Read Online Twin Willows: A Novel by Kay Cornelius - Free Book Online

looked at her with concern. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    Anna took his hand in both of hers and returned it to her breast. “You’re not. But I—I’m not used to this sort of thing.”
    “I know. And as a matter of fact, neither am I.”
    “Really?”
    He smiled ruefully at the challenge in Anna’s voice. “I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about you.” He looked deeply into her eyes. “I know now that I never really loved anyone before.”
    Stuart Martin loves me
. Tears welled in her eyes, and her voice, which would have affirmed her own love, failed her. She leaned closer, intending to kiss him, but Stuart suddenly pulled away and reached for the candle, which he quickly extinguished.
    “What?—”
    “Shh!” Stuart warned.
    At almost the same moment, Anna heard the approaching footsteps that had alerted him. She hurried toward the carved screen in one corner, reaching its cover just as Miss Martin entered the parlor, carrying a candlestick.
    “I thought I heard someone talking down here,” she said accusingly.
    Stuart yawned noisily. “Sometimes I talk in my sleep. I’m sorry if I did so loudly enough to wake you.”
    “Never mind. Bring your blanket and come upstairs. You can pass the rest of the night on the floor of your old room. Mr. Fogelman won’t mind.”
    “There’s no need to disturb him, Aunt. I’m fine here.”
    “Don’t argue with me. Come along, now.”
    Anna waited for a long time before she dared to return to her room. Her pulse returned slowly to normal, but her heart raced when she thought of Stuart’s declaration of love.
    What else would have happened if Miss Martin hadn’t interrupted
?
    Anna sighed. As she crept up the stairs and went back to her own bed, she wondered how long it might be before she could find out.
    The next day, Miss Martin made doubly sure that Stuart never had an opportunity to be alone with any of her pupils, especially Anna. She sent Anna and Felicia to the market with the cook, and by the time they returned, Stuart had left.
    Again he did not write, but Anna was almost certain that he would come back for her at Commencement. He had said he loved her. Surely, he could not let her go away without even saying good-bye.
    In mid-May Miss Martin took Anna aside and handed her a letter. For a brief moment, she dared to hope that Stuart had written her after all; then she recognized the scrawling handwriting.
    “It’s from your father, I believe,” Miss Martin said. “It seems to contain some kind of parcel.”
    Eagerly Anna took the packet. Although the wrapping was creased and dirty, the crude wax seal still remained intact. Resisting the urge to tear it open on the spot, Anna managed to get as far as the third floor landing before she broke the seal. After putting the small parcel that had been enclosed with it in her apron pocket, Anna read the single sheet of parchment.
    “My dear daughter,” Ian McKnight had written,
    I had hoped to fetch ye from Miss Martin’s when ye are done there, which I reckon to be early in June. I am near Lexington, in Kentucky County, where I have made a land claim. Should I leave it overlong, others will get it, so I cannot come there. It’s best that ye go to Bedford if ye don’t already have plans to stay in the city. I herein send ye something fine I got from a Spanish trader. May it remind ye of the love of your father.
    Anna gasped as she unwrapped a square of linen to reveal a finely wrought slender chain of gold links. Anna, who had never owned any jewelry, had seen nothing to compare with this gold necklace, and she knew it must be worth a great deal. But more important than its monetary value was what it represented.
    My father still loves me and he hasn’t forgotten me, even if he can’t come for me now
. Anna’s eyes filled with tears as she slipped the chain over her head. Apparently, Ian McKnight did not know that his sister had died—and she had not been able to write him, not knowing