In the Eye of the Storm (Storm and Silence 2)

‘Well, goodbye, Miss Linton. As always, it has been very… interesting, meeting you. I hope our paths will cross again, soon.’

I smiled back at him. It seemed the right thing to do. Besides, smiling at Captain Carter was easy. He didn’t have an invisible sign taped to his forehead saying ‘Smiling Forbidden!’ like some people I could mention.

‘So do I, Captain.’

‘Will you find your way home from here safely?’

‘Yes. Thank you for all your help.’

‘It was my pleasure. Until we meet again, Miss Linton.’ He leaned forward to bow - or at least that was what I thought! But instead, he took my hand and pressed a gentle but firm kiss on its back. I stared at him, flabbergasted.

Smiling, he nodded one last time, then turned and left. I stared after him in silent amazement until he had climbed into a waiting coach and vanished around a corner. Then I shook off my paralysis.

‘Mental,’ I muttered, wiping my hand on my skirt. ‘Completely mental!’

Taking a deep breath, I banished all thoughts of Captain Carter from my mind, and the tingling echoes of his kiss from my hand.

‘Come on, “grandmother”,’ I told the old lady on the wharf beside me. ‘It’s just you and me now. Let’s get you home, wherever that is.’

The old lady bent towards me, cupping a hand behind her ear. ‘Sorry, dearie? Could you say that again?’

*~*~**~*~*

It took me some time to extract her home address from the old lady and drop her off at her - quite surprised - relatives’ house. Having thus successfully rid myself of one pseudo-grandmother, I turned my steps towards home.

Before I even knocked at the front door, it flew open and Ella came rushing towards me. A moment later, her arms were around me, crushing me with a force I wouldn’t have thought my wisp of a little sister capable of.

‘I missed you so much, Lill!’

‘I’ve noticed,’ I wheezed. ‘Can you let go now?’

‘Sorry.’ Blushing, she eased her grip a little. ‘So… How was grandmother?’

‘Fine. A bit hard of hearing, these days, but there’s plenty of life in the old bone yet.’

That moment, my aunt stepped out of the door to see what the commotion was about. The moment she caught sight of me, her eyes narrowed. ‘Oh. It’s you. And? Did you meet any eligible bachelors while you were at your grandmother’s?’

I shook my head, grinning. ‘No. There was this one man I spent rather a lot of time with, but he was already married to a very stubborn and possessive young lady.’

Harrumphing, my aunt turned on the spot and marched back into the house gain.

‘I’m so glad you’re back!’ Ella repeated.

The welcome from the rest of the household was about as expected. Gertrude gave me a simple but sincere hug. Lisbeth smiled non-committally and said hello. Anne and Maria lost no time in pointing out how dreadfully tanned and ugly I had gotten while being away. Leadfield, our faithful aged butler, bowed so deeply he almost toppled over. My uncle kept his study door closed in a slightly more welcoming manner than usual.

It was all a sort of blur to me. Yes, I was glad to be home, but…

But what about him?

Don’t think about him! Don’t think about him! You’re a feminist! Thinking about men is out of the question - except if you’re thinking about grinding them into tiny little pieces!

Well, grinding sounded sort of nice…

Not that kind of grinding! Stop this at once!

But I cou

ldn’t stop. I couldn’t keep the same questions from forcing themselves into my mind over and over again: What is he thinking right now? What will he say when you arrive for work tomorrow? More importantly, what will he do?