“But how can you not care about it?” Taylor’s voice grew slightly gentler. He was usually nothing but laughter and mirth, but on this topic, he knew to tread carefully. “Don’t you think it’s what your mother and father would have wanted for you?”
“I’ll never know what they would have wanted,” Arthur said rather sharply. “Because of how young I was when they died, we never spoke of it, and I’ll never have the chance to ask them. So, all I can do is my best.”
“Well, I suppose that’s true,” Taylor agreed. “I do hope you manage to find the joy in your marriage, though. As your friend, I’d like that for you.”
Arthur found he wasn’t enjoying the direction the conversation was going. “You came here to tell me about your investigation,” he pointed out. “That’s what I’d like to discuss. How are things going in your search for the people who killed my parents?”
“Well, I’ve been asking around,” Taylor said.
“You always say that. You always tell me that you’ve been asking around.”
“It’s the truth,” Taylor replied. “What would you like me to say? Shall I make something up?”
“I just wish you had real answers for me sometimes. It seems you only ever come to me with more questions, and I don’t know what to make of it. What have you been asking? Who have you been asking? And what answers do you think they’re going to give you? Tell me what we’re waiting for, Taylor.”
Taylor leaned across the table, setting down his glass of scotch. His normally jovial face had become very serious.
“You ask me to help you with this because you know I have contacts you don’t,” he reminded Arthur. “You come to me for help because I know the kind of people you want to talk to. I know the people who have the answers to these questions. Don’t get angry with me because I haven’t found what we’re looking for yet. You should be grateful to me for looking at all!”
Arthur sighed. “You’re right. I know you’re right. Forgive me. It’s difficult, that’s all. This is the one goal I have in my life, and every day I don’t accomplish it feels like a day wasted. Another day that I haven’t been able to honor my parents properly—another day they don’t rest peacefully.”
“What happened to them isn’t your fault,” Taylor reminded him.
“Perhaps not. But what happens now is a burden I’ll carry until I’ve had my revenge.”
“Oh, try to think of something happy for once,” Taylor urged him. “I know it’s difficult for you to do. But youaregoing to be married. There’s going to be a wedding. I can hardly wait to meet your bride. Tell me what she’s like.”
“I’ve told you already—I hardly know her,” Arthur said. “We met one time. I don’t know much about her at all.”
“But you must have gotten an impression of her at least,” Taylor pressed. “Tell me that. Is she charming? Witty? Does she delight you and make you laugh?”
“Well…no, she wasn’t any of those things.”
“What did she say when you came to her father’s house and announced that you wanted to marry her? I’m sure she was surprised, having told that lie about your engagement only the night before.”
“I’d say she was shocked,” Arthur said dryly, remembering the expression on her face.
“But she must have been pleased, right?” Taylor pressed. “She couldn’t have thought that making up such a silly story would result in a real engagement. It must have thrilled her when you told her that you were willing to marry her in spite of such an unconventional beginning.”
“Actually, she refused me,” Arthur said. It wasn’t something he intended to tell very many people about. It was rather humiliating to have been received that way. He didn’t mind at all that Miss Isabella was the daughter of a maid, but he did know what people would say if they heard that a maid’s daughter thought herself too good for him, and he didn’t care to hear that sort of gossip.
Taylor’s eyes widened. “She refused? But how could she refuse? Did she want someone else?”
“She didn’t say why. She only told me that she had never intended for her lie to become a reality.”
“Well,thatcertainly isn’t very charming or witty,” Taylor said. “Not what I expected, I must say. And yet you decided you’d go ahead and marry her anyway, even after she spoke to you like that?”
Arthur nodded slowly. He understood what Taylor was saying, of course. It was surprising enough that he would choose to marry a lady he hardly knew, a lady who was the daughter of a maid, a lady who’d only come to his attention by telling lies about him. Most people would have dealt with her very differently. And then, for him to have gone to her home only to be met with a rejection—it was difficult for anyone to make sense of it, he supposed. Itdidn’tmake sense. Why would he choose to pursue a marriage to someone who had treated him like that?
“She intrigued me,” he said after a moment. “Her father was right there, and even so, she refused me.”
“What did her father say?”
“Oh, he had no idea what to make of any of it,” Arthur said. “I think he was hoping I would take his other daughter, Miss Rosalind, but I’ve no interest in her.”
“No, you want the one who made up a lie about you and was rude to you.” Taylor laughed. “You never seem to change.”
“It’s like I said—I found her intriguing. I’ve never known a lady quite like her. She means the things she says. Most ladies are so determined to be charming that they’ll just say anything, but this one—well, I can trust her. I can take her at her word. That’sworth something to me, Taylor. She may be a handful, but at least she isn’t deceptive.”
