Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes [87]
“Tell me you didn’t.” Letty glared at him.
“A gentleman doesn’t tell anything.” He raised his voice so Deborah could hear over her racket of rattling jars. “And neither does a lady.”
“I’m not a lady.” Deborah poked her head into the kitchen. “I’m an indentured maid servant. And you’re not a gentleman.”
Dominick laughed and tugged one end of the bow of her cap beneath her chin. The ribbon untied and the cap slid over her eyes. With a shriek, she retreated back into the pantry.
Letty thumped the mound of dough onto the table with unnecessary force. “Tell me you didn’t kiss Miss Eckles.”
“A man, gentleman or not, doesn’t lie to a female.” Dominick began to gather the things to make his own tea, a skill he’d acquired since his new life began.
Behind him, Letty sighed. “Are you coming between her and Raleigh Trower?”
“If I am, there’s no harm done to her.” Dominick measured tea leaves into the china pot. “He’s not good enough for her.”
“And you are?”
Dominick’s hand shook, scattering leaves on the table. “Only if I can redeem myself.”
“Oh, Dominick.” Letty reached across the wooden surface and laid her flour-caked hand over his. “You can’t redeem yourself. Only God can redeem you.”
“No, no, I rejected Him.” Dominick used his need to fill the teapot with hot water as an excuse to turn his back on Letty. “I need to earn my forgiveness.”
“You can’t. You can only get it free for the asking.”
How he wished that were true. His heart ached for a freedom that had nothing to do with the sale of his indenture, free of the burdens of the past and present.
“My sins are too many.” He ladled water from the boiling kettle into the teapot. The tannic aroma of tea drifted to him on a cloud of steam. He inhaled it like life itself. “Add kissing Tabitha to them. I am a rake, a rogue, and a roué, but I love her with all my heart.”
“For all the good it will do her,” Letty grumbled. “You’re not free to wed, and she doesn’t deserve to have to wait for you.”
“I know.” Dominick concentrated on pouring his tea. Even if he were a free man, he wasn’t in a position to offer Tabitha marriage. “But a man can wish.”
“I wish you’d tumbled head over heels for someone else.” Dinah stomped into the kitchen, a chamber pot in hand.
Everyone covered their noses and backed away.
“Wash before you come to the table,” Letty admonished her.
“Mr. Cherrett deserves to wear this for flirting with Miss Tabitha.” Dinah tramped out the back door.
“Will you save us some crabs for our supper?” Deborah asked.
“Presuming I catch any.”
“You’ll need bait,” Letty said. “I have some chicken parts from the bird I’m preparing today.”
Dominick shuddered.
“I’ll wrap them up well. Tabitha will have her own, I’m sure. She knows how to catch crabs as well as anyone in these parts, but a little extra never hurt.”
In the end, Dominick agreed to take the bits of the chicken no one wanted to eat. Wrapped separately but in the same basket were several little seed cakes, a bottle of lemonade, and a bowl of strawberries dusted with sugar.
Whistling for the first time since his plans to avoid the church went awry, Dominick set off down the alleyway, swinging the basket and not caring that he couldn’t carry a tune. It was that sort of day—the air warm in the sun and cool in the shade, a light breeze off the ocean, and the aroma of roses and honeysuckle perfuming the air.
He increased his pace. Not until several ladies smiled at him did he realize he had ceased whistling to grin. He didn’t stop just because he might look foolish. He hadn’t felt so good since his world had split apart in January. In a few minutes, he would see Tabitha. In an hour or two, he would tell her as much of the truth as he dared. In the moments after that, surely he would have her agreement to help him.
He reached her gate. A heartbeat before he laid his hand on the latch, the portal opened and she stepped onto the dune. A wide straw hat shadowed her face. A plain blue dress fluttered around her ankles, and she carried a basket in each hand, one covered, the other open to reveal ropes and