Audrey tilted her head. “But Mother said that Trent had been here all night and the two of you looked as if you had been …” Her face bloomed a deep red and Audrey bit her bottom lip.
“It wasn’t me,” Mr. Trent answered.
“It was Vicar Trent,” Grace confirmed “Despite how it may have appeared, I can assure you that I’ve done nothing to be ashamed of. We are speaking of Vicar Trent, after all. He would never consider the matters that your mother seems to be accusing him of, especially where I am concerned.”
Both Audrey and Mr. Trent looked at her as if she had lost her mind. Was everyone at the brink of madness around here?
“I apologize,” Audrey offered.
“You should also apologize to Mr. Trent.” She had almost slapped the man for no good reason.
Audrey straightened and narrowed her eyes. She didn’t appear as if she was going to make the offer.
“He has done nothing wrong,” Grace insisted.
“Perhaps not to you or here,” Audrey mumbled and turned. “I apologize for reacting in such a hasty manner, and without the facts.”
Mr. Trent rolled back on his heels and crossed his arms over his chest. “You do seem to make fast judgments, without knowing the complete truth.”
“I know enough.” Audrey pivoted, putting her back to Mr. Trent once again. She studied Grace from head to foot. “You do really look a fright.”
Grace brought her hand up and tried to smooth her hair. “I should go change and repair my appearance.”
“I’ll put together something for you to eat in the meantime,” Audrey grinned at her.
“We have nothing to cook with.” Actually, that wasn’t the truth. The pantry should be full. She just didn’t know what to do with all the ingredients.
Audrey reached down and picked up a basket. “Our Cook sent this along. She knows as well as I that you can barely make tea.”
Heat stole into Grace’s cheeks. “How would she know we needed food?”
“As soon as Mrs. Thomas announced she would not return and that someone had tried to kill your father, we knew a basket should be prepared before the two of you starved. Mother was supposed to have given it to you earlier.”
A chuckle rose from within in. “Thank you.”
“Now go.” Audrey began shooing her toward the stairs. “When you come back down there will be a meal.” She paused and tilted her head. “I am assuming you have not eaten yet today.”
“Does a cup of tea qualify?”
“No,” Mr. Trent answered.
“You should go into the parlor and wait for your brother.” Audrey tilted her chin, nose in the air and marched past Mr. Trent.
Grace turned to drag herself up the stairs, exhaustion seeping into her bones. .
Matthew stood in his office, staring down at this desk and half completed sermon. It needed to be finished and memorized by Sunday but how could he do that if he was with Miss Cooper. He should stay home, write more and then go visit to see how she fared. But, he couldn’t do that either. Someone had tried to murder Mr. Cooper and he should not leave her alone. What if the assailant came back to make sure Mr. Cooper died and decided to harm Miss Cooper as well? It didn’t matter that Jordan was there, Matthew knew he should be with her. Besides, if Miss Cooper needed comfort from the strain of her father’s injuries, he wanted to be the one to hold her and not Jordan.
The thought of Grace in Jordan’s arms, her head on his shoulder while his hands pressed against her back urged Matthew to hurry. He gathered up the sermon, more foolscap, quills, bottle of ink, Bible and a few referenced books that he shoved into a satchel. He could just as easily work on his sermon at the Cooper household as he could in the vicarage and then he would be there in the event Grace needed him and Jordan would be free to do what he wished, away from the Cooper home.
Instead of going directly to the Cooper household however, Matthew stopped off in town to visit a few shops where he purchased bread, biscuits and other foods that would serve the family until a cook could be found. After the way Mrs. Thomas left yesterday he was certain she would not wish to return, no matter how much he offered and Matthew knew Grace was not in a position to pay further wages. When the crisis had passed, he would see about finding a new cook for Grace, if she did not hire someone.
It didn’t take long for Jordan to answer the door after Matt’s brisk knock. He entered and carried the basket into the kitchen where he placed it on the table. There was already food warming on the stove.
