His heart was pounding. Hannah wouldn’t have come all this way if she was still angry with him, surely. Which must mean she’d realized her mistake and wanted to make amends.
The coachman opened the door and Silas stepped inside, barely able to suppress a smile. He was going to remind Hannah exactly why they fit together so well. By the time he was done with her, she’dbe moaning his name in between her apologies for treating him like a bit of rubbish she could cast off when she was—
“Good morning, Mr. Corbyn.” Mrs. Williams sat on the seat opposite his, her gray-streaked hair pulled back into a severe bun, her dress buttoned up to her throat.
Not her!
Silas physically recoiled. He’d been three seconds away from kissing her, before he realized who it was.
Mrs. Williams raised an eyebrow at his reaction.
“You were expecting someone else?”
“Uh…” Probably safer not to answer that.
Silas glanced at the door, measuring his chances of ducking back out before the woman could speak again. They were slim, as the coachman had already shut the door and they were lurching down the street.
He squared his shoulders and prepared to face the firing squad.
“I trust you’re well this morning?” she asked.
A trap. It must be a trap.There was no chance she’d come here to explain pleasantries.
“Well enough,” he answered warily.
“Yes. I suppose it was a difficult evening for all of us.” Mrs. Williams dropped her gaze to her lap.
What was going on? He’d thought she would have raked him over the coals by now for ruining her daughter’s hopes at marriage, but Mrs. Williams couldn’t even seem to look him in the eye.
“Are—areyouwell?” he asked. The question felt unnatural. Their roles would never have allowed it before. But something had changed between them. Where she might once have scolded him, Mrs. Williams had turned meek. Hesitant.
Sure enough, she sat mute for a long moment before she answered, “I don’t suppose I am.”
Silas had never been more lost in all his life.
A few days ago, he would have taken a certain satisfaction in anything that knocked Mrs. Williams down a peg. But seeing how she was treated by her own husband last night had sucked the wind from his sails. She looked so diminished that it was impossible to wish her any harm.
“I can’t imagine what you must think of us.” She addressed this misgiving to Silas’s midsection rather than to his face. “We aren’t normally like that, you know. At least—” She seemed to want to say more, but finally judged it unwise.
“I understand,” he assured her. “I wouldn’t judge you or your children by the conduct of anyone else.”
“I hope you won’t repeat the tale of what happened.”
“Of course not.” This seemed to reassure her. Was that why she’d come? To forestall any gossip about the state of her marriage?
“When I think of how I acted so superior to you when I can’t even keep my own family in order…” Mrs. Williams finally found the courage to look him in the eye, though she was blushing furiously. “I’m ashamed of myself, Mr. Corbyn. I owe you an apology.”
This must be a dream.The real Mrs. Williams would never apologize. She wrapped herself in rules like a suit of armor, shielded from any possible wrongdoing.
“Thank you.” Silas spoke very slowly. Any minute now the other shoe was sure to drop.
“I want you to understand, I was only trying to protect my daughter. After the way you two met, I assumed the worst. I didn’t want Hannah to make a mistake she might regret for the rest of her life.”
The same mistake you did.Though Mrs. Williams left the words unspoken, the comparison was obvious.
She probably wasn’t too far off the mark either. Though Silas would never treat Hannah the way her father did her mother, byany other standard he must be a poor match for the daughter of a gentleman. Even Hannah knew it, or else she would have stopped him from leaving last night.
Still, it was good of Mrs. Williams to see him off with kindness. He hadn’t expected them to become friends before he reached the end of his time with this family. Well, not friends, exactly. More like acquaintances sharing a guarded truce. Whatever they were, it was a sharp improvement from the way they’d begun.
