“I received a telegram while I was at the hotel. It was from Victorine. Would you like to see it?”
“No. I believe you. Tell me.”
“Her message read, ‘Found you. Arriving Wednesday.’”
“Pithy.”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I decided I can’t risknotbelieving her.”
“Do you expect her to arrive with her derringer?”
“I never said it was a derringer.”
“She shot you in her father’s study, I presume at close range, and if she’d used something more powerful, say, a forty-five or a thirty-eight, you and I would not be having this conversation. Not that a palm pistol can’t kill you, but your chances of recovery are improved if it’s a peashooter.”
“It didn’t feel like a peashooter.”
She smiled indulgently. “No, probably not. Where did she shoot you?”
“I’d rather not say.”
“The groin, then.”
Roen’s head reared back. “The inner thigh.”
“But she aimed for your groin.”
“You are rather more frank than I could have imagined.”
“Have I shocked you?”
“I think you have. You are not at all predictable, Mrs. Salt.”
Lily accepted that as a good thing. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. “Ah. Our tea has arrived.” She waved Clay in. Ham followed on his brother’s heels. “Will you pour, Clay?” She set her sewing aside in the event she had to help him. It was an unnecessary precaution. He didn’t spill a drop, and after adding sugar to Mr. Shepard’s cup and a dollop of sweet cream to hers, he passed them their respective cups. “Thank you. Mr. Shepard and I still require privacy. I would like you and Ham to go upstairs. You can play cards or ask Hannah to read to you, but whatever you do, please do it quietly.”
Clay’s eyes darted to Roen then back to his mother. “Hashe given you a headache, Ma? He has problems that will give you a headache.”
“Does he? Well, they haven’t yet,” she said, knowing very well that she and Clay were talking about a very different set of problems. I’m fine. Iam. Go on.”
Clay took Ham by the shoulders and turned him around so he faced the stairs. “You heard Ma. Let’s go.” He gave his brother a nudge and then they were off, running out of the parlor and then racing up the steps.
Lily held her breath until she heard them pounding down the upstairs hall. “I always think Clay will throw Ham out of the way to reach the top first.”
“Huh. I was thinking it would be Ham who did the tossing. The boy’s built like a freight train engine.”
Lily conceded the truth of that. She did not mention that of all her children, Ham was most physically like his father. The similarities ended there. Ham had a sweet disposition. He made mischief, but he was never cruel. “My children won’t amuse themselves indefinitely, Mr. Shepard. Perhaps you should continue.”
Roen took a sip of tea and then set the cup down. He leaned toward Lily, rested his forearms on his knees, and folded his hands together. “I don’t know that I would have considered this proposal if Dr. Madison hadn’t suggested it. That’s not to say that she’s aware that I mean to act on it or even that she would approve. The opposite is more likely true.”
“You’re telling me it was her idea but she would not approve.”
“That’s right.”
“And this has to do with the arrangement you mentioned at the outset. The one where I agree to marry you but never have to.”
