Read Online The Wedding of Molly O'Flaherty by Sierra Simone - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Sierra Simone
Ads: Link
draining the champagne in two easy swallows. I scanned the room for Silas—something I’d been doing approximately every three or four minutes since the ball started. Castor was here, as were Julian and Ivy, and everyone else we knew.
But not Silas.
Not that I could blame him. If he were throwing himself a massive ball to celebrate his engagement to someone else, I wouldn’t be able to go either. But it still stung, because I missed him. I craved him. Especially after what I’d shared with him; he was one of the few people in the world who knew all of me, and the only one who loved me the way I needed to be loved. I knew this had to be unbearable for him, but what about me?
Doesn’t anyone care that it’s unbearable for me?
The time came for a toast, led by Gideon, Hugh’s closest friend. I allowed my thoughts to wander during his speech, pretending to laugh and smile at all the right jokes, and then it was time for Hugh and me to dance. The band struck up a tune, Hugh found my hand and my waist, and then we were spinning around the dance floor, our partygoers forming a circle around us.
Hugh smiled down at me, and I once again appreciated how completely oblivious he was to everything—my feelings, my needs, the unique monstrosity of the situation. And I couldn’t stand it any more. That smug happiness needed to end, and given that this was the first time we’d had anything remotely approximating a private conversation since the other morning, it was going to end now.
Why not start off this miserable union from a place of total honesty?
As we moved toward the center of the room, well out of earshot of our guests, I looked up at Hugh. “I know that Cunningham is your cousin,” I informed him.
It took a moment for Hugh to process this, his smile slowly fading and his shoulder growing tense under my hand. “You know?”
I sensed that he was searching for a defense, a justification, for keeping something like this from me, which of course there was no acceptable justification. “I know that you have no money. I know that Cunningham has been lending you enough to keep you living at a certain standard. And I know that you deliberately kept this fact from me.”
Hugh chewed on the inside of his mouth for a moment before slipping back into his easy smile. “Molly, you must understand. Frederick and I knew it would complicate something that was so simple—and complicate it unnecessarily. We were— are —such a good match, and we didn’t want you to be distracted by that one small facet of our connection.”
I gave him a smile back, but I knew it was in no way easy, that it was a hard, sharp smile. “There is no we , when it comes to you and Cunningham anymore, I’m afraid.”
Hugh tensed again. “I’m aware,” he said tightly. He could hardly not be—his cousin’s arrest was prime gossip in every fashionable club and ballroom in London, along with rumors of all his perversions.
“I did it,” I told him, still wearing my sharp smile. “I didn’t know if you knew that. I made sure your cousin was caught and arrested before he could hurt another girl.”
Hugh’s hand tightened around mine, painfully so, but I didn’t lose the smile. Fury pooled in his rich brown eyes. And perhaps I was digging my own grave, perhaps I was making things worse for myself after our wedding, but I didn’t care . Somewhere in the last two days, I’d been freed from caring. All that mattered was Hugh knowing that I knew . That out of everything, he couldn’t claim that victory.
“And you and Mercy? I know that you arranged that scenario with Silas.”
“He was a willing participant within that scenario,” Hugh hissed. We were whirling back by the guests again, and he struggled to keep his voice low. “He wasn’t doing anything he didn’t want to do.”
“I agree. But I also think it was truly wretched of you to make me witness it.”
“Perhaps not any more wretched than you seeing my cousin thrown in
But not Silas.
Not that I could blame him. If he were throwing himself a massive ball to celebrate his engagement to someone else, I wouldn’t be able to go either. But it still stung, because I missed him. I craved him. Especially after what I’d shared with him; he was one of the few people in the world who knew all of me, and the only one who loved me the way I needed to be loved. I knew this had to be unbearable for him, but what about me?
Doesn’t anyone care that it’s unbearable for me?
The time came for a toast, led by Gideon, Hugh’s closest friend. I allowed my thoughts to wander during his speech, pretending to laugh and smile at all the right jokes, and then it was time for Hugh and me to dance. The band struck up a tune, Hugh found my hand and my waist, and then we were spinning around the dance floor, our partygoers forming a circle around us.
Hugh smiled down at me, and I once again appreciated how completely oblivious he was to everything—my feelings, my needs, the unique monstrosity of the situation. And I couldn’t stand it any more. That smug happiness needed to end, and given that this was the first time we’d had anything remotely approximating a private conversation since the other morning, it was going to end now.
Why not start off this miserable union from a place of total honesty?
As we moved toward the center of the room, well out of earshot of our guests, I looked up at Hugh. “I know that Cunningham is your cousin,” I informed him.
It took a moment for Hugh to process this, his smile slowly fading and his shoulder growing tense under my hand. “You know?”
I sensed that he was searching for a defense, a justification, for keeping something like this from me, which of course there was no acceptable justification. “I know that you have no money. I know that Cunningham has been lending you enough to keep you living at a certain standard. And I know that you deliberately kept this fact from me.”
Hugh chewed on the inside of his mouth for a moment before slipping back into his easy smile. “Molly, you must understand. Frederick and I knew it would complicate something that was so simple—and complicate it unnecessarily. We were— are —such a good match, and we didn’t want you to be distracted by that one small facet of our connection.”
I gave him a smile back, but I knew it was in no way easy, that it was a hard, sharp smile. “There is no we , when it comes to you and Cunningham anymore, I’m afraid.”
Hugh tensed again. “I’m aware,” he said tightly. He could hardly not be—his cousin’s arrest was prime gossip in every fashionable club and ballroom in London, along with rumors of all his perversions.
“I did it,” I told him, still wearing my sharp smile. “I didn’t know if you knew that. I made sure your cousin was caught and arrested before he could hurt another girl.”
Hugh’s hand tightened around mine, painfully so, but I didn’t lose the smile. Fury pooled in his rich brown eyes. And perhaps I was digging my own grave, perhaps I was making things worse for myself after our wedding, but I didn’t care . Somewhere in the last two days, I’d been freed from caring. All that mattered was Hugh knowing that I knew . That out of everything, he couldn’t claim that victory.
“And you and Mercy? I know that you arranged that scenario with Silas.”
“He was a willing participant within that scenario,” Hugh hissed. We were whirling back by the guests again, and he struggled to keep his voice low. “He wasn’t doing anything he didn’t want to do.”
“I agree. But I also think it was truly wretched of you to make me witness it.”
“Perhaps not any more wretched than you seeing my cousin thrown in
Similar Books
