Nolan felt his smile grow a little twisted, but he did not think Leesa noticed. In fact, her next words were on a completely different subject. She had apparently forgotten that her plan was to find out everything about his life. “Did I tell you?” she said, her voice taking on a lilt of excitement. “My grandmother has decided to give up her Chabbedon property. Well, it’s just gotten to be too much for her—the house is huge, and the grounds are so extensive that she can’t possibly keep track of everything. So she’s moving in with my mother at the end of the year.”

“Chabbedon,” Nolan repeated. “That’s one of the ones your mother is to inherit, isn’t it? And Corfelo goes to your aunt.”

Leesa nodded. She was almost bouncing where she sat, and her black eyes snapped with delight. “Yes, and of course Mother has always planned to leave Chabbedon to me. So she told me, if I want, we can move in there as soon as my grandmother moves out! That’s this year, Nolan! I thought we’d have to wait at least another year before the Hayden property was ready. And Chabbedon! It’s always been my favorite house.”

Nolan felt his bones curl inward and his muscles spike with chill. This year! To be back in-country so soon! “Yes, it’s a beautiful place. I can’t remember why, but I remember that your family and mine all spent one summer there when my sister and I were little.”

“That’s when your mother was remodeling your house,” said Leesa. She was two years older than, Nolan, and she never forgot anything—none of the details of her life, none of the details of his. “And my father had been sick, and my mother wanted us to be away so we didn’t all get infected. So she brought all of us to Chabbedon and invited your family so she wouldn’t get bored. I thought it was a wonderful summer. Which makes it even more perfect that Chabbedon will be our first home together.”

He had been betrothed to Leesa since he was fourteen; he had expected to marry her, been delighted at the prospect of marrying her, since he was old enough to understand what it meant. She was beautiful, educated, gracious, and sweet-tempered, and any indigo man in or out of the Higher Hundred would envy him. So why did he feel this depression, this sense of loss, this moment’s brief spasm of protest? “We must marry before we live together,” he said, attempting both a smile and a light tone. “Did you have a timetable for that as well?”