Chapter 2 #2
I could feel a flush on my cheeks, and I was grateful David took that moment to look down at the path.
It had been years since a healthy young man had paid me a compliment.
I straightened my back and raised my chin.
Perhaps there was something of that vibrant young lady left deep inside me.
“All right, we will start with the most obvious. I shouldn’t have climbed that tree.
That was a mistake. And as long as I was climbing, I shouldn’t have thought the best way to dismount was to drop from such a high branch. ”
I could practically see his mind spinning, trying to come up with some reason that my folly could be seen as anything but a blunder.
He finally turned to me, eyes sparkling with amusement.
“That may have been a mistake.” A small chuckle escaped his lips.
“But I was able to fulfill some very potent youthful dreams by holding you in my arms at last.” His smile was so all-encompassing it made his eyes crinkle half closed.
“Eight years was a terribly long time to wait.”
I shook my head slightly to clear it. He was being improper, surely. Even if we had been childhood friends, a gentleman wouldn’t mention the indelicate position we had just been in.
I ignored the draw of his smile and forced myself to feel affronted instead of anything else at his impertinence. I scoffed. “I wouldn’t say I was in your arms.”
David’s hands unclasped from behind his back and dropped to his sides. “You wouldn’t? Are you still trying to prove you make mistakes? Because that is certainly one.”
My spine stiffened. “I wasn’t in your arms.”
“Where were you, then?”
“On top of—” I stopped. Perhaps in his arms was the better description. I coughed lightly and searched my mind for any better explanation of what had happened. There simply wasn’t a delicate way to put it. “I suppose I might have been mistaken after all.”
Those lines on each side of his smile deepened.
The frost-covered window panes of the cottage came into view through the trees in front of us.
The lightness of my encounter with David seemed to melt away into hopelessness.
Mama must be well out of bed by now, and it would be time to discuss our future again.
But no matter how much we spoke of plans, we had nowhere to go.
The cottage had been our last hope. What in heaven’s name would we do now?
My feet grew heavy, and I fell behind David. He glanced at me before turning and catching sight of the cottage. In unison, our steps slowed to a crawl.
“Why didn’t you keep in contact?” The question was soft and low, and his expressive face seemed to turn into unresponsive granite.
I sighed. How did one explain years of desperation? “After Papa died, I suppose Mama didn’t feel as comfortable asking for help from his friends as she did her own family. Perhaps if she would have, things could have been different.”
“Perhaps they would have,” he agreed. We reached the small garden that ran alongside the cottage. “If you had even informed Mr. Preston of your new location . . .”
I waited for him to continue his train of thought, but he didn’t. “How do you know we didn’t inform him?”
One of his feet scuffed the ground, and he rubbed the back of his neck. Once again, I caught a snippet of the quiet young boy instead of the dashing man before me.
“Did you ask after us?”
After a pause, he nodded. “I did, just after a visit to London.”
“When? I thought you said you couldn’t go to London.”
“Four years ago?” He said it like a question.
As if he couldn’t remember for certain when he had gone, but I suspected he knew exactly when it was.
“My circumstances had changed, and I found myself free to travel to London after all. While there, I thought I would find you on my own. It was only after the disappointment of that trip that I asked Mr. Preston about your family. He had no idea where you were either.”
“Why were you looking for me?”
He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye and sheepishly put a hand to his heart. “Not for another proposal, truly. I had grown up enough by then to know that was an impossibility. I suppose I just wanted to see you again. I don’t know if I would have even had the courage to speak with you.”
We reached the door to the cottage and both stopped. I didn’t know how to respond to the fact that he had tried to reach me in London a full four years after I had left here. I heaved a sigh. “I had better go in.”
“Yes.”
“Mama is waiting.” I didn’t want to return and listen to more crying. Especially when that crying was completely my fault.
“When will I see you again?” David asked. He tipped his head with a smirk. “I would rather not wait another eight and a half years.”
I returned his smirk with a smile. Spending time with David would be a pleasure.
“The Prestons have invited us to dine with them in the main house several nights a week until they leave. We will be there the day after next. If you are friends with their family, I suppose you could beg an invitation.”
“No sooner?”
I furrowed my eyebrows and chuckled. “Than the day after tomorrow?”
He shook his head, and his sudden laughter enveloped me with a rich sound that warmed me, despite the cold. “It is good to have you back, Miss Atwood.” He bowed. “I look forward to seeing you at the Prestons. I believe they will allow me a visit.”