services there in years. Her mother had been the one to invite the village minister to come and officiate. Harrison hadn’t done it. Nor had she, an oversight that bothered her now.
She had fresh candles put on the altar and in the two chandeliers. An army of maids dusted and swept, polished the windows and ensured everything was spotless for Sean’s funeral.
One of the maids told her that there had been vandalism in the crypt. Together they inspected it and found that things had been tossed around. It only took a few minutes to put everything back in order.
The day of the ceremony Gordon still hadn’t said more than a few words to her. Even when she went to see Sean laid out, Gordon remained silent.
What had she done? Had she said something wrong? Even worse, did he regret asking her to marry him? Had he changed his mind?
There was every possibility that he found her boring. Her life hadn’t been as cosmopolitan as his in the past five years. All she knew was Adaire Hall.
The fact that he hadn’t come to her was more than troubling. They’d always reached out to each other in times of difficulty. She’d always felt a sense of reassurance to know that Gordon was there for her, yet this behavior was more like those five silent years.
She knew that his relationship with Sean hadn’t been an easy one. However, people handled grief in different ways. Perhaps he was mourning the fact that he and Sean hadn’t been closer. Or it could be that he was realizing his own mortality. Becoming an orphan had that effect on you. At least it had on her.
By midmorning the minister arrived and pronounced all the preparations to his liking. Villagers and staff filed into the chapel until it was near overflowing. Jennifer stood at the door, waiting.
When Gordon entered the chapel, he was accompanied by Moira and Sally. The two nurses had evidently taken to him, enough to behave like his family.
She told him of the arrangements for the funeral and what would follow. Women did not accompany men to the churchyard. She would not be there for Sean’s interment, but had provided refreshments for the men once they returned to Adaire Hall. She expected a sizable number of villagers to also be in attendance.
He only nodded when she finished speaking. She thought he murmured something that sounded like thank you, but couldn’t be certain. Within moments, the three of them had found a seat in the front pew on the other side of the aisle from the one the family used.
He didn’t say another word to her. Nor did he even look in her direction. He acted just like the man who’d first arrived at Adaire Hall—like a stranger who was not predisposed to like anything he saw.
Blessedly, the service was brief. Sean wouldn’t have expected any less. He wasn’t overly devout. Nor had Betty been. There would be another service at the graveside, officiated by the same minister.
She and the rest of the women stood aside as the men gathered in a procession, led by Gordon. As the only male member of Sean’s family, he would lead all of them in the walk to the village church.
She wanted to say something to him, especially standing there as isolated as he appeared. She wanted to go to him and shock the staff by hugging him in full view of everyone. Yet his behavior had been so strange that perhaps she should talk to him in private first. She needed to find out what was wrong between them.
Gordon was unapproachable and intimidating. She found it hard to believe that she had sat on his lap, kissed him, and told him how much she loved him. Or that she had ever once thought of seducing him.
An old Gaelic proverb stated that amaisidh an dall air an reilig. A blind man will find his way to the burial ground. All during the walk to the churchyard Gordon thought of those words.
At the front of the procession was the beadle ringing the passing bell. Behind him came the coffin, hoisted on the shoulders of eight young men who’d worked for Sean, and then came Gordon.
From time to time—due to the distance to the churchyard, he’d been told—the pallbearers would stop, place the coffin on a spot above the ground, such as an overturned stone—and partake of a dram of whiskey.
He sincerely hoped that the two stops they’d already made would be