A Place in His Heart by Rebecca DeMarino

Mr. Langton had decided in favor of a courtship. He could not help look down the table at Mary and was pleased to see she looked back at him. He didn’t fail to notice the tinge of red that flamed her cheeks every time their eyes met.
    Dinner ended with Cook’s plum pudding, and as if on cue, Ezekiel excused himself and took the children from the table. Mr. Horton’s ginger cakes awaited them in the kitchen, and afterward they would go out to the stable to brush the horses.
    Mr. Langton beckoned his daughters to move up the table, closer. Once they were settled, he turned to Barnabas. “Mr. Horton, my wife held you in high regard. My daughters obviously do as well. I crave your forgiveness, but I understand your father is landed gentry, yet you are a baker. You are the eldest, are you not?”
    â€œAye, I am. My father disinherited me of his landholdings. Jeremy, my youngest brother, will inherit the land and mill. My brother Thomas shares my belief that the Church of England has become very pompous and its clergy relies too much on the Book of Common Prayer, not enough teaching straight from the Bible.” He adjusted his collar. “Our intent has never been to leave the church but to effect change from within. Our father has long supported reform in the church, and has opened his doors to meetings, but there are many points we disagree on. Of course, Jeremy fancies himself to be a shipmaster someday and has plans to build a ship. He has no interest in the land.”
    â€œInteresting. An adventurer, is he?”
    â€œJeremy has sailed with our uncle since he was but a wee lad. Thomas and I did too, but Jeremy is the one who’s enraptured by the sea. I suppose there is a bit of adventurer in all three of us.”
    â€œAdventurers, yes, if you think you might change the Churchof England from the inside out. That is not without danger, I am sure you know. Terrible things are happening to those who will not conform. It would worry me greatly should you marry my daughter with those wild ideas.”
    â€œSir, I do not consider my ideas to be wild. Thomas and I consider ourselves to be conforming, rather than nonconforming.”
    â€œBut your relationship with your father? You have mended the rift, regardless of your differences?”
    â€œIndeed. In the final analysis, he and my mother are very much involved with my two sons and we were able to forgive each other long ago. We now maintain a close relationship.”
    â€œI will be straightforward with you.” Mr. Langton ran his fingers through his hair, a silver lock falling across his forehead. “It is a concern to me that you have so recently lost your wife. I know Elizabeth has expressed this concern as well. She is worried for her sister.”
    â€œAye. I do understand your concerns, truly I do. I am not quite certain what to tell you. I mourn my Ann a thousand times in a day. It is truly not something I would simply do and then move on, whether it be a week or a thousand weeks. I do not even know what during a day might trigger my grief for her. And I constantly despair that I will forget her, so I try to hold her close in my thoughts. Is it not the same for your grief?”
    Mary and Elizabeth looked at their father. Mary’s sorrow showed as Barnabas spoke of his wife.
    Mr. Langton picked at the crumbs on the table. “You ask that with much sincerity, so I will answer in truth. I do mourn Katherine every day. Aye, ’tis true the heart cannot decide when to put grief aside. But it would seem to me you marry with haste and I desire more than that for my daughter.”
    â€œSir, with all respect, you were rather unusual when you decided not to remarry. Elizabeth was grown, but you still had a young daughter to raise and most men would have indeed sought marriage. Mary is truly a gentle spirit. Over these weeks she has told me it is her desire that I always hold Ann’s memory in high esteem. She