“I just did.” Panic and exhilaration warred within her. She had never stood up to her parents before. Never imagined turning down a suitor, even one like Mr. Alsop. But Mr. Medford had said he would be here. Gladys couldn’t accept a miserable existence with Alsop when she could have a wonderful one with Medford—and provide ever so much better for her sister and mother, as well. Marrying Mr. Medford was the best path for all of them.
Gladys jumped to her feet and stood tall. “I shan’t marry you.”
Mr. Alsop turned to Father and said tightly, “If you would please inform your recalcitrant child—”
Was that any way to court a bride?
“I’m not a child. I’m twenty-one, which means I needn’t marry you if I don’t want to, and I. Do not. Want to.” Gladys enunciated each word.
Mr. Alsop spun back to her father. “Sell me the property. I’ll pay ten percent more than my previous best offer.”
“I’m sorry,” Father answered. “I promised my daughter a dowry.”
“But if she won’t let anyone have it…” Alsop let out an aggrieved huff, spun on his heels, and stormed out through the door before anyone could stop him.
Not that Gladys wished to prolong his visit.
Mother turned toward Gladys. “What on earth has got into you? That’s not only the sole offer you’ve ever had, but also the best one you’re likely to get. Go after him!”
“I shall not.”
“Why not?”
“Someone else has won my heart,” Gladys admitted.
“Then where the devil is he?” Father asked in bewilderment.
“He’ll be here… soon,” she promised.
And then waited all morning.
All afternoon.
All evening.
All night.
Chapter 5
When the following dawn came and went with no sign of Mr. Medford, not a glimpse or a note or even a whisper, Gladys had to face the truth:
He wasn’t coming.
“Stop moping around the parlor,” Mother said with a sigh. “We’ve matchmaking events to attend. There’s to be a balloon launch in the botanical gardens. The pre-launch picnic begins in one hour.”
Gardens. The botanical gardens weren’t the same garden in which Gladys had kissed Mr. Medford—and more—but perhaps that was where she could find him.
“I’ll get my bonnet,” she said, and hurried to do just that.
The inn was a ten-minute walk from the gardens, or would have been if everyone else in Marrywell weren’t clogging the main road. At least the traffic was all moving in the same direction: toward the botanical gardens.
A series of ropes on posts cordoned off the area from which the balloon would launch. Most of the picnickers had spread their blankets nearby, for the best view.
Gladys was so intent on scanning the crowd for Mr. Medford’s face that it took several long moments and a strange creeping sensation before she realized many of the women in the crowd… were looking back at her.
Odd. Her brow furrowed. Was it because there was no convenient wall to hide wallflowers here in the garden? Was she meant to stand against the hedgerows instead of shake out a picnic blanket with her family?
Oh, family. That was it. They weren’t looking at Gladys. They were looking at her younger sister. Kitty’s stunning beauty always caught people unawares and caused a second, third, or tenth look. Nothing out of the ordinary with that.
