Garland smiled. “Olsen was in a bad accident when he was twelve. The buggy his father was driving turned over. He was under it for hours, with the heavy weight on his chest, but he’s overcome all that when it comes to running my grounds. He’s a genius at it. I hired him when he was only fourteen, three years ago, right, Olsen?”

“Ye . . . yes, sir,” Olsen said.

“I’ve been said to have a good eye for help,” Garland bragged.

“Can’t be a leader without that ability,” my father said.

They walked on, with Olsen trailing behind and nodding at every suggestion and command either Garland or my father uttered about the grounds preparation.

“I think I need some rest,” my mother called to them after a while. She never liked walking in the sun without an umbrella, but she did look tired, even aged, by our journey.

They stopped and turned.

“By all means, Rosemary,” my father said. “We’re here two days. There’s time to learn it all.”

“I doubt that,” my mother muttered under her breath. She looked at me.

“Go on,” I said. “I’m not tired yet, Mother.”

She was probably returning to the house to get more of a tour and information anyway, I thought. Poor Mrs. Steiner.

I watched her return to the French doors, and then, seeing that my father and Garland were in a deep conversation with Olsen beside them, his head down, all of them continuing on, I turned and started in the opposite direction. This was my wedding, too, I thought again. I should be at their side, and they should be looking to hear my opinions. Right now, it was as if I wasn’t here.

Rather than chase after them, I decided to see the lake.

It really hadn’t struck me yet that this was all to be my new home and I would be the mistress of it. I wasn’t even thinking about my pregnancy anymore, either. Since the early days, I had been lucky and experienced little, if any, discomfort, certainly nothing that my mother would notice. Being lazy and tired was my middle name, according to her.

But could I be lazy and indifferent here, even with a small army of servants? Actually, like my mother, I still had most of the house to explore. I was hoping that Garland would reserve time for some of that when we were alone. As we walked about the rooms and outside together, he would spin the story of his youth and his family, and I would truly get to know him. It was something I had to do very quickly now. At the moment, long romances were fables only recited in novels. My hope was that our marriage would be a long romance.