A Lily Among Thorns(118)

Serena set down the spoons with a clatter. “How can you be? He oughtn’t to have done it.”

Mrs. Hathaway’s eyebrows rose. “Well, perhaps it was a little thoughtless of him. It hasn’t been a very comfortable visit for you, has it?” She sighed. “I hope we haven’t given you a disgust of us.”

No, it hadn’t been a comfortable visit. True to his word, in the day and a half since their arrival Solomon had—not ignored her, never that, but there had been no more intimate conversations. He hadn’t flirted. He’d watched her, that was all. His private communications and whispered asides had been saved for Elijah, and while she was glad matters were mended between them, she missed him dreadfully already. And even the new distance between them didn’t spare her from Mr. Hathaway’s evident skepticism or his attempts to keep Susannah from spending too much time in her company.

The worst of it was that she couldn’t even long for the visit to be over, because when it was, they would go back to London and Solomon would leave—unless she asked him to stay. And how could she do that?

“Of course you haven’t,” she said. “That wasn’t what I meant at all. Solomon loves you and I don’t want—he’ll quarrel with his father and I told him he couldn’t bring me here even if you’re all being very kind ignoring my awful reputation—” Her voice was rising alarmingly; she snapped her mouth shut and stood very still.

“Oh, you poor dear!” Mrs. Hathaway put an arm around Serena’s shoulders. “Here, sit down, I see we need to talk. Would you like some tea?”

“No, thank you. Won’t they be expecting their dinner?”

Mrs. Hathaway’s eyes glinted brown like Solomon’s when he was particularly determined about something. “They can wait.” So they sat. Serena focused all her energy on not twisting her handkerchief in her lap.

“Allow me to apologize for my husband. I’ve spoken to him about his behavior, I promise you.”

“Oh, I wish you hadn’t—”

“I certainly did. But really, you mustn’t take it to heart. Mr. Hathaway was much ruder to Jonas, I assure you.”

“He was?” Serena wondered what Mr. Hathaway would think of René. Nothing good, probably.

“Jonas won’t even come to church anymore.”

“Isn’t he a Methodist?”

“Yes, but he used to come every week when he was first courting Susannah. That was before some rather sharp words passed between them on the subject of the church’s organ.”

“The organ?”

Mrs. Hathaway smiled. “My husband is emphatically low church, but he loves that organ, and Solomon plays it. When Jonas intimated that perhaps incense would be next, Mr. Hathaway was very intemperate in his response.”

Serena was surprised into a smile. “Oh, dear.”

Mrs. Hathaway sighed. “You can’t blame Solomon for wanting to show you off.”

“What do you mean?”

Mrs. Hathaway smiled fondly. “It’s obvious how proud he is of you, and well, he’s always been so shy. Elijah was the one who was more popular with girls, you know, and—”

“But Solomon and I aren’t—we’re not—you didn’t really think—” She had never lied so badly in her life.

But Mrs. Hathaway believed her. Her face fell. “Don’t you care for Solomon?”

When had she ever cared for anything more? “You thought that Solomon and I—You wouldn’t mind Solomon bringing home his—his—”

“Solomon wouldn’t bring anyone here that he wasn’t in deadly earnest about,” Mrs. Hathaway said flatly. “Oh, dear. Are you sure you can’t feel anything for him?”

Serena had not the slightest notion what to say. “He’ll get over me,” she said at last.

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Hathaway said worriedly. “He doesn’t get over things easily. And I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

“How—how does he look at me?”

“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed! As if—as if he doesn’t quite believe he’s not dreaming. As if someone had lit a candle behind his eyes. Mr. Hathaway and I—we just assumed—”

Serena got that feeling again, as if everything was tilting sideways, the spoons about to slip off the table and crash onto the floor. “You really want me and Solomon to—”