Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
It was near dark when Thomas left the bed and breakfast, the sky slowly morphing into a deeper shade of blue, but still warm.
He took the path along the rampart wall for a short time, enjoying the meditative sound of the black waves curling and crashing against the stone like a hoard of dark monsters rushing an opponent’s defenses.
The sea was so vast and powerful. Obstinate and endless.
When he took it in, he felt a strange mix of awe, reverie and fear.
He took a sharp turn at the Musée Picasso and followed the alleyway around and down a set of stone steps until he came upon a large church lit with warm spotlights.
Its facade was coral and cream with Grecian-style pillars framing the wooden, ornately carved double doors.
The courtyard was quiet, with only a few loiterers strolling across the cobblestones and to other destinations within the town.
“Thomas!”
He turned. The distinct tone of voice was like a punch in his gut. A heavy summons from a different life—not something he’d heard all the time just ten months ago.
Thomas stood frozen, watching as Dawn rushed toward him.
She looked exactly the same as before—petite in stature with sandy-brown skin and dark, looping curls that floated prettily just beneath her chin.
She wore a maroon peacoat and a matching hat which felt very French to Thomas.
As she neared, he opened his arms wide and she crashed into him, wrapping her hands around his back and pressing her face into his chest.
Experiencing the most unfathomable sense of relief, he lowered his head into the side of her face and her curls, breathing her in. “You’re alright,” he said quietly. “You’re safe.”
“And you?” she asked, holding him even tighter. “Are you well? I’ve been so worried!”
“I am well now,” he assured her. “I’m very sorry that my awful family tried to ruin yours.”
She laughed and shook her head. The motion made her soft hair tickle his nose. “It doesn’t matter anymore. Thank God you’re okay. I’m so grateful to see that you’re alright.”
They stood there for a moment longer, simply embracing one another, before Dawn slipped his hand into hers and led him to a cozy restaurant in the main square of Old Town.
When they had been seated, their hands still clasped, Thomas thought for the first time that maybe it was best that Cameron hadn’t come with him.
The feelings between him and Dawn were no longer romantic, more just…
a heady mix of relief and gladness. From the outside and considering Cameron’s already slanted perspective of the situation, it would have been difficult for Thomas to explain things (and likely would have caused further misunderstandings).
The hours slipped by easily as they talked.
Thomas engaged her with questions about her life over the past ten months.
The Pruitt Clan had been abruptly uprooted from Eden for fear of being slandered and bankrupted by a purebred with more power and stature.
The transition had been rough, but Dawn assured him that they had landed on their feet.
She was studying hard to master French, working in a nearby bakery and writing poetry in her free time.
She’d decided to swear off romance for a good long while, and Thomas couldn’t blame her. He didn’t take offense to that at all.
When the conversation turned toward him and his well-being, Thomas took a deep breath.
On the journey here, he’d contemplated whether or not to tell her the grim details about what his family had done to him.
His knee-jerk response was to withhold the truth.
But the more he thought about it, the more he didn’t want to hide it from her.
Telling Cameron what had happened, saying it aloud to someone, had been cathartic. Conveying the story to Dawn was equally therapeutic, and this time, he managed to keep himself together a little better and didn’t need to fall over and into her arms to be held.
He still cried, though. And so did she, keeping a tight hold on both of his hands.
They rested in a contemplative silence after Thomas told her everything.
It was bewildering—how much had changed between them and within their respective lives in less than a year’s time.
The weight and strangeness of it required space, and they sat together, reflective and respectful of the vast, unknowable power of life and fate.
Like the wild, dark sea curling and crashing against the rampart walls.
“I’ve always wondered,” Dawn said after a comfortable stretch of quiet, “how did they know about our plans? Where to find us and the exact day? The only person I told was Anne, my youngest sister, because I didn’t want her to be too shocked when I disappeared for a while. Did you tell anyone?”
Thomas inhaled deeply, then blew it out.
“No, I didn’t tell—Wait…” He paused. For the first time, a memory flashed before his eyes in full color, like vivid paint spilling over a white canvas.
“I didn’t tell anyone we were eloping, but Wyatt walked in on me while I was packing to leave.
He asked me where I was going, and I distinctly did not tell him the whole truth, but said that you and I were having a short holiday up the coast.”
