“Really? How amusing.”
Amy looked down at her hands, then after a second she said quietly, “It was wonderful.”
“Well, you go on and believe that if you want. But you are only looking to get hurt. Love doesn’t mean a pot of beans to me. I will marry John Cabot and the only thing I’ll love is all that glorious Cabot money.”
“But what about him? If you plan to marry him then you must care for him. Just a little.”
Georgina’s expression grew fierce and stubborn. She shook her head. “No. Have you met him? Do you know who he is?”
“Yes.” Amy was quiet. John Cabot looked a little like a mole she’d seen poke his head out of a hole in the garden on her estate. “He must have some fine qualities.”
Georgina looked at her as if she had just said something truly stupid.
“A sense of humor?”
Georgina shook her head.
“Kindness?”
“Kind people are not rich.”
“My father was kind and rich.”
Georgina shrugged as if she didn’t believe her and never would.
“What you say sounds so cold and hard. I can’t be like that.”
“If you want to survive in this world, you’ll learn to be hard. It’s the only way to protect yourself.” She looked up again. “William couldn’t have hurt you, Amy, if you hadn’t been thinking of hearts and flowers and other silly love fantasies. William had the name; you had the money.”
Her words cut right through Amy. She was a person, not just a dollar figure. Didn’t people matter to anyone anymore?
“You did a foolish thing.”
“If it’s foolish to want your husband to love you for the person you are and cherish you and to hold you in his heart, to need you in his life, then call me a fool.” Amy looked away because she had to. “William made a private and painful moment into a scene, just like he made cruel jests about me. The least a woman can ask for is that a man respect her.”
She turned back, hoping her eyes weren’t as moist as they felt. She raised her chin a notch, knowing Georgina had even more pride than she did. “I don’t believe you would marry a man who thought of you as a joke.”
Georgina wasn’t looking at her, but she took a moment and seemed to think about Amy’s words. “If the man had enough money I would.”
“You would not.”
“I would.” She paused. “Then I’d spend the rest of my life getting even. I’d make his life miserable.” Her eyes lit with sharp flashes of quick thoughts and narrowed as if she were actually living out the fantasy.
“But what about your life? That would be a miserable way to live, especially in a marriage.”
“With a rich man? I don’t think so.”
“What kind of life is that?” Amy muttered.
“Busy.” Georgina grinned. “Busy spending.” Her voice sounded flippant, almost too flippant. But her expression looked for all the world as if she truly didn’t care.
Amy sat there for a moment and watched her with a confused sense of awe and pity. She was a strong woman, driven and quick-thinking and seemingly certain of her path in life, so determined that she acted as if she would fight to make certain everything went her own way. Yet, even with someone as brittle and determined as Georgina Bayard appeared, Amy wondered if she was really that strong on the inside.
Amy stared at the cave entrance, lost in her thoughts, her eyes seeing nothing because her imagination was doing her seeing for her. In her mind’s eye she pictured two men standing side by side. The wordsDestinyandFatewere where their faces should have been. The mist swirled all around and a huge ship with the nameEscapepainted on its bow was floating behind them, the boarding ramp just a few feet away.
Fate was tall and blond, with huge arms and muscular legs. Destiny was just a smidgen shorter and had black hair. Spectacles dangled from one of his ears and he had a whisk broom and dustpan clutched protectively to his broad chest.
Both men moved in unison toward the cave entrance, walking slowly, as if time were beginning to stop, the way people always moved in daydreams. Amy could see herself standing there, unable to escape, even though her mind was telling her to run. She couldn’t will herself to move.
