Page 12 of To Know Miss May

Livvy ignored Father’s words and worked to remove the leaves herself as she climbed the stairs, all the while trying to remember why the devil she’d agreed to go to the Moons’ in the first place.

Ah, that was right. She was determined that August would finally know that she was not just a girl who read in bushes.

She was odd, but she was not that odd.

CHAPTER SIX

“I would challenge you to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed.”

Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare

Dinner was an awkward affair. The only thing that pulled Livvy from dwelling on her misery were the subtle glances she was able to steal toward August and, of course, the fact that she hardly had to speak a word throughout the entire meal. The Moon sisters’ continuous chatter about Mrs. Dunstone doing this and Mr. Clemow doing that while Miss Galty had this happen to her and Miss Prisk had that happen to her to her filled up most of the time.

Livvy had been concerned that they were going to spill the fact that they’d found her in the bushes that afternoon, but fortunately, Father wouldn’t have heard if they’d tried. He was far too busy speaking over the girls and monopolizing August’s attention by rambling on about Sir John—the baronet whose family had inherited the castle many years before—and the botanical collections the man obsessed over.

Livvy had a mind to tell her father that what he was doing was hardly socially appropriate, but then, what did she know? Besides, this only meant that August didn’t attempt to speak with her the entirety of the meal, much to her relief. Obviously she wanted to speak with him, but in front of everyone, she would only be able to muster up one-word responses.

When the meal ended, the women went through to the sitting room, and Livvy glanced over her shoulder, stealing another look at August. He just so happened to look at her in the same moment. He delivered a nod and a kind smile before turning to Father, who stopped speaking for a feat of almost ten seconds.

Livvy did her best to quell her heart’s flipping, but she was as successful as Mr. Crusoe and his fishing attempts.

She had to keep her wits about her that evening if she was going to defend her actions to August. She would not leave until she had, so the Moons had better prepare themselves for a possibly very long night, indeed.

She smiled at her own joke as she followed the women through the short corridor of the Moons’ home. She was not looking forward to sitting with only the women to distract her, but she was willing to do so for her own sake.

Or rather, for the sake of August’s opinion about her. She knew she shouldn’t care so greatly about such a thing, especially when nothing would ever occur between them, but for one reason or another, she could not let this go.

Attempting to distract herself from leaving right that moment for home, she glanced around her. It had been at least two years since Livvy had been within the Moons’ home, and she still could not overcome her surprise at how it had changed.

The family had become one of the foremost of the Mount after Mr. Piran Moon was left a decent-sized inheritance from a long-lost uncle more than five years before. He made a few lucrative investments in multiple copper mines in the west of Cornwall and had only grown in wealth and popularity. The Moons had adopted a few upper-class traditions, including the women leaving the men to their drinks after dinner and the family obtaining more servants. They had also purchased the house connected to theirs, tearing down the walls to increase the size of their lodging and redecorating each room in the newest styles.

Through it all, however, Mr. and Mrs. Moon had remained humble and inviting to their original friends and neighbors. Instead of leaving the Mount to purchase a large estate elsewhere, they chose to stay where they loved to live, and Livvy couldn’t help but admire that.

She only wished Ophelia and Portia had maintained their humility, as well, as they seemed far changed from how they were as children. They’d always elevated themselves above Livvy, but now more than ever, they focused more on their appearances and how the upper-class functioned than on anything else.

Would August have become puffed up in his pride had he remained with his family instead of moving off the Mount for his employment?

Instantly, she pressed down the notion. August could never be prideful. He was too wise and kind.

“We be so pleased ye’ve come, Miss May,” Mrs. Moon said as they sat down across from each other, her daughters’ mouths closed for the first time that evening. “I know I keep sayin’ so, but we really couldn’t be ’appier.”

Livvy smiled. The woman had said so at least twice during dinner, and once when Livvy and Father had first come. Father had sent word earlier to the Moons that Livvy would be joining them that evening, but when she’d first arrived, the shock on each of their faces—apart from August’s—revealed that none of them had actually expected her to make good on her word.

“Thank ye,” Livvy said.

Portia’s and Ophelia’s eyes shifted to her, and Livvy regretted saying a word. Somehow, she’d remained veritably unnoticed by the girls until that point. Surely they wouldn’t say anything unnecessarily harsh with their mother seated beside them.

“Yes, Miss May,” Ophelia piped up. “We be ’appy to see ye.”

Miss May. She and the girls had grown up together. Using such names between each other sounded odd, but Livvy supposed that was merely due to the fact that she had always called the girls by their Christian names in her thoughts because she could never remember who was the elder of the two. Was it Miss Moon and Miss Portia? Or Miss Moon and Miss Ophelia?

“Surprised, but ’appy,” Portia added.

Her accent, like all the Moons, held a slightly finer note to it, no doubt due to the fact that they mingled with the upper class more than most folks.

Livvy wasn’t one to judge, of course, as her words had changed throughout her life due to her extensive reading. Father had taken issue with it many times over the years—“Why ye be speakin’ all fancy-like?”—but Livvy couldn’t help it when she ‘heard’ fine characters speaking more than her own father.

At any rate, her vocabulary had improved, but her accent remained the same. At least, according to her own ears. The Moon sisters sounded as if they didn’t know how they wished to speak.