Tobias truly didn't know if he'd be happy about Bess coming or not. He often felt lonely these days, in a way he hadn't felt before. Homesick in a way he hadn't felt at home before. And his responsibilities and father's approaching death overwhelmed him. But in a few weeks he'd be a married man who needed to make Sally comfortable in her new home. All would be tense enough with father's condition. He felt tense about all of it. Having another person in the home might make them feel even less like a married couple. He didn't want Bess to see what he was like as a new husband. Perhaps she'd feel he didn't get it right and judge him. He was already anxious that father and the servants might.

He pushed the thoughts away. He was just too overwhelmed to think, that was it. It would be good for both Bess and father. And Sally wouldn't mind, sweet thing. She'd agree to whatever was good for his father. God, he did love her.

When Adam had secured the horses, Tobias jumped down and moved over to Bess's side to help her down. He knew she was fully capable of getting herself down, but she was still a young lady. "Ye go in," he told her. "He's eager to see you. I'll bring yer things."

The house itself was of faded grey sandstone with a door in the middle, two large, white paneled and gridded windows on either side of the door, at the front of the house, and three diamond gridded windows on the floor above. There were shrubs growing up against the house, around the windows, that gave flowers in spring, but those had withered now.