Sitting back, Thomas folded his arms in contemplation. Had Wyatt told his family where to find him? Had he been so jealous of Thomas’s love for Dawn that he’d sabotaged their plans and aided his elder father in having Thomas imprisoned?
“Would Wyatt do that to us?” Dawn asked, her tone mimicking Thomas’s internal disbelief and suspicion. “Moreover, would he do that to you?”
“I don’t know. I saw him recently, and he didn’t give me the impression that he was being duplicitous in any way—or that he knew what had happened to me, or you…
” When he’d seen Wyatt that night, Thomas had made a strict vow to himself to never cross paths with that insufferable and garrulous man again.
It pained him to think that he might need to break that vow sometime very soon.
Thomas walked Dawn back to her apartment, which was very near to the coral-and-cream church, tucked down one of the narrow alleys. As they approached her front door, the church bells chimed and rang through the night air, marking the ten o’clock hour.
“Cameron is really alright?” she asked, looking up at him. Her face was lit by the pale yellow lantern just above their heads. “Your elder father accepted this arrangement without your consent, but Cameron is a good man? You’re pleased with him?”
Thomas’s heart warmed from the mere thought of him. “Very pleased. He is wonderful.”
“And it isn’t just because you’re relieved to be away from your fathers?” Dawn asked, tilting her head. “If you wanted to leave Eden, I would help you, Thomas. You know that, right?”
“I know,” Thomas said, sighing. “And no, it isn’t just relief. I genuinely… I want to be with him. Thank you, Dawn, for having my best interests at heart.”
“Always. May I meet him before you leave? You said he’s a bit reserved, but… would he be willing to have coffee together?”
“I’ll ask him and ring you?”
Dawn nodded. They hugged, then parted ways.
Thomas’s thoughts churned in a frustrated tangle as he walked back, the cool and salty sea air doing nothing to ease his temperament.
Did Wyatt betray me? Could he truly be so devious?
He’d have to discuss this with Cameron. Maybe invite Wyatt to the estate to extract the truth from him. Thomas was not looking forward to any of this, but he needed to know.
His irritation was thwarted when he walked back into the third-floor room to find Cameron sitting upright in bed.
He was wearing cozy-looking pajamas and his top buttons were undone, exposing a sumptuous peek of the beautiful brown skin spanning the top of his sculpted chest and firm neck.
One leg was drawn up and a thick book was balanced on his knee.
Cameron exercised in earnest every other morning—lifting weights and squatting and all manner of things Thomas had never once considered doing to his own body.
It amazed him, truly. When Thomas had asked him about it, Cameron had told him with a wry smile, “Well, I’ve got all this.
” He’d made a casual gesture, indicating his large frame. “I might as well do something with it.”
“Hello,” Cameron said now, closing the book and focusing on Thomas. There was an obvious tension in his body and expression as he sat up straighter. “How was she?”
Thomas closed the door, then stuck his hands into the pockets of his long coat as he strode to the end of the bed. The night was brisk, but he’d been comfortable with leaving the garment unbuttoned. “She’s good. Happy and safe.”
“That’s a relief,” Cameron said. He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. “I’m very glad to hear it.”
“She wants to meet you. Would you be willing to have coffee together?”
Cameron paused in his massaging. “Whatever for?”
“Because you’re my partner, Cameron.”
“Yes, I-I know that…” He shifted his gaze down to the book resting against his thigh. “Won’t it be awkward?”
“Not at all. Will you, please?”
Cameron’s broad shoulders heaved as he inhaled and blew it out. “Okay. Yes.”
Thomas smiled, turned and shrugged his coat from his shoulders. “Thank you. I’m going to take a shower.”
The hot water felt good against Thomas’s muscles and helped him to further relax.
Although, he missed the pressure of the shower and general coziness of his bathroom at the Ashford estate.
Everything in Cameron’s home was designed damn near to perfection, so it was hard to compare the contemporary comforts there with anywhere else.
When he was clean and dressed for bed, he stepped out of the bathroom to find Cameron still sitting upright and reading. But he hastily closed his book. “How do you sleep? Do you prefer a lamp light or…” He left the question hanging. Accommodating as always.