Clinton was about to jump in when he saw that Warren was ready to take serious exception to that last remark. But he didn’t have to bother. Thomas defused Warren’s temper merely by placing his hand on his arm and giving him a slight shake of his head.
Clinton’s lips turned down in chagrin, seeing that. The whole family admired Thomas’s ability to remain calm under any circumstances—ironically, Warren most of all. Warren also tended to take Thomas’s censure to heart, whereas he usually ignored Clinton’s, a fact that annoyed Clinton no end, especially since Thomas was four years Warren’s junior, and also a half foot shorter.
“You’re forgetting that you were of the same opinion as the rest of us, Drew, when we agreed to allow that ridiculous engagement,” Clinton pointed out. “None of us thought that Georgina’s affections were seriously involved. For God’s sake, she was just a child of sixteen—”
“The reasons we agreed don’t matter when she’s gone and proved us all wrong,” Drew insisted.
“All that has been proven is that Georgie is incredibly loyal…and unbelievably stubborn,” Clinton replied. “And I’m inclined to agree with Warren. I still don’t think she actually loved Cameron.”
“Then why would she wait six—?”
“Don’t be a total ass, Drew,” Warren cut in. “The situation around here hasn’t changed in all these years. There still aren’t a great number of unmarried men in this town for her to choose from. So why shouldn’t she wait for Cameron to come back? She didn’t find anyone else in the meantime that she would prefer to him. If she had, you can bet she would have forgotten that Cornishman in the blink of an eye.”
“Then why did she run off to find him?” Drew asked hotly. “Answer me that?”
“Obviously, she felt she’d waited long enough. Clinton and I had already come to the same conclusion. He was going to take her with him when he went to New Haven to visit his children this trip home. His mother-in-law is still active in the social whirl there.”
“What social whirl?” Drew snorted. “New Haven is not much bigger than Bridgeport.”
“If that didn’t work, then I was going to take her to New York.”
“Youwere?”
Warren’s scowl became positively threatening. “You think I don’t know how to escort a woman about?”
“A woman, aye, but not a sister. What man would approach her with you near at hand…the perpetual brooder.”
That brought Warren to his feet again with eyes flashing. “I don’t brood—”
“If you two would stop trying to provoke each other,” Thomas managed to interrupt without raising his voice. “You might realize that you’ve gotten away from the point. What was intended is irrelevant at the moment. The fact remains that Georgie is obviously more unhappy than the rest of us thought. If she’s been crying…Did you ask her why, Drew?”
“Why?” Drew exclaimed. “Why else? She’s heartbroken, I tell you!”
“But did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t have to. The day she found me in Jamaica she said that Malcolm had married another woman and then she immediately burst into tears.”
“She hasn’t seemed the least bit heartbroken,” Clinton remarked. “She’s been damned bossy, if you ask me, after getting away with what she did the other day when she arrived. This blasted party tonight was her idea, too, and she’s thrown herself into preparing for it.”
“Well, you don’t see her down here this morning, do you? She’s probably hiding in her room because her eyes are all puffy again.”
Thomas actually frowned. “It’s time someone had a talk with her. Clinton?”
“What the hell do I know about these things?”
“Warren?” But before Warren could answer, Thomas chuckled. “No, better not you.”
“I’ll do it,” Drew offered reluctantly.
“When all you can do is make assumptions, and you turn to mush at the first sign of a few tears?” Warren sneered.
Before they could begin another argument, Thomas rose and started for the door, saying, “With Boyd likely still asleep after being out half the night, I suppose that leaves me.”
“Lots of luck,” Drew called after him, “Or have you forgotten she’s still mad at you?”
Thomas paused to glance back at Drew. “Did it occur to you to wonder why?”
“There’s nothing to wonder about. She didn’twantto go to England. She wanted you to go.”
