Homespun Bride

house. He had to be close to guide me. You know that, Angelina.”
    “Yes, but he’s a very handsome man and it didn’t look as if being near him was a hardship,” Angelina said knowledgeably. “I think he’s smitten with you.”
    Smitten? No. Noelle filled up from toe to top with an aching regret. How could she tell her cousin that it was far too late for that? Any loving feelings Thad had to have once felt for her were long destroyed. They had to be.
    Thad was a good man with a good heart. Of course he would always care for her. Her eyes smarted with understanding. It was all starting to make sense. All his kind words and the gentle things he’d said earlier that had made her so angry came clear. How he would always care for her.
    And she for him, she realized. Her fingertips felt wooden and clumsy as she inched across the small table, searching for the cup and saucer. Regret and the weight of lost dreams burdened her. No, even if she were not blind, it was too late for a second chance.
    Henrietta gave another thwack on the unsuspecting pillows. “I’ll have no more talk of this tonight. Robert, are you comfortable? Do I need to help you back upstairs? I shall call Cook to help me—”
    “No!” Robert may have been still terribly weak from his injuries, but his tenor boomed. “No, my dear, I’ve had enough of that room. I’m quite comfortable here.”
    “Supper shall be served soon, I’ll see you upstairs then.” Henrietta sounded as firm as her footsteps on the wood floor. “No argument.”
    “I thought the man was the lord of his own home?” A small smile warmed her uncle’s words.
    “Yes, and a woman is the queen, so you will obey me. I’ll not take no for an answer.” While not a word was said, deep-felt love was there all the same in Henrietta’s tone.
    An abiding love that made Noelle sigh a little. That she could not know the same love, the kind that grew stronger and richer with the years, would always be a great, lost dream. She inched her fingers in the direction of where she thought the teacup was, and fortutely located the rim of the saucer without upturning the cup or burning her fingertips on the steaming hot tea puddled in the saucer.
    “Noelle—” Robert changed the subject “—I wish I’d been up to a trip to the stable. I would have liked to see our newest addition.”
    “Solitude’s foal is adorable.” She set the teacup gently into its saucer, aware of Thad’s nearness. Although he didn’t make a sound, she knew. He was close—in the kitchen perhaps? “Have you named her yet?”
    “Not yet. You wouldn’t happen to have a suggestion?” Thunder cannoned again. There only seemed one obvious suggestion. Thad’s boots tapped a distant rhythm at the far end of the house. She tried to make her voice sound normal and unaffected. “You should name her Stormy.”
    “Then Stormy she is!” Robert chuckled. He sounded happy. “I think this horse-raising venture of mine might be taking a turn for the better.”
    “It could hardly get much worse!” Henrietta commented.
    “Ooh, did you see that?” Minnie’s words echoed in the dining room’s coved ceilings.
    Thunder crashed overhead, rattling the windows. Another round of lightning, Noelle realized as she gingerly sipped the hot herbal tea, and the strikes were terribly close. She remembered how Thad had described the storm to her. It was best he stay out of the dangerous weather. “Thad can’t ride out in this.”
    “Sure he can,” Henrietta answered. “He has a horse, does he not?”
    The tea caught in her throat. She coughed as Angelina answered. “But Mama, it’s a lightning storm. He could get struck.”
    “And he might not. Goodness, Noelle, are you all right?”
    Noelle set the cup in the saucer with a splash. “F-fine. I should have kept my thoughts to myself, I see.”
    “I inquired about the North County McKaslins,” Henrietta said by way of an answer. “Your Mr. McKaslin is only a disinherited cousin. Apparently his father was nothing but a disgrace, much like the younger brother is turning out to be.”
    “So,” Angelina teased. “How old is the younger brother?”
    “I’ll not rise to that bait, missy,” Henrietta scolded, although she was struggling not to laugh. “How you test me. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the incident at school. After dinner, you’re to go straight to your room.”
    “I detest being banished. There’s nothing to do upstairs but to read my