English Trifle (15 page)

Using her finger, Sadie started with William, Liam’s father, and followed the lines that linked each earl to his father—the line through which the title had passed. She had to turn several pages to do it but she finally found herself at the fifth Earl of Garnett before she lost the line. It took her a moment to realize that he’d inherited the earldom not from his father, but from his older brother. Sadie tried to remember the explanations Liam had given about how the peerage worked but couldn’t remember the details. However, there were some reference numbers listed beneath the fifth earl’s name, so she turned to the reference section and scanned what was nearly a page-long summary of his life. She started reading word for word when she got to the part about the untimely death of his older brother. She then looked up the older brother.

The fourth Earl of Garnett had contracted pneumonia after a fox hunt, and when he died, he had left behind two young daughters. No male heir. Being a widow herself, Sadie wondered what that had been like for his wife—the fourth countess. She lost her husband and the father of her children, which must have been horrible, but she also lost the earldom. When Neil died, Sadie had been grateful he’d taken life insurance so seriously. With good investments and provident living, Sadie had managed to do quite well financially—though she had gone back to teaching when Shawn started school. But if this woman had married an heir apparent to an earldom, she likely hadn’t been raised to be very self-sufficient. Did losing her husband also mean losing her home? Her mode of income? It seemed like such a strange way to base prominence in a society—on birth order alone. In fact it seemed downright, well, un-American.

She returned to the pedigree chart. If the fifth earl hadn’t become earl, Liam wouldn’t be facing the title at all—it never would have come into his family line. If not for that one silly fox hunt, the fourth earl might have had a son later on who would have inherited the title. Liam and Breanna might very well be fighting over wedding colors like any other couple instead of matters of inheritance and titles. It was strange how fate worked sometimes. She traced the title back another generation—to the third earl—wondering if he had an interesting story behind his inheritance as well, but he didn’t. He was just the oldest son.

“What are you doing?”

Sadie spun around to see Liam standing ten feet away from her. His sudden appearance unnerved her—especially in light of what she’d learned about his argument with John Henry—but at least it wasn’t Austin sneaking up on her. “It was just lying open on the desk,” she explained, wondering if she should confront him about what Charlotte had said. But then, Breanna had already talked to him about the John Henry stuff and, more than an explanation, Sadie wanted Liam’s trust so that if he had other secrets he wouldn’t keep them to himself. “I’m sorry if it was private,” she said when Liam took a step closer and looked at the book.

“It’s not private,” he said. Sadie stepped to the side to accommodate him. He turned a few pages, then let out a breath and shut the book, running his fingers across the title as if contemplating the power the Martin family line had in his life. Some of his earlier anxiety seemed to have moved on and he was more like the Liam she knew—easygoing, mild-mannered, and confident—but there was still tension, and perhaps a little fear, in the set of his jaw.

“It’s an impressive compilation,” Sadie said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Yeah,” Liam agreed, picking up the book and taking it to a shelf located behind and to the side of the desk. “Lady Hane—my Aunt Hattie—had this put together several years ago as a gift to her father when he celebrated thirty-five years as earl.”

“Aunt Hattie is Austin’s grandmother?” Sadie asked for clarification.

Liam nodded. “Aunt Hattie is twelve years older than Dad. She had her children young, though. Dad met my mom when he was in his mid-thirties, making me the same generation as her grandkids—though Austin is the oldest and still a few years younger than I am.”

“I see,” Sadie said with a nod. “What does heraldry mean?” she asked.

“Titles were a kind of herald, a pronouncement of greatness or whatever, given by the king as a reward for some great act or friendship or something—I think the first Earl of Garnett discovered an assassination attempt on the prince or something like that. The Book of Heraldry follows the bloodline. I heard it took almost three years for Lady Hane to get it all put together.”

“So she didn’t do it herself?” Sadie asked, looking at the book now on the shelf.

“Oh, no,” Liam said with a dry chuckle. “She hired professional genealogists.”

He stood facing the bookshelf and Sadie moved up behind him, wondering what it was he was looking at when he fell silent. Next to where he’d put the pedigree were several nearly identical volumes—each dedicated to one of the eight previous Earls of Garnett.