“Good afternoon, Vicar Trent?” He turned to find Miss Montgomery enter the kitchen. “I can see you brought food as well.”
He didn’t bother to respond to the obvious. “It was kind of you to assist the family.”
“Grace is my dearest friend.” Miss Montgomery moved about the table putting items away. “I think I should warn you.”
Matthew stopped putting bread in the pantry and looked at Miss Montgomery.
“My mother has spread a few rumors.”
Matthew clenched his jaw and fought the urge not to yell. It wasn’t Miss Montgomery who was set on causing problems but her mother.
“She never specified which Trent, however, and I assumed it was your brother who had stayed the night here.”
“Why would you assume it was he?”
Her face colored slightly. “After Mother’s description and knowing your brother’s reputation, I assumed.”
“You assumed incorrectly.” He didn’t mean to sound harsh but if the citizens in this community began thinking Jordan had been here, Grace would be ruined and the only thing to salvage her reputation would be for her and Jordan to marry. He would be turning cold in his grave before he allowed that to happen.
Miss Montgomery gazed at the floor. “I apologized.” Her voice was barely a whisper.
“I am sorry. I am sure you have.”
She looked back up at him. “I think I should also leave, now that you are here to watch over Grace, and go into town so those who heard mother’s gossip, and believe the worst, know the truth.”
“Thank you.” At least Miss Montgomery was more reasonable than her mother and hopefully the parishioners thought so as well.
“I am sure hardly any damage could be caused since it was you who was here instead.”
“Her father was on the brink of death and I was only offering my support in the event…”
Miss Montgomery began to laugh, which further insulted him.
“I can assure you, Vicar Trent, those in the community will understand. However, there are a handful that are as narrow-minded as my mother and it won’t matter a whit what your vocation happens to be.”
“I am sorry to hear that.”
“Unfortunately it is true, so I must run along before mother causes much more trouble.”
“Come with me.” Matthew startled at the sound of his brother’s voice and followed him out the kitchen door and around the corner of the house. They stopped just short of the windows to the parlor and Jordan pointed inside.
“Miss Cooper hasn’t been down yet.”
Matthew leaned forward to gaze inside. Misters Draker, Thorn and Richards stood by the open doors leading to the terrace.
“I didn’t want to spend any more time than necessary with them and thought to save you the same fate.”
“All three men are parishioners, Jordan. I really shouldn’t avoid them,” Matthew gave a half-hearted argument.
Jordan studied him for a moment. “Will you answer a question, honestly for me?”
Matthew had a sinking suspicion he was not going to like what Jordan asked. “I will.”
“Are you remaining a Vicar because it is expected of you, what father said you had to be, or because it is what you really wish to do?”
Matthew opened his mouth but he didn’t have an answer on the tip of his tongue.
“We should do what we want, not what has been dictated to us,” Jordan continued. “You certainly can afford to do as you wish. It isn’t as if you need the income.”
Jordan spoke the truth but what else would he become?
“Only Clay doesn’t have a choice, being the heir. But, he married on his own terms and has chosen to live life as he wished and not how father would have dictated. Had he, he would be in a miserable marriage raising children as miserable as we were.”
“Were we all that unhappy?”
Jordan simply studied him. “Not as much as you and Clay. At least I was let free of my studies, but there is little fun when you are stuck on an estate with an overbearing father and only one brother instead of three to play with.”
“You were able to play.”
Jordan’s smile was sad. “More so than you.”
Matthew recalled the days of staring out the library window, Bible open on his lap, watching Jordan and John run about the lawn and climbing trees. He had longed to be with them more than anything, but it wasn’t allowed any more than it was for Clay, who worked endless hours with his tutor in another corner of the library until he was sent off to school. There were several times Matthew had suffered the pangs of jealousy, at having been born third and not given a choice, instead of second where he was free.
He shook the maudlin thoughts from his mind. “It doesn’t matter. It is in the past.”