Chapter 14 #2
Oh, such beautiful words. But it did matter what her mother wanted.
It always mattered because Leticia Bryce got her way where her daughter was concerned.
Sylvie was still determined to thwart her just once, on the issue of the most importance to her future—the man she married.
And that meant he couldn’t be Miles. “I’m so sorry, Miles, but I can’t.
Attempting to be friends might have been a bad idea. ”
Deep in her chest, Sylvie’s heart started to fray at the edges as she waited for a response, hoping she wouldn’t lose his companionship altogether.
Miles stepped back, dropping his hand, but he didn’t seem as upset as she’d imagined he might.
Simply resigned. “No, it’s not. We both need someone to be ourselves with.
We can continue as we have been. I’ll do a better job of restraining any impulse beyond that. ”
His tone was formal but not angry. As the fireworks ended and they said good night, Sylvie clung to his words.
She, more than anyone, needed a person she could be herself with.
Most of her life was a disguise, even when she wasn’t dressed as the lady archer.
If she couldn’t choose him as her partner for life, at least she could lean on his strength for the summer.
Several weeks flew by for Miles in a blur of work at the laboratory and archery shows with Sylvie.
Those were the easy parts. The difficulty came during the time spent in the woods practicing and at social events.
He could see Sylvie’s conflicted feelings about their relationship.
While guilt over his part in all the secrets plagued him, perhaps her uncertainty would push her in the direction of accepting him as a suitor, despite her words.
However, since any hint of scandal would send Sylvie running in fear of her mother, he arranged for Mr. Miller to join their hidden practices.
Miles would rather have had that time alone with Sylvie to attempt to persuade her—ideally with more kissing—but concern for her well-being far outweighed anything he wanted.
And keeping that sterling reputation was the best thing for her.
On the morning when the lady archer would debut her new trick shot, Miles had already spent three hours at the laboratory.
The previous Friday, he and the students had set out a series of bait traps for insects around the harbor, which he’d then collected early Monday morning.
The weather conditions over the weekend had been ideal, providing a wide variety of specimens to analyze.
And analyze he did, for hours. Bending over a microscope and focusing on such minute creatures was sometimes painful for his back and eyes, but it was one thing he was very good at.
About an hour before he needed to leave for that day’s archery show, he caught something he hoped wasn’t a mirage created by weary, blurry eyes.
After scribbling down notes, Miles hastened across the large communal workroom to the waist-high desk where Henry examined his own specimens.
“Henry, I’ve found something interesting, but I need another opinion on it.
Do you have a moment to look at the slide? ”
Henry agreed, stretching his back after sliding off his stool and then following Miles back to his station. Bending over the microscope, Henry fiddled with the lenses while asking, “What am I looking for? All I see is the wing of a house fly.”
Shaking his head, Miles wondered if he should have gone to one of the entomology students instead of a biologist. He leaned closer and tapped his notes. “Yes, it’s the wing of a Musca domestica. I’m nearly certain I saw a parasite on it, a spherical cyst. Do you see it too?”
Minutes passed with Henry examining the sample on the glass slide. He turned the magnification knob this way and that. He straightened long enough to crack his neck and blink a few times, then bent to look again. “I don’t know, Miles. I don’t see… Wait.”
Miles hardly breathed as Henry pushed his eye against the lens as if getting closer would give him more clarity. “I do see something.” Suddenly, he stepped away and aimed wide eyes at Miles. “You didn’t imagine anything. But what is that?”
“It’s an Entamoeba histolytica, a relatively common parasite.”
Henry’s brow wrinkled, as if he were trying to place the name. “Can that parasite be carried by house flies?”
“I’ve never been taught that they could.
This might be completely new information.
” The thrill of such a possibility sent tingles through Miles’s limbs.
After years of interest, education, and practice, he’d made a discovery.
Knowing that house flies might be carrying a parasite that caused dysentery could be instrumental in finding ways to stem the tide of the disease.
And God might have used him to play a part, despite his rocky past.
His only wish was that he could share it with Sylvie.
While Henry returned to his work and Miles began recording every possible detail about his observations and hunting through the samples for more house flies, his thoughts kept coming back to that dream.
It was all too easy to envision walking into a neat, cozy home that evening to find Sylvie waiting for him.
He would tell her all about his discovery while she listened with rapt attention and then celebrated with him.
It was an impossible fantasy, of course, but a compelling one.
Once the image had entered his mind, it was impossible to rid himself of it.
It accompanied him through the next hour and during his walk from the laboratory to the resort.
It hung in the back of his mind while he donned the red satin tunic and mask.
And it drove him to smile like a fool at Sylvie when she appeared in her lady archer garb.
Pausing in her pattern of drawing her empty bow while spinning on one foot, Sylvie examined Miles. “You look cheerful. Has something good happened today?”