“Are those all personal histories?” she asked.

“Yes,” Liam said, looking at the books. “Each earl has his own, but they are about as boring as you can possibly imagine—they include things like agricultural yields, taxes paid, renovations done to different buildings. Dry as a pile of straw, if you ask me.”

Sadie smiled, but wondered if he was contemplating that his father might soon have his own volume. And that one day Liam would have one too. It was a stark reminder that every day was writing Liam’s life story, a story that would go down in history as the tenth Earl of Garnett. A story that wouldn’t mention Breanna Hoffmiller. Would it mention a dead nurse named John Henry, she wondered?

Liam turned toward her. “You said it was open on the desk?”

“Yes,” Sadie said. “I’d only been in here a few minutes before you arrived. I think I saw Austin leave the room though—maybe he got it out.” She watched to see his reaction.

Liam scowled. “Hmmm,” he said, looking at the book again.

That look showed a lot of consideration in Sadie’s opinion. “Should Austin not be looking at it?” That seemed odd, since it was in a rather public area and Liam had said the book wasn’t private.

“Not necessarily,” Liam said. “It’s just that—oh, I don’t know.”

“What?” Sadie pushed while trying not to sound pushy. It was a difficult balance.

“It’s just that this book is a compiled history with documents and records, but there’s another book with pedigree information—the Martin family Bible. And I can’t seem to find it.”

Sadie had heard of family Bibles where people recorded births and deaths and marriages. But did you need one when you had a compiled book like the one on the shelf? “Is it important that you find it?”

Liam shrugged. “My father mentioned it a few months back. It had been lost for a long time and he was excited to have it back—but it isn’t here. I asked Austin about it and he said he didn’t know anything about it being found at all.”

And yet, Sadie mused, Austin was looking through the Book of Heraldry.

“But your father mentioned the Bible and you expected it to be here?” Sadie asked by way of clarification, keeping her thoughts of Austin to herself.

“He’d been studying the family line and felt he’d done a disservice by not respecting it more when he was younger.”

“And so you thought that perhaps you ought to study the family Bible like your father had, grow some appreciation for it.”

Liam smiled, but it was sad. “Something like that,” he said, then he looked at Sadie with sad eyes that made her want to give him a hug. “Last August Dad e-mailed me and asked me to come back to England.”

Sadie lifted her eyebrows. “As in, for good?”

Liam nodded and pushed his hands in his pockets, rocking back slightly on his heels as he looked between Sadie, the floor, and the bookshelves around the room, not letting his eyes stay in any one place for too long. “He said he regretted that he hadn’t been more involved in the earldom before he inherited it. He said he wanted me to come out and help him manage things and learn the ropes.”

“Isn’t that what Austin does?”

Liam met her eye briefly and nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “In fact that’s what Dad said—that I should be the one doing what Austin was doing—that it would be better for everyone if I did.”

“Was he angry when you said no?”

Liam shook his head. “No,” he said. “I told him I wanted a few more years, that I wasn’t done with my life yet. He seemed to understand, but I know he was disappointed all the same.” He shrugged his shoulders but Sadie felt he was trying to convince himself it wasn’t a big deal more than he was trying to convince Sadie. He’d had a chance to work side by side with his father and turned it down. Now his father was in a vegetative state. “We agreed that I would come out for a couple weeks at Christmastime in order to familiarize myself with the earldom a little bit.”

“And here you are,” Sadie said, commiserating.

Liam let out a breath. “Yep,” he said, turning back to the shelves. “Here I am.” He reached up and straightened a book on a higher shelf. “I’ve been through the whole library looking for that family Bible.”

“You said it had been lost for a long time,” Sadie said. “So, maybe Austin really didn’t know your father had found it.”

“Which in and of itself seems strange,” Liam said. “They worked together very closely.”

That is strange, she agreed silently. “Could it be somewhere else? Aren’t family Bibles valuable? Maybe your dad kept it in a secure location.”

