Amanda's Story

Good Friday

As the week progressed, Amanda felt pulled in two different directions.

In her happiest moments, she watched Phoebe continue to garner Devyn Watson's attention. They spent Wednesday morning together on a walk through the grounds. Wednesday evening, Phoebe partnered Devyn in charades, and they found their wit and way of thinking complemented each other. They solved nearly every riddle before the other guests.

Thursday the group was kept indoors by a heavy rain, but the Cressys opened their portrait gallery and library up for the curious to peruse. Phoebe, Amanda, Mr. Watson, and Mr. Barker spent hours discussing the portraits and tapestries and the history behind them. That evening they all traveled the mile to church in carriages, due to the rain, to attend the Maundy Thursday service. Amanda almost felt guilty for enjoying that evening in church so much.

Maundy Thursday was marked by a simple Last Supper of bread and wine, followed by the Eucharist service. Amanda was intrigued to watch the curate, Tobias Watson, wash the feet of twelve men chosen from the parishioners. He was solemn and focused on the symbolism of the rite—at least until he came to his brother. The corners of his mouth turned up in a repressed grin as he splashed water a little too high and dampened the hem of Devyn's breeches. Devyn's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. At the next wayward spurt of water, Devyn jerked his foot from Tobias' grip. Tobias nearly toppled sideways before he emerged from his kneeling posture. He turned with a dignified upturn to his nose to the next participant.

Amanda followed Tobias with her eyes, seeing the irrepressible spirit of a tree-climbing boy bundled into the collar and vestments of a clergyman. Her smile grew as she remembered their talk on Lady Day, his insistence that a twenty-year-old man could enjoy the same pleasures, clergyman or no.

When Devyn returned to the pew and sat next to Phoebe, the couple's hands somehow met in the small space between their hips. Amanda noticed the surreptitious linking of pinky fingers, and felt a little flutter in her chest. She was cheered by their tiny hint at intimacy and familiarity.

But when the service ended with the uncovering of the altar table and extinguishing of candles, they turned from the cozy church into the fierce storm. Devyn made a dash to the carriage with Phoebe under his umbrella, leaving Amanda in the doorway alone. She thought he would return when Phoebe was safe inside. The other gentlemen had already helped sisters or cousins to the carriage, or had gone with the Cressy family, and when the last of them disappeared under the curtain of rain, she began to realize she was neglected.

That moment, staring into the dark, wet churchyard, plunged Amanda into a melancholy she'd fought so hard to suppress. Phoebe had Devyn, and in their attention to each other, they missed no one. Dabney had once meant just as much to Amanda, and she probably had neglected family and friends in like manner. Now she knew the ache of being left behind. Tears began to burn behind her eyes.

"Miss Amanda."

Amanda started and spun around. The curate approached, his liturgical garments laid aside for the Good Friday service on the morrow.

"I apologize for startling you." He smiled in the thin light of the lantern hung in the doorway.

"No, it is my fault. I was... lost for a moment."

He came right up to her, pressing his shoulder into the opposite side of the door frame and searching her face—for what, she didn't know. He studied her a long minute, then spoke. "Even the lost may be found," he said, his voice just a murmur.

The next moment, he turned his gaze into the churchyard. "I see the carriage lanterns still. Just a moment."

He dashed into the rain before Amanda could open her mouth. She heard a loud knocking on the carriage door, then some voices, then splashing footsteps as he returned.