“Me. Reading out loud in the ward.” Cuffe’s face registered a curious mixture of horror and disbelief upon hearing Wynne’s announcement.

“I said I would inform you of your punishment when the time was right,” he told his son. “For one hour each afternoon, starting today, you’ll read to the patients from that book.”

Finding Cuffe on a flat rock in the grassy area outside the kennels, Wynne waited while his son considered the penalty. The lad had been reading with a newly weened pup asleep on his lap.

“Perhaps it would be best if we started tomorrow, Captain. I’m certain I’ve heard the vicar say something about laboring on the Sabbath.”

“He was speaking theoretically.”

“He mentioned yawning gates and a fiery pit.”

“I’m willing to risk it. Up, lad. Time and tide wait for no man.”

A steady rain had fallen over the past two days, but the sun had broken through by mid-morning. During that time Wynne had been quietly impressed by the influence of Jo’s presence on the fabric of life at the Abbey. And that included her suggestion regarding how to ease Cuffe into his new responsibility.

When he returned to the Abbey after their walk to Knockburn Hall, she’d been waiting for him with the book of African fables. When he gave it to Cuffe and explained what it was, the boy had taken an immediate interest in it. Yesterday, Wynne mentioned the volume to Cameron, and the bookkeeper said the ten-year-old was spending every free moment he had reading through it, and that Jo had stopped by to talk about the stories and tell him how they came to be in the book. Seeing how much the collection appealed to Cuffe, Wynne intended to talk to her about possibly having a copy made.

Cuffe closed the book and hugged it close to his chest. “What good would it do? They won’t understand what I’m reading.”

“How do you know?”

The shrug was familiar, but Cuffe got to his feet and carried the squirming pup back into the kennels. A moment later they were walking side by side toward the Abbey annex.

Jo had also been offering that fawning dog McKendry ideas about the ward. He couldn’t walk by Dermot without having to hear him sing her praises. As they neared the door to the annex, Wynne realized he would have been joining in if he wasn’t so annoyed by the doctor’s blasted wooing of her.

Since the morning of Wynne’s walk with Jo, the scoundrel had been herding her about like a prize cow. Wherever she went, the caw-handed sawbones was there beside her. When she wanted to meet with the vicar in the village to ask him what he might know of the Barton family and their history, Dermot had piped up and volunteered like a wet-nosed landsman on his first sea voyage. When she wished to bring Charles outside for an hour in the mid-morning sun, the doctor had changed his schedule to sit beside her. At dinner, he made sure she was seated at his end of the table. Whatever rules still existed regarding courtship, the villainous rake was ignoring them all.

All of this should have meant nothing to him, but Wynne was highly annoyed just the same.

When he and Cuffe entered the ward, they paused by the door. The noise level was high, for all of the patients were still inside. Some were milling about aimlessly while others were standing at the windows. A few were sitting at tables, but no cards or dice boxes were out, this being Sunday.

Wynne’s attention was drawn to Charles Barton, who was sitting beside Jo as she read to him.

Jo’s delicate chin lifted after each passage, and she looked at the patient as if to reassure him that she was there. Her world centered solely on the fortunate man.

Wynne recalled what she told him the morning of their walk. Begin again as strangers. Pretend they’d just met. No history.

To agree to her wishes meant that Wynne would have no chance to say the words that would free him of the burden he’d been carrying. Also, to agree meant that he’d have no more hold on her than Dermot.

He wondered if she knew how much she tormented him by asking such a thing.

At that moment her head turned in their direction and she smiled. Wynne wasn’t the only one affected by her acknowledgment of their arrival. Cuffe held the book up for her to see.

Dermot noticed their arrival, as well, and abandoned an attendant he was speaking with and crossed the room to Jo. Clearly, he couldn’t stomach the idea of a competitor vying for her attention. Wynne seethed inwardly when the jackal bent his head over hers solicitously, smiling at whatever she said.

