She took a step closer. “No. Don’t apologize. I want you to explain yourself.”
He shifted in the snow. “I was reading in the Bible about fear, and God brought me to Isaiah chapter forty-one and verse ten. ‘Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.’ So I was thinking, maybe instead of being scared to leave Sitka, you should ask God to strengthen you, because the Bible promises he will.”
She silently repeated what she could remember of the verse, committing the reference to memory. Isaiah 41:10. She could certainly do with less fear in her life. She’d have to look the verse up and read it when she got home.
“I meant what I said earlier too.” Yuri’s voice turned soft and low. “It’s not just Bryony who deserves happiness. You deserve to be happy too.”
Did she? It certainly sounded good to hear him say so. Perhaps that was why she was half in love with him. He was always nice. Always kind. Always gentle.
Those were traits that didn’t exist in her father’s world.
If she ever did leave Sitka, if she ever truly decided to walk away from the life her father was carefully planning for her, she would have to do it without anyone knowing...
Including Yuri.
She turned toward the water, staring at the dark waves lapping the shore. “I’ll meet you on Monday. At the usual time. I should be able to talk Father into letting me have an extra visit with Millicent, especially with the holidays, and I’ll sneak off to visit you after I’m at her house. Bring everything you’ve received with you.”
She took a step back, then turned and strode off into the night.
For a few seconds, she thought Yuri might follow, or at least call after her for leaving so abruptly.
But he didn’t. He stayed where he was, watching her as he leaned against the wall of the warehouse-turned-ballroom. And she could swear she felt the heat of his gaze on her the entire way back home.
It was a ridiculous notion. There was no possible way for him to see her after she rounded the first corner and turned up the hill leading to her family’s mansion on the far side of town. But she still felt as though his eyes were on her.
The house was dark when she reached it, just as she’d known it would be. She’d been careful when planning how to sneak out for a glimpse of Bryony’s wedding reception.
She headed around the back of the mansion to the kitchen entrance, just to be certain Father wasn’t up late in the parlor.
But after she turned the doorknob and let herself inside, she found a form shrouded in shadows, his hands folded tightly on the table.
“Father?” she rasped, every last bit of warmth draining from her body.
He said nothing as the door clicked shut behind her, only watched—as though he’d been counting every second she’d been away.
2
Sitka; Monday Afternoon
She was late—really late.
Yuri pulled his coat tighter around his chest, the damp wool doing little to block the wind that cut in from the ocean. Rain slanted down from the sky, cold and relentless, soaking through the fabric of his cap and beading along his collar. A few droplets even slipped down his neck and onto his back, causing him to shiver.
The tide was out, leaving long stretches of wet sand under the gray, heavy sky. But the angry waves still surged farther up the beach than usual, frothed into angry white tips by the wind.
Rosalind had been late many times before, but never this late.
He exhaled sharply, his breath a faint ghost against the rain, and turned his gaze back toward the forest. The spruce trees loomed dark and dripping at the edge of the shore, but there was no sign of a figure hurrying toward him, shoulders hunched beneath the heavy mink coat she always wore.
Where was she?
Why wasn’t she here?
Had something happened?
His stomach twisted. He hated the way he worried. Hated how he couldn’t stop thinking about Rosalind Caldwell’s well-being whenever something didn’t go as planned. Hated that he couldn’t simply head to her house and ask if everything was all right, like he could do with every other person in the town where he’d grown up.
But Rosalind was different. He’d known it the first time he’d laid eyes on her.
