Page 10 of The Secret of Drulea Cottage

This was the only home she had ever known, and Mum had always told her the cottage had been in the family since Briony’s great-grandmother claimed it.

“Aye, we are, bairn. But we also have another home, an old home I sometimes think about.”

Little Briony frowned in confusion. She knew for certain she had never been there. “Why do we na live there?”

“Well, Briony, I knew this would be a better place fer you. A safer place. Because no matter what, I’m going to make sure you stay safe. Do you understand?” Bethany said firmly, as though she was desperate to make sure her daughter knew it.

Briony nodded before nestling into her mother’s embrace. Soon after, she fell asleep, and the subject of their “other home” was never mentioned again.

It had been such a long time since Briony last thought about that conversation that she’d almost forgotten it. Rather than feeling pain at the memory, though, Briony felt a spark of curiosity.

Why did I never ask her about it again? If Mum did live somewhere besides Drulea Cottage, what made her come back?

Briony opened the door to head to the market only to find Dr. Sherwin standing just outside. He cleared his throat upon seeing her and looked about awkwardly for a few seconds before speaking.

“Greetings, Mis…tressFairborn.”

Briony raised her eyebrow at the slip. She had long suspected no one called her “mistress” except to her face, since everyone thought she was a strumpet.[10]It didn’t matter that she had never even kissed a man before.

“What do you want, Dr. Sherwin?” He was delaying her trip to the market, and every second wasted was another second she could be missing out on a great deal.

“May I come in?”

Briony groaned inwardly, but courtesy demanded she comply. She nodded and stepped back to allow him entrance.

She gestured to one of her two wooden chairs. “Have a seat.”

“I shall be brief, Mistress Fairborn,” he said as Briony lowered herself into the other chair. “I need you to help Mr. Mendes in his recovery. He needs to be walking regularly, thirty minutes a day fer the next six weeks, starting morn.”

Briony frowned. “I have no experience in something like this. Besides, ’tis na my duty to help him. Why can his sister na do it?”

“Mistress Fairborn, Everton must be accommodating to its guests! How would it look if we weren’ even able to provide an injured visitor with proper care while he’s here? Surely ’tis too much to ask Mistress Mendes to do it herself. Nay, it must be you.”

Briony scoffed.This man’s obsession with appearances is too much to bear.

“Yer his doctor, na me. Don’ you wish to look good in front o’ Mistress Mendes?”

The doctor coughed and looked away. “I’m sure I don’ know what you mean, Mistress Fairborn.”

“Hmm, o’ course na.”

“The simple fact is I have other patients besides Mr. Mendes. Surely you can spare some o’ yerabundanttime to give him the help he needs.”

Briony glared at him as she remembered how he had taken all the credit for setting the man’s bone. This time, she wasn’t going to just go along with him. “I’m na yer servant to order around as you please! If you want it done, you do it!”

Dr. Sherwin’s eyes narrowed. “I’d be a wee bit more gracious fer this opportunity if I were you.”

“Opportunity? What sort o’ opportunity is this fer me? All I’ll be doing is easing up yer workload!” Briony rose from her seat, about to tell Dr. Sherwin to leave.

“Mistress Fairborn! Show some decorum, fer heaven’s sake. Do you think raising yer voice is going to help you? I could easily take away yer only source o’ income if I tried!”

Briony gasped. “Take away my job? You could na do that.”

The man sneered. “Do you truly want to test that?”

“If that’s true, then why have you na already done it?”

“I may na like you, Mistress Fairborn, but I’m na cold-blooded enough to force you from yer home.” He leaned back in the chair, wiping his glasses with a handkerchief as though the conversation bored him.