* * *
After a dinner of wild turkey, parsnips and roasted potatoes, mostly easy-flowing conversation, and the warmth of the huge hearth at the Black Rabbit, Grant brought Aunt Harriette back to her little house loathe to leave her behind. Patience had no such problems.
Aunt Harriette promised she would be ready to chaperone Patience’s charges when Grant’s carriage came for her in one week’s time. She was too grateful to her employers to leave them without warning.
“Grant,” Patience said as they began their return journey. “When you went to fetch John Coachman, Aunt said she was proud of me. She said it could not have been easy to turnabout in a foreign land and all. I kept waiting for a scold and some ‘hell and damnation’ to fall upon my head. Mayhap she has changed. But I still don’t like her all that much.”
“Do you forgive me for suggesting we seek her help?”
“I might. Someday.”
Grant was satisfied with the day, and the ride home was simply perfect.
Patience slept the whole way.