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Authors: Nancy Holder
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he leaned forward, perhaps unconsciously. He said, “I am sure you won’t believe me, but—”
“You love her. You’re repeating yourself.” He opened his book of checks and wrote out the one on top. “Now you…” He held it out to Lady Sharpe. “You seem to be the more collected one, dear.”
Her eyes widened as she saw the amount. He took grim satisfaction in her avarice as it reinforced his very dim view of this nefarious pair.
“It’s more than generous, I know. But if you want that check to clear, there are two conditions.” He handed them two train tickets. “A train for New York City leaves first thing tomorrow morning. You and your brother better be on it. Do we understand each other?”
“We do.”
She was angry, and that made him angrier. She had no right to any emotion except shame. She took the check and the civil certificate. That damned, damning certificate. He was astonished at their arrogance, assuming that a foolish American from a backwater town wouldn’t think to check their credentials. Their days were not only numbered, they were over.
“What is the second condition?” she asked.
“That concerns my daughter.” He looked hard at the lecherous parasite that was her brother. “Tonight, you must thoroughly break her heart.”
* * *
The banquet was served, and Edith was busy ensuring the comfort of all her father’s guests. She had been the manor’s hostess ever since her mother’s death, and she was quite skilled at it. But tonight she was preoccupied, aware that Sir Thomas had begun to ask her a very important question—perhaps the most important question a woman was asked during the course of her entire lifetime—only to disappear with her father for a private discussion.
Which signified to her that she was correct about the nature of that question.
Her heart was fluttering in her chest; there were legions of butterflies in her stomach. She was unable to read Thomas’s expression as he and Lucille, seated as the two guests of honor, ate but little. If she
was
right, then Thomas had every prerogative to lack an appetite. According to her reading on the matter, men about to propose marriage tended to be very jittery. Could it be that his sister shared his anxiety because she wanted him to be happy? Edith had never had siblings, but had often wanted them. Lady Sharpe could be her sister, then. She was overjoyed at the prospect.
Stay calm, Edith
, she told herself, but the very air crackled around her.
Her father raised his glass.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have an unexpected announcement to make. Sir Thomas?”
Oh, God. Here it is. But he would speak to me first, yes? So am I wrong? Perhaps it’s not that at all. Perhaps the announcement is about their business partnership. I shouldn’t get my hopes up. It is too soon, and I am swooning like a foolish heroine in an Ann Radcliffe novel.
But no, he was looking straight at her and he raised his glass. Lingering on her face with those soulful blue eyes. He looked like a man about to announce a partnership of a far different kind.
“Thank you, Mr. Cushing,” he said. “When I came to America, my heart was brimming with a sense of adventure. Here the future actually seemed to mean something.”
She met his gaze. He was speaking of the future… their future?
“I have found warmth and friendship among you all. And for that, I am ceaselessly grateful.” He fell silent for a moment. Edith lived a lifetime in that pause.
His expression shifted, his gaze steady as before, but now it was sad. A tiny flash of alarm darted through her. Something was amiss.
“But for now, farewell. May we meet again. Perhaps on a different shore. My sister and I depart for England just in time for the winter.”
His little joke brought laughter and cheers around the table. But not from Edith. He was not proposing. He was
leaving.
Passing her by exactly as he had passed by poor Eunice.
But I thought… I thought he…
“You love her. You’re repeating yourself.” He opened his book of checks and wrote out the one on top. “Now you…” He held it out to Lady Sharpe. “You seem to be the more collected one, dear.”
Her eyes widened as she saw the amount. He took grim satisfaction in her avarice as it reinforced his very dim view of this nefarious pair.
“It’s more than generous, I know. But if you want that check to clear, there are two conditions.” He handed them two train tickets. “A train for New York City leaves first thing tomorrow morning. You and your brother better be on it. Do we understand each other?”
“We do.”
She was angry, and that made him angrier. She had no right to any emotion except shame. She took the check and the civil certificate. That damned, damning certificate. He was astonished at their arrogance, assuming that a foolish American from a backwater town wouldn’t think to check their credentials. Their days were not only numbered, they were over.
“What is the second condition?” she asked.
“That concerns my daughter.” He looked hard at the lecherous parasite that was her brother. “Tonight, you must thoroughly break her heart.”
* * *
The banquet was served, and Edith was busy ensuring the comfort of all her father’s guests. She had been the manor’s hostess ever since her mother’s death, and she was quite skilled at it. But tonight she was preoccupied, aware that Sir Thomas had begun to ask her a very important question—perhaps the most important question a woman was asked during the course of her entire lifetime—only to disappear with her father for a private discussion.
Which signified to her that she was correct about the nature of that question.
Her heart was fluttering in her chest; there were legions of butterflies in her stomach. She was unable to read Thomas’s expression as he and Lucille, seated as the two guests of honor, ate but little. If she
was
right, then Thomas had every prerogative to lack an appetite. According to her reading on the matter, men about to propose marriage tended to be very jittery. Could it be that his sister shared his anxiety because she wanted him to be happy? Edith had never had siblings, but had often wanted them. Lady Sharpe could be her sister, then. She was overjoyed at the prospect.
Stay calm, Edith
, she told herself, but the very air crackled around her.
Her father raised his glass.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have an unexpected announcement to make. Sir Thomas?”
Oh, God. Here it is. But he would speak to me first, yes? So am I wrong? Perhaps it’s not that at all. Perhaps the announcement is about their business partnership. I shouldn’t get my hopes up. It is too soon, and I am swooning like a foolish heroine in an Ann Radcliffe novel.
But no, he was looking straight at her and he raised his glass. Lingering on her face with those soulful blue eyes. He looked like a man about to announce a partnership of a far different kind.
“Thank you, Mr. Cushing,” he said. “When I came to America, my heart was brimming with a sense of adventure. Here the future actually seemed to mean something.”
She met his gaze. He was speaking of the future… their future?
“I have found warmth and friendship among you all. And for that, I am ceaselessly grateful.” He fell silent for a moment. Edith lived a lifetime in that pause.
His expression shifted, his gaze steady as before, but now it was sad. A tiny flash of alarm darted through her. Something was amiss.
“But for now, farewell. May we meet again. Perhaps on a different shore. My sister and I depart for England just in time for the winter.”
His little joke brought laughter and cheers around the table. But not from Edith. He was not proposing. He was
leaving.
Passing her by exactly as he had passed by poor Eunice.
But I thought… I thought he…
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