‘For now,’ Beth said. Jessie immediately stopped fighting her and the pair of them collapsed in a fit of giggles.

Grace stared at them. Sometimes it was as if Jessie and Beth had a secret code that only they understood.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

It felt awkward, having a stranger at the Christmas dinner table. But at least Noah Wells helped to fill one of the empty spaces left by Grace’s three brothers.

All the same, she wished her mother hadn’t insisted on placing her next to him. For once, she was glad of her younger brothers and sisters making their usual din, as it saved her from having to make conversation.

His presence made her nervous, and several times she had managed to slip with the spoon and tip vegetables over the tablecloth. Once, when she was passing him the gravy boat, she had managed to tip its contents into his lap, much to Jessie and Beth’s amusement.

She could feel them now, watching her closely from across the table.

‘Thank you for inviting me to share your feast, Sarah.’ Noah’s voice was deep and gruff. He was a lay preacher at the Methodist chapel, and Grace could imagine his voice booming out from the pulpit on Sunday morning. He must strike fear into all the sinners, she thought. ‘It’s most charitable of you.’

‘It’s the least we can do, Noah, after your tragic loss.’ Grace’s mother said demurely. ‘She was a good woman, your Matilda.’

‘Indeed,’ Noah said gravely. ‘She is with God now.’ He raised his eyes to the ceiling. ‘But I must say, the farmhouse is very lonely without her.’

Beth gave a muffled snort, which sounded like a cough. Only Grace, looking across the table, could see she was laughing.

‘Farming is a lonely life, to be sure, unless you have a companion,’ her father agreed.

‘There’s no chance of being lonely in this house!’ Grace laughed. ‘Not with all these children.’

‘Alas, Miss Grace, Matilda and I would have loved children, but we were not blessed.’ Noah turned to her, his gaze solemn under his bushy brows. His eyes seemed to be as coal black as his hair. It was difficult to see where his pupils ended and his irises began.

‘There is still time, Noah, I’m sure.’

A long silence followed her words, and once again Grace felt as if all eyes were turned to her. She was so confused she dropped her fork with a clatter on the stone-flagged floor.

‘How are you enjoying your nursing in London, Miss Grace?’ Noah asked when she had retrieved it.

‘Very much, thank you, Mr Wells. I’m working on the ward with shell shock patients, which is very interesting and rewarding—’

‘But it’s only something to do until she gets married,’ her father put in.

Grace stared at her father, seated at the head of the table. She wondered why he would ever say such a thing, since it was widely acknowledged that she was the awkward spinster of the family. One of the reasons she had been sent off to London to train as a nurse was because he had been certain no one would ever want to marry her.