Chapter 14 #2
My dearest wish is that you will hate me for leaving and return to your first love with a whole heart.
Our lives are too short to do anything but what makes us happy, and I know you would be very unhappy within a short time if I allowed you to make such a sacrifice for me.
And I know, too, that continuing on the conventional path I have come to dread would make me no happier even with you as a substitute husband.
None of us is given to know how much time we have for our lives. It could be five weeks, or five months, or five years. Or fifty years. I want to spend that time with you, not apart from you, but I would rather spend it alone than with both of us unhappy. I hope you can understand.
I will never forget this Christmas, and never forget you.
All my love,
Penny
The paper crumpled before he realized his hand had clenched into a fist. This was utter folly on Penny’s part. She was acting rashly, like a child. He knew what was best for her.
But did he?
He said he had been willing to allow Penny to make her own decisions about her health, but now he realized how many limits he had put on those. If he did not trust her with her own health and her own understanding of her limitations, how could he truly say he loved her?
If he could not accept that Penny was a person with her own mind who would do as she thought best, then she was right.
It would be better for them to separate and never see each other again than to be unhappily wed, each knowing the other had made an unwanted sacrifice simply for the sake of what was expected.
He must decide what was more terrifying: possibly losing Penny at some indistinct point in their future, or accepting he had lost her now, irrevocably.
Penny stared out the window of the stagecoach, seeing nothing of the snow-covered scenery passing by. They were nearly at Carlisle, and Hugo must have realized by now she was gone.
It was for the best. For everyone. Hugo could leave for his ship with a clear conscience, and she could begin her future as an old maid.
If she told herself that a thousand more times, she might start to believe it.
A shout from outside, and the coach began to slow. Jolted awake, the other passengers looked about and buzzed amongst themselves as Penny strained to see around the passenger next to her, stuck as she was in the middle seat.
She could hear men outside the coach, and the timbre of one voice made her heart skip a beat.
Hugo would not have come after her.
Would he?
The coach came to a halt and time seemed to drag as they all waited for the door to open. It could not be… but if it was…
The door was wrenched open and Hugo stuck his head inside.
Even as she shrank back on the seat, he saw her and extended his hand to her.
He looked as grim as she had ever seen him, and her heart shrank.
With his face unshaven and hair wildly tangled from his ride, all he needed was a cutlass in his hand to resemble the pirate she had briefly wished he could be.
“Penny. Come here.”
“I have nothing to say to you, Captain Dalston,” she said icily. “You may continue on your way.”
“I must speak with you.” He took a deep breath. “Please.”
The woman next to Penny elbowed her in the ribs. “Go on with ye. If you don’t, maybe I will!”
The rest of the passengers hooted and, blushing deeply, Penny slunk from her seat and accepted Hugo’s hand to help her down. She could not bring herself to look at him even when her feet were on the ground. She knew her resolve would break if she looked him in the eye.
“Well? Say what you wish to say and allow me to be on my way.”
"You have won," Hugo said.
Shocked, Penny’s head snapped up to look at him. "I... what?"
Slowly, he sank to his knees on the icy road and took her hands in his, ignoring the catcalls from the coach. He gazed up at her, his expression fierce with pleading.
"I am a wreck. I strike my colors and surrender to you. You may board the Helios as soon as we are wed, and God help my men when they meet you."
Joy radiated through her, tempered by caution. "I may come with you? You are certain?"
"I am as certain as you are. If there are dangerous waters ahead, we will face them together."
She searched his face to be sure he told the truth. He gazed back at her, nothing held back.
“What changed your mind?”
“Time. You were right. We have no way to know how much time we have. But however much we have, I want to spend it with you by my side, for as long as we can.”
Swallowing hard to clear her throat of the tears that gathered there, Penny said, "Then yes. Yes, with all my heart."
His somber expression transformed to one of radiant joy, and he sprang to his feet to kiss her, ignoring the cheers and catcalls from the coach.
"Is it all settled now, Cap'n?" the driver roared. "Can we keep on to Carlisle, or no?"
"I'll ride alongside," Hugo said, stealing one last kiss before helping Penny back into the coach. Grinning, her seatmate slid over to allow Penny to sit by the window. "She'll only be going as far as Carlisle now."
Hugo's eyes glowed with dark fire as he looked at her. "After Carlisle, we're for Gretna Green."
Penny blushed all over at his words as the passengers cheered again. Her seatmate elbowed her in the ribs, chortling. “Now that’s a man!”
The stagecoach lurched back into motion, but Penny clung to the window frame to stay steady and watch Hugo as he rode beside them, still in wonderment that he had come, that he had agreed to her terms.
She would make certain he knew it was not she who had won. They had both won this chance to embark on their greatest adventure. Together.