. “Do I set her a place in the dining room with you?”
“Serve them supper in her room, or the kitchen if they prefer,” Mrs. Belote responded.
Tabitha’s ears grew hot beneath her hat. She’d been snubbed often. A midwife didn’t rank even as high as a governess to many people, but never so bluntly, and not usually in Seabourne. After all, she’d had breakfast with the mayor. Not as company, but he had invited her to sit and join him.
Where she should have told him about his recalcitrant bondsman.
Thoughts of Dominick with his incorrigible spirit lent Tabitha the audacity to stand up to this bossy, arrogant woman. After all, if her daughter was as close to her time as the woman believed, she wasn’t about to send Tabitha away or refuse to pay her for her services. She wanted a midwife from twenty miles’ distance for a reason.
“Before I eat,” Tabitha said in a cool manner, “I would prefer to meet my patient. Does she live with you, or do she and her husband have a separate house?”
Mrs. Belote’s entire face turned a color of crimson that clashed with her rather carroty hair. Her mouth opened and closed several times before she managed to speak in a hoarse, halting voice. “My daughter . . . has no . . . husband.”
“I beg your pardon.” Tabitha