He wasn’t sure what he wanted to say to her. “Did you enjoy your promenade?”
“Well enough.” She paused. “I’m going to stay with my sister for a while, Norman.”
He was dizzy. “What do you mean? For how long?”
“I don’t know. For the foreseeable future.”
“Is your sister all right?” Something told him that this wasn’t the real issue. It wasn’t a matter of Lady Marina being unwell. But he wasn’t sure how he knew that, and besides, he didn’t want it to be true.
She looked up at him for the first time since he had called her down.
He hardly recognized her. Her eyes were hollow. It was as if the fiery woman he had come to know was gone altogether.
“I want to annul this marriage,” she said.
For a moment, he was sure he had misheard her. It was his conversation with Aunt Tabitha, he thought, still weighing on him. It had to be. There was no way he had insisted to his aunt that he didn’t want an annulment only to have Susan come home and ask for that very thing.
But no. Those were the words she had said. It made no sense, but she’d said it.
“Why?” he asked. “Why would you want that? We agreed to this marriage—to everything about it. We agreed on what we each wanted. Why would you want to change things now?”
“You’re right,” Susan said. “We did agree on what we wanted. And those things have happened. My sister is happily married now, so I got what I wanted. And as for you—your business prospects are secure. You have shown society that you’re someone who can be relied upon. My father has gone into business with you. You have my dowry.”
“I didn’t marry you to get your dowry.” He was offended. “Do you think I was just after your father’s money?”
“I think you were after the financial security a connection to my family provides,” she said. “And it’s not out of line for meto say so. You said it yourself on many occasions, Norman. The only reason you wanted this marriage was out of a desire for security.”
“Do you think that’s no longer important to me, then?”
“I think you’re much more secure than you were before we were married. I think there’s no reason for you and me to remain stuck in this marriage that neither of us wanted now that we’ve both achieved our goals.”
No sooner had she said this than a pair of footmen appeared, carrying her trunk down the stairs.
Norman stared. His heart sank. “You’ve moved awfully quickly,” he said. “You’re already packed and ready to leave?”
“I don’t see any point in putting it off,” she said.
“You didn’t even want to discuss things with me first? Shouldn’t I be entitled to be a part of this decision?”
“And what are you going to do?” she asked him wearily. “Compel me to stay here against my will? I know you well enough by now to know that you won’t do that, Norman. You would never force me into doing anything I didn’t want to do. It’s what has made this marriage bearable for me, even when I knew that neither of us truly wanted it. At least I was always safe with you.”
She must have been thinking of the sister she had told him about, the one who had been so badly mistreated by her husband. “I would never force you to do anything,” he said, gritting his teeth. “Of course I wouldn’t.”
“Then you won’t force me to stay here.”
“Stop it.” He was irritated, he found. “No one is trying to force you into doing anything against your will, Susan. No one is trying to make you stay. If you want to go, I think you should go. I won’t even try to persuade you otherwise.”
Her face fell ever so slightly.
That was not what he had expected. He had thought this was what she wanted—to be granted permission to go. And he couldn’t deny that a part of him was satisfied at the realization that something he’d said had affected her. It had been starting to seem like she was going to be able to walk out of the house without so much as a backward glance.
I shouldn’t care. She’s right. I only got into this because I wanted to secure my place in society, and I’ve done that. I don’twanther to leave now—I’ve grown fond of her—but in the end, does it really make that much difference?
He couldn’t explain, even to himself, why the situation felt so dire. Why the sight of her trunk being carried out the front door felt like an awful problem, one that he had no chance of solving.
It was disorienting that she was making the same argument as Aunt Tabitha had just finished making. Was it really so apparent to everyone that this marriage didn’t stand a chance? Was he the only one who had ever believed that it was going to last?
“No,” Susan said. “Of course you won’t try to persuade me.”
