“I came all the way over here and asked, didn’t I?”
“Fine, I’ll tell you. I told him the truth, and now I’ll tell you the truth about the kind of man your husband is.”
“I know perfectly well what kind of man he is. He’s a good man. A kind man. Far better than I had ever expected.”
“You’re wrong. He’s a cruel and fickle man. Do you know what he did to me? He left me for dead then abandoned me the second it didn’t suit him.”
She shook her head. “That isn’t true.”
“Isn’t it? Tell me, what did I miss?”
“He didn’t even know you were alive. No one seemed to. The ton thought you were dead. You can’t old that against him.”
“But why didn’t he come around? He didn’t even try. He is- was my best friend. I expected more from him. He didn’t even demand to see a grave or try to go to the funeral.”
“The only reason he didn’t was because he was trying to respect your family’s wishes and their grief! Your father told him they never wished to see him again and blamed him for your apparent death. He didn’t want to cause them any more harm.”
“But it was his fault!” Alexander lashed out. “He chose to save you instead of me.”“No one, but I know he wouldn’t have been able to make a decision easily. You mean too much to him. Given how fast he acted, it isn’t hard to fill in the blanks.”
For a moment, he was too stunned to speak.
“He tried to go back for you,” she continued without pausing even enough to take a breath. “He was crushed by your death, he mourned you, he grieved you, he cut himself off from society because he blamed himself for what happened to you.”
“As he should have!”
She took a step back at the sudden change in volume.
“If he really thought I was dead if he really felt responsible, he should have been upset. He should have mourned me. He should have been devastated.”
Normally, this is the point she would relent. Who was se to go against someone like him, but this was her husband they were talking about and she wasn’t going to stand there and listen to this.
“Then you should be over the moon, because he did.”
“Didn’t look like he was mourning me when he was dancing with you.”
“Do you expect him to completely stop living his life? Do you want him to never move forward?” she didn’t give him a chance to answer any of her questions before she continued her tirade. “It isn’t like you did anything to show everyone you were alive. Half the town thought you had passed away, and you know what I think?”
He seemed too stunned that for a moment, she didn’t think he would respond, but he forced his mack of irritation back in place, snapping out a sharp, “I have a feeling you are going to tell me regardless.”
“I think some part of you wanted everyone to think you had died, because it was easier than trying to live your life.”
“Live my life,” he scoffed. “What life was there for me to live looking like this?”
“”You could have done more than you expected. You could have found people who care about you, but you didn’t even try. You just accepted that this would be the end for you, and do you want to know something?”
The man seemed too stunned to speak
“When Christoper and I first married, that was exactly the same way he was thinking.”
He shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous. He wouldn’t have come here if that were true.”
“If he had been left to his own devices, he wouldn’t have come, but he wanted to come for my sake, as a sign he was finally after all these years, going to try and move on and rebuild his life.”
Alexander didn’t say a word.
“Now, if you excuse me, I need to go find my husband. Whom you drove away.”
She made her way to the nearest footmen and let them know she wanted the carriage brought around.