“This is foolishness,” Cuffe complained. “No one here cares to listen to these tales. No one will even hear me.”

Wynne motioned to a long table. The only person occupying a chair was a patient named McDonnell. A blacksmith of about thirty years of age, he’d sustained a head injury from a horse he was shoeing. The man absorbed directions, but was unable to string words into a sentence. His inability to communicate and his difficulty in controlling his limbs severely frustrated him and left him wretched.

“Come with me. Mr. McDonnell will appreciate the stories.”

The young boy’s feet dragged as Wynne led the way, but he followed, honoring the promise he’d made.

At the table Wynne spoke to McDonnell and introduced Cuffe, but other than a small spasm causing a muscle in his cheek to jump, the patient made no response.

“I won’t stand on a table or a chair,” the ten-year-old whispered. “And I won’t yell. I don’t care if they hear me or not.”

“As long as McDonnell and I can hear you,” he told him, adjusting a few of the chairs to face the spot where he told Cuffe to stand. Leaving him to it, Wynne sat next to the patient.

“And you’ll keep the time.”

“I’ll tell you when your hour is up,” he assured his son.

“What if I’m in the middle of a story?”

“You’ll finish it.”

The lad shook his head. “But some of the tales are short. It wouldn’t be fair if—”

“Cuffe,” he warned, cutting him off. “Begin now.”

A frown, some shifting from one foot to the other, and then he opened the book, paged through it, found a page to his liking, and started.

Wynne was here to see his son through the task rather than to listen to the story, but Cuffe’s posture changed as soon as he began. He became animated, energized by the text.

“Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky,” he read. “Many years ago the Sun and Water were great friends, and both lived on the Earth together. The Sun used to visit the Water, but the Water never returned his visits.”

Cuffe paused and looked up at Wynne and the patient, seeing if he had their attention.

“At last the Sun asked the Water why he never came to see him in his house. The Water replied that the Sun’s house was not big enough, and that if he came with his family, he would drive the Sun out.”

Cuffe showed no hesitation or difficulty with the reading. To Wynne’s surprise, he was more than proficient. He spoke in a clear voice with no shyness whatsoever. The boy’s grandmother taught Cuffe to read and write back in Jamaica, but Wynne had never imagined he’d be so good at it.

Captivated by the effort, he watched and listened to the story as his son read dramatically, speaking in various voices to portray the characters.

“Yes, come in, my friend,” Cuffe said in a high-pitched voice for the Sun.

Wynne heard what sounded like a chuckle from the man sitting beside him and realized McDonnell was engaged in the reading.

“When the Water was level with the top of a man’s head, the Water said to the Sun . . .” Cuffe paused as another patient took a seat. “Do you want more of my family to come?”

McDonnell shook his head in response for the Sun.

“Yes,” Cuffe replied emphatically. “For the Sun did not know any better. So the Water flowed in, until the Sun and the Moon, his wife, had to perch themselves on the top of the roof.”

Several more patients joined them, and Wynne saw another had left the window and was standing close enough to hear. Someone made a noise behind him and was hushed as Cuffe continued.

“The Water very soon overflowed the top of the roof, and the Sun and Moon were forced to go up into the sky, where they have remained ever since.”

Immediate words of praise and “Hear, hear!” echoed from the gathered patients. Cuffe looked up, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. Wynne nodded his approval, and he saw the boy beam at someone standing behind him. He looked up and saw Jo. He immediately rose to his feet.

“Cuffe’s reading was wonderful,” she whispered. “You must be proud.”

“Thank you,” he said, meeting her shining brown eyes. “I’m grateful to you for—”

“He’s starting again,” she interrupted. “May I join you?”

“Of course.” Only two seats remained at the table, and as he held the chair for her, he saw Dermot approaching. Wynne looked around him at every occupied chair and sent the doctor a feigned look of sympathy before sitting beside her in the last chair.

“‘Clever Jackal Gets Left Out,’” Cuffe said, announcing the title of the next story.