He stepped into the room, surprised to find her out of bed. She was sitting in the armchair by the fireplace, a book open in her lap.
“Another romance?” he asked, aiming for playfulness.
But when she raised her gaze to him, her face was a cold mask. “A mystery, actually.” She closed the book. “Now solved.”
CHAPTER 22
Henry closed the door behind him, an uneasiness creeping down the back of his neck. “What sort of mystery?”
Thalia looked and sounded like his wife, still wearing the dress she had left the boathouse in, but there was something… off about her. Her cool gaze, for one thing. No hint of the laughter that had warmed his heart earlier. No warmth whatsoever.
“My own,” she replied, tucking her knees in, her posture defensive.
He took a few steps toward her but halted as she put her hand up to stop him. “I heard you were unwell. The physician should be here soon.”
“I do not need a physician,” she said. “Ineedto know why you did not just tell me about our deal?”
Henry’s heart lurched, as he searched her face, hardly daring to believe what the sudden coldness in her gaze might mean.
“You could have helped,” she continued. “Instead, you let me feel like a fool.”
“Thalia, I did not want to influence you; I wanted you to remember in your own time,” he said, coming closer.
She shook her head, putting her hand up again. “All you had to say was that you wanted a bride in order to bolster society’s opinion of you, and thatIneeded to pay off my family’s debts. Why did you not say that it wasmewho asked to be left alone? Why did you let me question everything, confused as to why my husband would wish to be apart from me?”
It is true. It is real. She has her memory back.
He ignored her gesture, too overwhelmed with relief… and some degree of apprehension not to be near her. He walked to her chair, sinking to his knees at her side, and raised his hand to touch her face, to be certain.
“You remember,” he murmured, an ache catching him in the chest as she pulled back from the light brush of his thumb across her cheek.
She turned her head away. “I found my diary.”
“So… you do not remember?” He glanced at the book on her lap.
“No, I do. Finding my diary gave me an almighty headache, so vicious I thought my skull was about to crack.” Her forehead creased as if recalling the pain vividly. “When the pain finally subsided, I had my memories back.”
Henry resisted the fierce urge to touch her face again, to hold her hands at least. “When did this happen?”
“In the boathouse.”
“Why did you not call for me? Why did you not shout so I might hear you?” he urged, his heart sore at the thought of her suffering alone. Worse, that something irreversible might have happened, and he would not have been there to help her.
She shook her head. “I did not have the capacity.” Shrugging, as if to rid herself of discomfort, she added, “But it is fine now.Iam fine. Restored. It was just… a bit of a shock.”
“I am sorry, Thalia,” he said softly, unable to help himself as he reached for her hand. “I am sorry I was not there. I am sorry that I did not tell you about our arrangement. Truly, there was no malice in it. I feared I might skew your memory if I told you things asIremember them.”
She drew her hand out of his and crossed her arms, retreating further into the protection of the armchair. “It is fine,” she repeated. “I am myself again. Well… mostly.”
“Mostly?” He wished she would just melt into him again, as she had on the lake shore. Had she forgotten that? Had that been the cost of regaining her memories, losing the ones she had made between her accident and finding her diary?
She frowned toward the window, the late-afternoon sky turning golden as the hours ticked toward sunset. “I am missing one part of my memory still.”
“Which part?” He braced, certain he was about to have his suspicions confirmed.
“I cannot recall the night of the accident. Not a bit of it,” she replied after a pause. “I remember what came before, up to a point, but nothing more.”
Henry moved around until he was kneeling in front of her, urging her silently to look at him. “Whatdoyou remember?”
