Page 37 of Echoes of the Sea (Storm Tide #2)
He recounted with as much enthusiasm as he felt appropriate her idea about restoring the house to the point that it could be home to a resident family.
He explained that she hadn’t the right to remain, that she would be kicked out regardless when her six months were over.
And he told them that she also didn’t want to see the house and the estate fall to ruin, and she wanted even more desperately for the people of Guilford not to suffer for the selfish choices of her extended family.
“A person can’t choose their family,” he said.
“But Miss Archibald’s choosing to help; she’s choosing to try.
And while I do think it is a fine idea and could prove an amazingly helpful thing in the end, she absolutely cannot do it on her own.
She’s trying so hard, but she’s been given an impossible task.
Her grandfather was not a kind man. He placed her in this situation to hurt her, and she’s determined that his cruelty to her won’t hurt any of you.
” His eyes settled on Smudge’s grandfather, suspecting he held a great deal of sway in the village and needed to be the one he convinced.
“She has a good heart. She knows what it is to be unimportant to people with the ability to neglect someone into ruin. She doesn’t want that to happen here. ”
The older man held Kip’s gaze for a moment, and Kip sensed he was being evaluated. Kip, as Amelia’s spokesman and the only person there who could speak on her behalf, had to convey her trustworthiness by proving his own. His sincerity would be used to judge hers.
It didn’t feel like a performance anymore.
He was pleading for her future. “If she fails at this, just as her grandfather arranged for her to do, she will still have to leave Guilford. It will still be left in whatever state she’s able to get it to.
But she will lose her chance to be free of her uncle, the man who’s going to neglect the house and this village once more.
And her grandfather’s will gives her uncle the right to force her to marry whomever he chooses. ”
“That cad who was with Mr. Stirling, I’d guess.” The tension in the barkeep’s voice was echoed on the faces around the room.
Kip nodded. “The rest of her life will be determined by what happens here. It could plunge her into abject misery forever.” He was attempting to convince them, but stating her situation so bluntly started to worry him.
“And yet her idea is one she hopes will help everyone in Guilford Village. She is a good lady with a good heart. Please help us help her so she has a chance to help you.”
Smudge’s grandfather stood slowly and with the authority Kip had sensed in him.
He looked over the rest of the people in the room.
“Miss wants to make Guilford House a boon to the village again. Us can help weselves and, in the doing of it, help a lady what’s good enough to be thinking of we.
” He looked over their faces once more. Kip held his breath.
“There’s plenty enough of we in need of work or who could spare some time to jaunt out to the island.
Us can do a good thing for a good lady and maybe save this village in the doing of it. ”
That set the whole room abuzz with conversations. Kip’s eyes darted to Smudge, who was grinning broadly. Smudge did that all the time though. Kip needed reassurance from a source who didn’t exaggerate, who didn’t sugarcoat, who wouldn’t hesitate to tell Kip he was an idiot.
So he turned toward Ivers. The man didn’t grin or smile or laugh. He simply gave a single, lightning-quick nod. And Kip breathed again.
Smudge pushed Kip over closer to his grandfather. Lowering his voice, he said, “Us is in need of another favor.”
“What’s that?” his grandfather asked with narrowed eyes.
“Mr. Stirling’s supposed to be returning to Guilford soon and will likely bring his miserable friend with he,” Smudge said. “There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that’s the fella Miss Archibald’s uncle means to force she to marry.”
A look of distaste filled the older man’s expression. Kip liked him all the more for it.
“Her’ll be safer and less nervous if her isn’t alone in the house, but Mr. Summerfield here can’t simply be staying at the house, him being unmarried and her being unmarried and that being what it is.”
The older man nodded his agreement and understanding.
“So, Miss had yet another idea.”
“Clever, ain’t her?” Smudge’s grandfather looked genuinely impressed.
“Her suggested a lady from the village might be willing to come stay at the house for the remainder of Miss Archibald’s term there and pretend to be Mr. Summerfield’s aunt.
The two of they would say that them was traveling about the area, looking at fine houses, which would put it in Mr. Stirling’s mind that Guilford House could be considered a fine house.
And it’d mean there’d be somewho else in the house keeping an eye on things: both Mr. Summerfield and whoever us’d send with he. ”
Smudge’s grandfather looked directly back at Kip. “Do you think Miss Archibald’s in danger from her uncle’s friend?”
Kip didn’t know the answer for certain. “I don’t know that he would actually hurt her or even inopportune her. But she is very uncomfortable with him. She’s painfully wary. It has been my experience that when a woman has that reaction to a man, it oughtn’t be ignored.”
“And the man who makes a lady that uncomfortable oughtn’t be permitted to continue doing so,” Smudge’s grandfather added. “Her ought to be at ease in her own home, however temporarily it’s her home.”
“My thoughts precisely.”
Smudge jumped in. “Mrs. Finch can mimic the way Quality speaks. And should anywho try to make Miss Archibald unhappy, Mrs. Finch wouldn’t have any qualms reproving that somewho.”
Smudge’s grandfather laughed low. “That’s true as the day is long.”
“She sounds perfect,” Kip said.
“So long as you realize,” Smudge’s grandfather said in a tone of warning, “her’ll rebuke you too. And her won’t be bothered at all by it.”
Kip just smiled. “If I deserve to be denounced, I certainly hope she would do it.”
And again, the old man looked impressed.
It was an expression Kip had longed to see from his own father.
Just the slightest, briefest moment of acknowledging that he might not be a total failure or disappointment of a person.
He thought maybe he’d have seen a hint of that the first time he’d been cast in a production, or the first time he’d had a role on television.
He’d even thought that when he’d been given a significant recurring role in The Beau , his father would at least have acknowledged that it was steady work.
Never happened. Nothing had ever been good enough.
Kip was never good enough.
Eventually, it would be reported that Kipling Summerfield, well-known, award-nominated actor, had been declared dead after ending up missing for however long it took for that to happen.
Would his father miss him? Would he regret the gap between them?
Or would he simply shrug like he so often did and make some remark about how it could have been different if Kip had made better decisions?
Maybe it was a mercy that Kip would never know.
Amelia paced in front of the windows facing the sea road. She’d been there for nearly two hours. She tried to drown out the sound of the sea by humming lightly to herself but hadn’t entirely done it. She was on edge.
Her grandfather was taunting her. But she managed to summon the endurance to peek out the window now and then to glance at the sea road, hoping to see the pony cart returning with Kip inside.
He’d said he would come back, and he would.
He’d also said he wouldn’t come back until he’d convinced the village to help, and she believed that too.
But how long would that take? Was it even possible?
Another circuit of the room brought her to the window once more. She summoned the courage to look out. The pony cart was approaching. She held her breath.
Focusing solely on the cart and doing her best to pretend she couldn’t see the ocean on either side of the road, she studied the faces in the cart. Smudge, Mick, Mr. Ivers, and Kipling.
Kipling.
She pressed her hand to her heart and whispered a quick expression of gratitude. He’d come back so quickly. Soon enough, he would be in the house. He’d hold her hand. He might even hold her .
And on the heels of that thought, she spotted something she hadn’t yet noticed: behind the pony cart were two more carts filled with people.