Chapter 12
“Mya?”
Eleanora's voice broke into Mya's thoughts, and she looked up from the food she was listlessly poking at with a fork to find both Ella and Lottie standing in the doorway of the dining room, looking at her with surprised concern on their faces.
“What happened?” Lottie demanded.
Mya shrugged, and stabbed at a bite of fish with particular viciousness. “Kayden and I had a disagreement. We fought.”
“Over what?” Eleanora's tone was gentle, and she moved as she spoke, coming to sit down at Mya's side. Lottie took the other chair.
“I asked him about his family,” Mya said. “How was I to know that it is a capital offense?”
There was a moment of silence, the other two exchanging a glance over Mya's head that she didn't know how to interpret.
“It is not your fault,” Lottie said. “You did not know that he does not speak of it. I imagine he thought that you had heard some gossip about that, and thought to coax it out of him.”
“If he thinks that I would do that, then perhaps it is better that he's gone,” Mya said.
If he would not let her know him, and he did not know her at all, then there was little point in their attempting to continue an intimate relationship.
Eleanora laid a hand on her shoulder. “He is a hard man to judge sometimes. There is a bit of a temper there, though I have rarely seen him lose it.” Her fingers tightened just a little, comforting her. “Did he shout at you?”
Mya shook her head. “No shouting. Though he was very harsh. He said some things that I would consider rather cruel. Those, at least, he seemed to regret after, though I did not let him remain to apologize. I was not in the mood.”
“I am sure he will be back, then.” Eleanora glanced at Lottie, then back to Mya. “If he did not have a chance to apologize and he thought himself in the wrong, he will want to make that right. When he does come for that, you ought to at least speak with him.”
“Why?” Mya laughed unhappily. “He treated me as though I was attacking him, and came very near to calling me a whore. If he comes and grovels on his knees I might consider forgiving him, but I am not going to let him walk in here with some nonsense about a misunderstanding.”
“Nor should you,” Lottie cut in. “Ella didn't say you have to forgive him. Just that you ought to at least hear him out. I think that is a reasonable thing to do. Though if you wish to draw it out a little, I am hardly going to stop you.” She flashed a smile that faded quickly into a more serious expression.
“Only do not let yourself stew in anger too long. It will not help you or hurt him.”
“That is not fair.” Mya sighed, and dropped her head to lean against Lottie's shoulder. “I am not saying that I will never forgive him, or that I will go about hating him forever. But he was far over the line of proper behavior, and not in a manner that is acceptable.”
“We will turn him away, then, if he returns,” Eleanora said. “But only for a week.”
“I suppose that is time enough,” Mya admitted. “Very well.”
One week.
She could deal with him then.
***
Kayden, of course, did not wait a week.
Lottie reported that he was at the door the next day, asking to be let in to speak with Mya. She sent him away, but kept the bouquet he had carried with him, placing it in a vase on the dining room table. Eleanora examined it with some fascination.
“It is a lovely apology,” she said that night at dinner. “Though I am sure that, should you choose to actually speak to him, he will accompany it with words as well.”
Mya's eyebrows lifted. “The flowers are an apology?”
“Oh, yes,” Eleanora said. “Each of the blossoms has a meaning, you see. He has very nearly made a speech with this.” She motioned to the heavy purple heads of the hyacinth. “This is sorrow. And apology. The little ones, here, are harebell. They mean humility.”
It was a rather nice gesture, Mya had to admit. Sweet, almost. “Do you think I ought to speak to him, then?” she asked.
Lottie tapped a finger thoughtfully against her lower lip, the smile settling there a clear giveaway of her intentions. “No,” she said. “I believe you ought to let him worry a short while longer. It might do him some good.”
Mya laughed, and despite Eleanor’s sigh, decided to take Lottie’s advice.
The second day, Kayden returned with a bouquet of little purple and yellow flowers, with petals like velvet. Mya took them from Eleanora and ran her fingers over the softness of the blossoms.
“What do these mean?” she asked quietly.
“They mean you are in his thoughts,” Eleanora said.
“I should hope I am,” Mya said. “After what happened.”
“You are enjoying this a little too much.” Lottie chuckled, plucking a grape from the bowl of fruit in front of her.
Mya turned to look at her, eyes wide. “I could not possibly have any idea what you might mean. You are the one who told me I ought to let him be when I asked after yesterday’s bouquet. I am only taking the sage advice of someone far more experienced in these matters than I.”
Lottie just shook her head. “I invented that look, darling. I am hardly going to fall for it.”
“You invented nothing,” Eleanora said, looking up from her plate. “I am certain you only stole it from someone else. One of those children always running about and getting in the way and pretending as though they have no idea that they were doing any such thing, most likely.”
“You wound me so deeply, my dear.”
Mya stifled laughter, and wondered if she ought to speak to Kayden. In truth, though she had made him wait, she did not wish to torment him beyond reason. Only enough that she was certain he meant his apology.
Lottie must have decided the same thing, because the next morning when Kayden came to the door, she let him in without consulting Mya.
“Kayden is here,” she said when she walked onto the veranda for breakfast. “I told him he might come in today.”
Mya looked up from the toast she was buttering. “Where is he?”
“Waiting in the sitting with a bouquet of geraniums and Love Lies Bleeding.” She laughed softly. “I believe he has given up entirely on subtlety and moved on to desperation in the hopes that you will take pity on him.”
“I will speak with him,” Mya decided. He had waited long enough.
Rising from the table, she found Kayden waiting, as Lottie had said he would be, in the sitting room, staring down at the flowers in his hands.
“Kayden,” she said.
His head lifted. “Mya.” Relief was light in his voice. “I thought perhaps you would refuse to see me again, even with Lottie to intervene on my behalf.”
“I have decided to allow you a chance to speak to me,” Mya said, crossing the room and taking a seat on one of the couches. “The bouquets were a lovely touch, I must admit.”
“I spent entirely too long deciding what must go in each,” Kayden said in return. “I thought if you would not hear me, perhaps you would know what they meant and understand what I was trying to say without words.”
“Lottie and Eleanora explained them to me.” Mya looked at the cascading red flowers in his hands, sharing space with the pink geraniums. “This one, I think, hardly needs it. Love Lies Bleeding is not a name that is difficult to determine the nature of.”
That earned a quiet chuckle. “I thought perhaps if I stopped attempting to be so delicate about it, you might take more notice.”
“You have my attention now.”
The smile on Kayden's face faded, his expression gone pained, and sincere. “I am sorry, Mya, that I spoke to you in the manner that I did. You did not deserve it, and it was absolutely terrible of me to say such things. I will do whatever you desire to make it up to you.”
It was a tempting offer. Mya considered.
“Whatever I desire?”
“Whatever you might choose.”
“It is a lucky thing for you that you are so handsome,” Mya said finally. “Very well. I will accept your apology.”