Liam scratched his head. “Maybe.” Then he looked at her. “But I don’t want to make a big deal out of it—especially to Austin.”

Sadie knew she was supposed to nod and agree, but she couldn’t let this opening go unexplored. “Why?”

Liam paused and looked up toward the ceiling as if trying to think of how to say what he wanted to say. Sadie just smiled with a perfect expression of sympathetic interest on her face. After a few seconds, Liam looked down at Sadie. “Let’s just say I have reason not to trust him as much as I would like to.”

Well, that was certainly cryptic.

“And I don’t want him thinking the family Bible is too important to me.” He looked at the Book of Heraldry and Sadie could practically read his thoughts. If Austin was looking at the pedigree charts, maybe he already knew the Bible was important. But it also attested to the fact that he probably didn’t have it—otherwise why would he need to look through the pedigree book at all?

The door to the library opened just as Sadie was about to push Liam for more information about his feelings. Austin stepped through the doorway with a long stride that he brought up short when he saw them there. He looked at both of them, and then at the empty desk where the book no longer sat open. They all stood watching each other in silence for a few moments before Austin spoke. “Dinner’s waiting on you,” he said, not looking pleased.

“Oh, right,” Liam said, moving forward and pulling his hands out of his pockets. He turned to Sadie. “That’s why I came looking for you in the first place—Breanna’s probably wondering what happened to me.”

He passed Austin with a slight nod that was more polite than friendly. Sadie followed, watching Austin as she approached him.

“Mrs. Hoffmiller,” he said in a formal tone. “I believe I owe you an apology.”

She stopped and met his eyes, unable to hide her surprise.

Austin continued before she had the chance to answer. “I was inappropriate in my behavior toward you this afternoon. I have a great deal of work to take care of before the holiday and I’m afraid I let my schedule”—he pronounced it shedule—“put me in a foul mood. It was not fair that I let my personal affairs get in the way of my manners and I apologize for allowing it to do so.”

Sadie continued to stare at him. There was part of her that felt vindicated by his apology, but the absolute lack of sincerity was impossible to ignore. It sounded like the kind of apology a child gave when being threatened with punishment if he didn’t say he was sorry. Then again, it could simply be that Austin wasn’t used to making apologies and therefore didn’t know how to do it.

Sadie forced a smile and nodded her acknowledgment, but couldn’t make herself give him the satisfaction of a verbal response. He seemed to sense her exact thoughts, but didn’t seem bothered. He’d done his part—apologized—and that’s all he really cared about.

But Sadie cared about something else: Why was he reading the pedigree? And why did his staff go to him with information they kept from the police? She moved past him through the doorway and wished there was a book she could pick up to read all about him—he was the one she wanted more information on.

~ ~ ~

The only sound in the dining room was the clinking of silverware and the movement of the staff’s feet as they served the plates. Sadie had begun the meal saying thank you for every little thing any of the staff did for her, but finally gave up after feeling rather foolish when no one else was saying anything. Plus, the staff seemed uncomfortable with her gratitude. She put a bite of potatoes in her mouth as she looked around the table. It was a very different dinner tonight than it had been last night when it had just been Breanna, Sadie, and Liam. Last night, the three of them had talked about their trip, the places they’d seen, and things they’d done—a fitting conclusion since they believed they would be on a plane for home the next day. Breanna and Liam’s discussion about their future hadn’t taken place yet, Liam’s argument with John Henry hadn’t happened, and no dead bodies had turned up behind any curtain panels. Last night’s dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, and vegetables was comfortable, easy, nice. They’d finished out the meal with that wonderful English trifle. Sadie now wondered who had made it, since it likely hadn’t been the non-cook Mrs. Land. Maybe Lacy? Where had that woman gone? Would she come back like Mrs. Land had suggested? Sadie hoped so, but based on Lacy’s parting words, she didn’t think she’d be seeing Lacy again.

Liam dropped his knife, causing everyone to look at him. He ducked his head and muttered an apology while picking up his knife. Austin watched his cousin for several seconds before returning to his meal. Sadie was reminded that a lot could change in twenty-four hours and this new layer wasn’t very sweet at all.