All I know is that I must retrieve my wife. She is pregnant, and upset, and alone on the streets of London. To others, she might be the most fearsome woman in England. But to me, no matter what she has said, no matter what she has done, she is the woman that I love.
I run out into the street. I have no idea where she has gone. No notion of it. So I just speed forward, trying to see if I can glimpse her.
And then I slam intosomeone.
I stop short and pull back. And to my surprise, it is Evie Colley.
She is wearing a blue dress that, while not unusual on its face, has an ineffably strange, scandalous air.
She is bareheaded once more, with only a thin shawl around her shoulders despite the cold.
“Miss Colley!”
“You!” she says, jabbing her finger into my sternum. “I just saw Annabelle. She was crying, I am sure of it. I called to her, but she didn’t hear me. Or didn’twantto hear me. Then I lost her in the crowd. What haveyoudone?”
“I haven’t done anything,” I say, all irritation at this young woman’s presumption. “We had—not even a disagreement. A misunderstanding.”
“I knew she should not have trusted a man,” Evie says, her eyes flashing. “Have you begun bedding other women already?”
“Jesus, no. I would never do such a thing.”
“So they all say,” Miss Colley hisses.
“In my case, it is very true. Please, Miss Colley, you do not know a thing about me. Or my marriage.”
“Perhaps not,” Evie says with a snort. “But I know that Annabelle is precious. And while she may be too highborn to gut a man, I won’t hesitate, Mr. Saintsbury.”
“De Lacey,” I correct. “My last name is de Lacey.”
Evie opens and closes her mouth, clearly unsure how to retort.
“And I love Annabelle. I would never do anything to hurt her. Not intentionally anyway. I may be clumsy in word or action, but I would never betray her.”
The strange young woman fixes me with a stare.
“Then go find her, Mr. de Lacey.”
I do not needto be told more than once. I am off, but my encounter with Evie has, strangely, steadied me. It reminds me of the solid ground on which my relationship is built. Everything Evie accused me of—well, I would simply never do it.
No betrayal has taken place here.
Even if Annabelle thinks I have betrayed her, and that she has betrayed me.
I refuse to panic. I refuse to believe that she has rejected me.
I am worried, yes, and I am hurrying through the streets.
However, I won’t lose my head.
Because I believe in my relationship with Annabelle.
I believe in our love.
She has not said those words to me, but the truth is that she doesn’t need to.
I know she loves me.
I will find her.
