“Look, I’ve got nothing against you ladies,” he sighed, “I’m just doing my job. Bail’s posted so out you go.”
“Who posted it?”
Joy flooded Prim when she saw James waiting outside the police station. What immediately followed was confusion. And anger.
She didn’t care if he’d dipped deep into his pockets to bail out her dozens of co-protestors. How dare he show up now?
Still, it didn’t stop her feet from running toward him of their own accord. He was back, with a gorgeous grin on his face, and she’d missed him more than she’d ever imagined possible.
Where had he been?
The question dragged her to a halt right before him. She wasn’t sure who was more surprised when her hand lashed out, smacking him across the cheek.
Her palm stung from the contact. James didn’t look so much pained as confused.
Prim’s hands flew to her own cheeks, astonishment flooding her as she stared at him in horror. “Oh, Jamie, I’m so…”
Flinging herself against him, she kissed him with all the desperation she’d felt over the past several weeks. The emotional toll of not knowing where he was, why he’d left, poured from her. Her blood, chilled with torment, was burning again, rushing down her veins, and she put it all into that kiss, only distantly aware that he was holding her so tightly she could barely take a breath. She didn’t need to breathe. She had Jamie in her arms once more. His kiss on her lips.
Nothing else mattered. Not the uncertainty. The heartbreak…
Prim pushed away and slapped him again. “Where have you been?”
“Feisty.”
This came from one of the two identical men lounging against an automobile behind him. They were both huge, towering over even Jamie. Auburn haired and dark eyed, they had none of his coloring but she recognized them from the photographs in his book. The twins.
“What are they doing here? When did they get here? Where have you been?” she asked again, focusing on Jamie once more. Her tone expressed her confusion this time. “You take off without a word—”
The look of amused tolerance James had been wearing faded away and his body went stiff. “Without a word? I wrote you a letter. Had a messenger deliver it.”
“When?”
“On Christmas day.”
That long ago? Prim’s heart ached over the long days of worry she’d spent in between. Knowing he hadn’t abandoned her without a word couldn’t entirely expel the misery.
“I never received a message. All I know is I never heard from you again after we…after you…then,thenI hear rumors you’ve run away with Mrs. Preston. I didn’t believe them, of course, not truly, but I felt like such a fool. Oh!”
James caught her fist before she could hit him again, holding her hand between his own. He bent his head to hers, giving comfort. Seeking it.
His cheek brushed hers, the stubbled caress rousing a suppressed longing in her.
“I received a telegram on Christmas morning,” he murmured. “My sister-in-law passed away.”
“Oh, Jamie,” she whispered, stroking softly at the handprint she’d left on his cheek. Which of his sisters-in-law she wasn’t certain, but it didn’t matter. She knew he loved them all. “I’m so sorry.”
Acutely aware of the watchful eyes of his brothers and even passersby on the street, Prim cast a look around them. Taking the hint, James led her to the mouth of the alley next to the police station. They weren’t alone, but at least they were out of earshot from his brothers’ curious ears.
“We left that night in a rush to catch a ship in Groton,” he told her.
“You and Mrs. Preston? Oh, it wasn’t Evelyn or Kitty was it?”
James shook his head just as she realized such news would have spread across the Knickerbocker ranks quickly.
“No, it was Ilona.”
The one who’d just had the baby girl. True sorrow swept away the last of Prim’s anger. “Oh, Jamie, I’m so sorry.”
