Rumors Among the Heather by Amanda Balfour Read Free Book Online

them to Julie
just before she died. Tears soaked the cover of a well-worn Bible.
Her father prepared his sermons from this same Bible each week.
When the sale ended, her time for staying in the vicarage would
soon be over also.
    At nine-thirty, the
morning already felt hot and humid. Julie sat in the shade of a
giant elm tree and waited. She thought about Geoffrey Hamilton and
wondered why he did not write. She wrote to him when her father
died and told him her circumstances.
    It couldn’t have been
easy for him. He’d apprenticed to a doctor in Cornwall, and until
he became a full doctor, he wouldn’t make enough money to support
both of them. It would be at least two more years before they could
be married. Julie knew they had an understanding, but now her
situation had changed. Still, she hoped Geoffrey would not forget
her.
    By mid-morning, people
began milling around her father’s last earthly possessions. They
reminded Julie of vultures. Their chatter all ran together into a
noisy drone. She wanted to flee the frenzy, but she stayed rooted
to her spot by the door, a smile permanently etched on her face.
When her panic subsided, she realized these were her father’s
friends. Nothing could be hidden from the prying eyes and listening
ears of a small village. They knew Julie’s circumstances. They only
came to help. Soon people were carting away what it had taken
Julie’s parents a lifetime to collect. She fought back the tears
and tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she watched each
piece go.
    She had finished
helping a lady load her mother’s china onto a cart when she looked
up to see Geoffrey stepping out of a carriage. He and his mother
walked across the lawn toward her. She rushed over to him, a
welcoming smile on her lips, but the look on his face stilled her
heart.
    Geoffrey Hamilton was
a tall, handsome man of four-and-twenty. His dark good looks turned
many heads, and many bonnets were set for him. Julie was not
indifferent to his good looks, nor was he to hers. Quite naturally
a friendship sprang up between them, and out of this love grew.
“Geoffrey, I’m so glad to see you. I knew you would not let me
down. How long can you stay?” she asked eagerly.
    Julie trembled as the
flood of memories rushed at her, only to be replaced by the
present. Geoffrey’s lips moved, but she could not understand what
he said. Their last meeting kept ringing in her ears and mind.
    She could still
remember Geoffrey’s parting words to her. “I have something to tell
you, Julie. I thought it best to do it in person. You and I have
meant a lot to each other in the past. While it’s true we have an
understanding…”
    “What are you trying
to say?” Julie had hoped and prayed he planned to ask her to marry
him right away.
    “What he’s trying to
say, my dear, is that he’s already married,” supplied Geoffrey’s
mother. “He married Dr. Prevost’s daughter, Angela. It's an
excellent match. He’ll take over the doctor’s practice when the
good doctor retires, and Angela, of course, will inherit quite a
windfall. I’m sure you understand a match between the two of you
would never do. Besides, it was just a childish promise. Not one to
be taken seriously, especially now. Although your breeding is above
reproach, you are now below his station in life,” Mrs. Hamilton
finished.
    “Mother, please. I
would like to talk to Julie alone.”
    “There’s no point in
dragging this out. I told you, you should just have written to her.
Come along, Geoffrey, Angela is waiting.”
    “I’ll be there
shortly, Mother,” he’d said in dismissal. He turned back to Julie.
“Julie, please, I never meant to hurt you, honestly. You don’t know
what it’s like to be alone and without expectations. It’s a once in
a lifetime opportunity for me. I could not turn it down. Please say
you understand.”
    Julie was rooted to
the spot where she stood, too paralyzed with shock to move or
speak. Her last hope shattered. The