Winterberry Fire: A Silver Foxes of Westminster Novella (Winterberry Park Book 2)(13)

“What do you want?” Alice snapped at Petunia.

Petunia just giggled. “He’s going to catch you staring one of these days.”

“And then you’ll be in trouble,” Bethel, her other bosom friend, commented from the row directly behind them.

“That just goes to show what you know,” Alice said, tilting her nose up.

“It’s what we know we know,” Petunia said, then frowned. “What do you know?”

“I know a great deal more than you,” Alice said, putting her friends in their places.

She turned her attention back to Mr. Turnbridge and Rev. Fallon, who now had their heads together in serious conversation. It was a good thing Alice sat close enough to overhear everything they said.

“And are you certain of her regard for you?” Rev. Fallon asked. His arms were crossed, and he tried to keep his voice down, but Alice heard all the same.

“Yes,” Mr. Turnbridge answered. Alice’s face heated with pleasure. Of course he knew she loved him.

“Then what seems to be the problem?” Rev. Fallon shifted, fixing Mr. Turnbridge with a puzzled frown.

Mr. Turnbridge let out a breath. “We’ve known each other for so long now. I’ve been teaching her, after all. But neither of us has said anything, declared our feelings.”

Alice positively glowed with delight. She leaned forward, straining to catch every word they said.

“Understandable.” Rev. Fallon rubbed his chin. “There are obvious difficulties in the two of you spending time together outside of working hours. And what with the way people talk….”

“Psst,” Petunia interrupted again.

Alice jerked toward her with a scowl. “What? I’m trying to listen.”

“You should be trying to finish your maths exam,” Bethel said from behind them.

Alice tilted her head up. “Who needs maths? All I need to know is how to keep house, cook, and be a good wife.”

Her friends sniggered. “And who in their right mind would marry you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Alice said, grinning like a cat with a canary.

“She’s gone mental,” Bethel giggled.

Mr. Turnbridge cleared his throat. Alice gasped and turned forward, only to find him staring at her, Petunia, and Bethel with a frown. “Ladies, this is an exam. No chatting and no cheating.”

“Yes, sir,” Petunia and Bethel said in unison.

As soon as Mr. Turnbridge glanced back to Rev. Fallon, Alice said, “See? He called me a lady, not a girl.”

“He called all of us ladies,” Petunia reminded her.

Alice sniffed and tilted her nose up. She tried to return to her exam, but the conversation in front of her was simply too delicious.

“I’ve made arrangements to meet her after school,” Mr. Turnbridge said.

Alice sat straighter. He glanced in her direction, then mimed writing. Petunia and Bethel would try to tell her he was ordering her to get back to her exam, but she knew better. He was speaking to her, not to Rev. Fallon. It was all part of their code.

“That’s something,” Rev. Fallon said, lowering his voice more, but not enough. “Although you’ll still have to be careful. Propriety, of course. If you’re seen to be entertaining a young woman at the school….”

“We aren’t meeting at the school,” Mr. Turnbridge said, just barely loud enough for Alice to hear. “We’re meeting at Violetta’s cottage, after school, around four o’clock.”

Alice gasped, her heart leaping in her chest. He wanted to rendezvous with her. At the infamous cottage by the river. At four o’clock. Joy burst through her brighter than anything she’d ever felt. Everyone knew that the cottage in question was a naughty place. At last, Mr. Turnbridge was going to declare himself. The two of them could stop the clandestine, coded love affair they’d been sharing and actually spend time together. The whole world would know he loved her, and in no time, she’d be Mrs. Timothy Turnbridge.

She sighed loudly. Mr. Turnbridge glanced her way, wearing a puzzled frown. Alice sat up straighter, taking up her pen with a knowing smile. She winked to let him know she’d gotten the message and that she would be with him later.

The rest of the exam passed in a haze. She couldn’t concentrate on numbers and was certain she’d done poorly, but that didn’t matter. She wouldn’t need to know maths with Mr. Turnbridge as her husband. She handed in her test paper, smiling at Mr. Turnbridge as she added it to the pile on his desk. And though he didn’t give her any special acknowledgement, she knew that was all part of his plan to keep their romance secret.

“You only finished half the questions on your exam,” Petunia needled her as they headed out to the schoolyard for recess with the other children.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alice said with a sigh.

“It will matter when your father sees it,” Bethel told her. “Didn’t he say that if you failed again, he would send you off to work in service?”

“He wouldn’t do that, not now,” Alice sighed. “Not when I’m so close to being married.”

Her friends laughed. She glared at their rudeness.

“Mark my words, the moment your father hears you have a beau, and one who’s so much older than you, he’ll tan your hide and his,” Bethel said.