Chapter 18
Eighteen
Seventeen Years Earlier
“Mother, Father, I’d like to ask you a question.” Bronwyn stood with perfect posture and did everything in her power to keep emotion out of her voice. If her parents had a clue how desperately she wanted this, they’d never go for it.
Her father glanced at his watch. “You have five minutes, Bronwyn. Your mother and I have a dinner engagement.”
“Yes, sir. I wanted to ask if you’d be agreeable to me going on a trip with Meredith and her family this summer.”
At the mention of the Quinns, her mother’s already stiff posture grew impossibly more rigid. “No.”
“Mother, it’s not a regular vacation.”
“No.”
“It’s going to be educational. They’re visiting national parks all over the western US. I’ve never been to any of those places. You want me to expand my horizons and be well-traveled. This would be a way for you to make that happen. And I’d be busy all summer. It’s perfect.”
Her parents exchanged a look. At her mother’s nod, her father gestured toward a chair. “Bronwyn, please have a seat. We had planned to discuss this with you later, but now’s as good a time as any.”
Bronwyn braced herself for the lecture she knew was coming. All about how she needed to find friends more in keeping with her social standing. How she should spend less time with the Quinns. How her future depended on her focusing more on her studies and learning the family business.
“You can’t travel this summer because you’ll be leaving for Switzerland in early July.”
Bronwyn’s thoughts screeched to a halt, then raced away in fifty different directions. Switzerland? July? Leaving? What? But what she said was, “I’m sorry. I don’t think I understand.”
Her mother picked up the conversational baton.
“We’ve enrolled you in a prestigious finishing school in Switzerland.
It’s all very hush-hush. Your father and I have been working on this for a couple of years.
It’s very exclusive, and we didn’t want to get your hopes up if it didn’t work out.
We have a backup plan, of course. You have a place at the same school I attended in Massachusetts.
But we had hoped for even more for you, and we’ve succeeded. ”
Her parents shared an exultant smile.
They were happy. They had worked hard to . . . ruin her life. How could they not know her at all?
“She’s stunned,” her father said. Was he .
. . proud? He smiled at Bronwyn. “You’ll need all of June to pack and prepare.
Once you leave here, you’ll be in year-round classes and sessions for the next two years.
So, you see, there’s simply no way you can go gallivanting all over with the Quinn girl and her family.
Let them have their big adventure. You’ll be heading off on one of your own. One they could never even dream of.”
Bronwyn forced herself to speak slowly. “I can’t go to Switzerland.”
Her parents frowned.
“Or Massachusetts. Or anywhere. I want to stay here. I want to graduate with my class. I’m junior class president! I have obligations and plans here.”
Her mother waved all of that away with one elegant gesture. “Please. No one expects you to do all of that when you have an opportunity like this!”
Bronwyn fought her rising panic. “Mother, I’m sure this is a lovely opportunity, but it should be for someone else. I have no interest in—”
“Young lady.” Her father’s voice had lost all its pride and pleasure and was now hardened. “You seem to think this is optional for you. It is not. You will be going. You will succeed. You will make us proud. Have I made myself clear?”
“I can’t go.” Bronwyn tried one more time. “I can’t. It would kill me. I would hate every moment.”
Her mother said, again with the dismissive wave, “I felt the same way before I left for my junior year. And the young women I met there are now my best friends in the world, all of them in highly influential positions. You don’t want to leave now, but you’ll grow to love it. Someday, you’ll thank us for this.”
“I can’t go.”
Her father looked at his watch, then at his wife.
“We’re late.” They both stood and walked to the door, as if they hadn’t shattered her world with their words and plans.
“Bronwyn, you need to understand that we won’t entertain any nonsense from you about this.
You will do this. Your grandmother has already given her seal of approval.
The deposits have been processed. I expect you to get over this little tantrum by the time we return. ”
They walked out the door, and Bronwyn heard her mother say, “That went about as expected. I don’t know how we managed to raise such an ungrateful child.”
Bronwyn refused to cry. She wouldn’t give them the satisfaction.
They would get nothing more from her. Not her emotions. Not her conversation.
Not her obedience.
They could keep her from going with Meredith and Mo.
But they couldn’t make her go to Switzerland.
Two months later, Mo held Bronwyn close and tried, so hard, not to cry as hard as she was. “It’s not forever. It’s two months. I’ll be home before you know it.”
She continued to sob like her heart was broken. Bronwyn was many things, but a crier wasn’t one of them.
He tried to pull away so he could see her face, but she clung to him. He held on another minute but then pushed her back until she finally released him enough for him to tilt her chin up. “Bronwyn? What’s going on? Why are you like this? What aren’t you telling me?”
She shook her head, tears spilling over faster than he could wipe them away. “I’m going to miss you so much. You have no idea.”
“I won’t go.” The words flew out of his mouth, but as soon as he said them, they felt right. “I’ll tell Mom and Dad . . . something. I’ll figure it out. Please don’t cry. I’ll stay here this summer. I can stay with Papa and Granny.”
“They’ll never let you do that, Mo.” Was that a hint of desperate hope in her words?
“I’ll make something up. I’ll . . . I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll get sick. Or hurt. I’ll fake it until they leave me.”
“You can’t lie to your family!” Bronwyn shoved away from him. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying you’re the most important thing in my life and they all know it.” Mo’s eyes gleamed with intensity and a hint of desperation. “They think we’re too young, but I know, Bronwyn. You and me are forever.” He reached for her arms and gently squeezed them as he spoke. “I won’t leave you.”
“You have to.” Bronwyn swiped at the tears. “You have to go.”
“Do you really think I would leave with you crying like this? How could I?”
“I’m sorry.” She shook her head and swallowed. “I’m just . . . I’m going to miss you so much, Mo. So much. But you can’t skip this trip.”
“They’ll forgive me. They forgave Connor and Carla when they ran off and got married.”
“Are we getting married?” Bronwyn ran her hand under her nose.
“Well . . .” Mo hesitated. Of course they weren’t getting married now. But, “I mean, someday.”
Bronwyn leaned toward him and rested her forehead on his chest. “You have to go, Mo. You can’t stay here. Your mom and Aunt Carol have been planning this trip for two years. I’ll be okay.”
They argued for another twenty minutes, but as usual, Bronwyn won.
Mo watched her walk back down the trail toward The Haven and fought the clawing need in his chest to run after her.
Bronwyn walked half a mile before her legs gave out and she crumpled to the forest floor.
She’d done it. She’d let him go. It had been a close call and she’d almost given in.
He would have run away with her. She knew he would.
If she told him everything that was happening, he’d sneak her out of town, marry her, and deal with the consequences.
He was only sixteen, but already, she could see that about him.
When faced with a threat to someone he loved, Mo Quinn would always come through. No matter what it cost him personally.
And this would cost him everything. His plans for college, the Army, the computers he planned to know better than anyone. She couldn’t do it. She loved him too much.
She would always love him.
But now, she had to figure out how to get out of this mess. Maybe there was a way. Maybe when he got home, this would all be a bad dream. There had to be a way.