Forever and Ever

Read Online Forever and Ever by Patricia Gaffney - Free Book Online

Book: Forever and Ever by Patricia Gaffney Read Free Book Online
Authors: Patricia Gaffney
Tags: Fiction, General, Romance, Historical
Ads: Link
promised—and Connor knew he would still be here when the barman locked the door.
    “Where’re you bound for so blinkin’ early?” Tranter wanted to know.
    Connor laid a shilling on the white-ringed table. “I find I’m in the mood for a good book.”
    Jack snorted. “Might’ve knowed it. Ee can’t set still and do nothin’ for even one night. Ee’re worse off than I thought! Ee’ll ruin yer eyes!”
    Connor turned back in the doorway. “I guess it’s a chance I’ll have to take,” he said with a straight face, and walked out into the night.
    ***
    “‘If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am. You hear nothing but truth from me. I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it. Bear with the truths I would tell you now, dearest Emma, as well as you have borne with them. The manner, perhaps, may have as little to recommend them. God knows, I have been a very indifferent lover. But you understand me. Yes, you see, you understand my feelings—and will return them if you can. At present, I ask only to hear—once to hear your voice.’ ”
    Sophie looked up from the book to see twelve ladies smiling back at her. No words were necessary; after hundreds of pages read on seven consecutive Friday evenings, they had finally come to it, the perfect moment, the consummation (figuratively speaking only, of course) of the tender attachment of two most beloved characters: Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley. The women seated on long Sunday school benches in the vicarage meeting hall were all misty-eyed, and as enchanted with the love scene as Sophie could wish. It was a relief, for although
Emma
was one of her favorite novels, she had worried a little in the beginning that the ladies of Wyckerley might not altogether approve of its proud, rather willful heroine.
    She resumed. “‘Her way was clear, though not quite smooth. She spoke then, on being so entreated. What did she say? Just what she ought, of course. A lady always does. She said enough to show there need not be despair—and to invite him to say more himself.’ ”
    A soft noise from the back of the room distracted her. She looked up to see all heads turned and every eye focused on the man who was muttering, “Excuse me, beg your pardon,” as he tried to climb over Susan Hatch’s knees to an empty place in the middle of the last bench.
    “Mr. Pendarvis,” Sophie exclaimed after a shocked second. “Are you— Did you— Do you know that we—”
    “Isn’t this the penny reading?” His face was all polite interest.
    “Yes, but—we’re reading Jane Austen’s
Emma
,” she explained, acutely aware that she was blushing. “In fact, we’ve only a few pages left.”
    “
Emma
! What a coincidence—it’s one of my favorites. Especially the last few pages.”
    “Is that so?” Ignoring the titters, Sophie narrowed her eyes in suspicion. “How does it end?”
    Mr. Pendarvis looked disconcerted, but only for a second. He help up one finger. “They live happily ever after.”
    Cora Swan, the blacksmith’s daughter, muffled a laugh into her handkerchief; her sister Chloe echoed it. Mr. Pendarvis sent them a ravishing grin that had them huddling against each other, giggling uncontrollably. Seated now, he folded his arms and looked blandly back into Sophie’s scowl, his eyebrows raised expectantly.
    Rattled, she glanced around. The women were looking interestedly back and forth between Mr. Pendarvis and her. What she longed to do was order him from the room; but if she did that, the ladies’ curiosity would instantly turn to speculation.
    Trapped.
    Clearing her throat, she found her place and took up the story again. But now her pleasure in the sweet, elegant ending was completely gone, replaced by self-consciousness. What was worse, she heard herself stumble over words, lose her place, skip whole lines—she who was
famous
at the penny readings for her

Similar Books

Now You See Her

Cecelia Tishy

Migration

Julie E. Czerneda

Agent in Training

Jerri Drennen

The Kin

Peter Dickinson

Dark Tales Of Lost Civilizations

Eric J. Guignard (Editor)

The Beautiful People

E. J. Fechenda