Page 14 of Dark Tides
“Let me tell him to leave?” Alys asked her. “Ma? Please can I tell him to go?”
“Leave?”
“And come back in another twenty-one years?”
Alinor shook her head, fanning her face with her hand as if she would summon air. “I can’t see him now.”
“Oh, why not?” Livia’s face was bright with curiosity. “Since he has come twice to see you? And before that, he sent money?”
“You don’t have to see him, ever,” Alys said fiercely.
“Ask him to come back tomorrow.” Alinor struggled to speak. “I’ll see him tomorrow, in the afternoon.”
“I don’t want him here again.”
Alinor nodded. “I know, my dear, I know. Just this once.”
Livia looked from one to the other, her dark gaze sharp. “But why not?”
“Not Saturday afternoon, not Sunday,” Alys specified.
Alinor took a shuddering breath. “Oh? Is it the children he wants? Did he not come for me, but for them?”
“I don’t know what he wants,” Alys said stubbornly. “But he shan’t have it.”
Her mother looked at her with a long level stare. “I expect you do know,” she said, her voice very low. “I expect he told you.”
“I hate him.”
“I know.” She took a breath and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the high chair. “Best tell him to come back this afternoon then. Not tomorrow so he can’t see the children.”
“Shall I tell him?” Livia offered helpfully. “Shall I run down and tell him to come back this afternoon?”
Alys nodded, and the young woman whisked from the room. They heard her high-heeled shoes clatter down the stairs to the parlor, and then they heard the door close behind her. In the sunlit bedroom Alinor reached out her hand silently to her daughter, and Alys gripped it.
James Avery was looking out of the window over the busy quayside; the grinding of the pulleys and the rolling of the barrels was a constant nagging din.
“Sir James.” Livia entered and swept a deep curtsey to him.
He turned and bowed. “Nobildonna da Ricci.”
“Madam Ricci will see you this afternoon,” she said simply. “It is too early now. She is unwell, you understand. And of course, old people do not like to meet their friends early in the day.”
He hesitated as if he could not understand what she was saying.
She gave him a mischievous smile. “You must not surprise usladies in the morning!” she said. “The older you are, the more there is to do!”
James flushed and looked awkward. “I did not think… I’ll come back this afternoon then.” He picked up his hat and whip from the table. “Would three o’clock be the right time?”
“Why not say four o’clock, and you can stay for dinner,” she offered.
“She invited me for dinner?” He was astounded.
Her gleeful smile told him the truth. “No! It is my invitation; but I hope that they will agree.”
“You are kind to me, Nobildonna da Ricci,” he said, carefully hiding his disappointment. “But I think I had better wait for an invitation from Mrs. Stoney.”
“From Sister Alys? She’ll never make you welcome! Why does she dislike you so much?”
