Franklin took another circular stroll before he stopped again. “I thought we had been honest with each other in all things, more so than other couples,” he continued. “Some chaps I know simply marry a girl for her pretty face, and that’s that. They don’t tell and they don’t ask, and I think they have poorer lives for living as strangers. Naturally, Claire asked me about my, uh, my history with the fairer sex.”
A profound blush appeared on Franklin’s cheeks. “And I told her. Similarly, I asked her and thought I knew everything about the woman I love. Until my mother suddenly told me that Claire had been sneaking out at all hours. I know it was years ago ...,” he trailed off, then seemed to come to a decision as he adjusted his vest and tugged at his coat.
“If she could keep a secret like that, then how can we have a true marriage of the minds and hearts?” he asked Rose.
The man was perfectly correct, of course. Roseshouldhave told William about Finn, dead or alive, when she first let him become serious about her, when she started to open her heart to him, and certainly before they became engaged. It would have always been between them, even if Finn had really been dead. Her eyes teared up at what a mess she’d made.
“Miss Malloy, I’m so sorry. I did not mean to cause you distress,” Franklin said, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and handing it to her.
“Oh, no, you have not. My emotions are not for you and Claire, for you will hear in a minute that, luckily, your situation is easily rectified. I’m crying rather self-centered tears, and I apologize for doing so.” She dabbed at them.
She was a Malloy, and like her brother, she fixed things for those she loved.
“I will be forthright with you, as you have been with me” Rose began. “Claire did indeed keep a secret from you, because it was not hers to tell. Shedidsneak out in her carriage on numerous occasions, but it was only to lend it to me. Honor bright, it was I who had an association with a young man.”
Franklin had the grace to keep his face impassive so as not to embarrass her.
Rose was almost through the worst, so she plunged ahead. “I didn’t want to tell my mother about my attachment, and so, unthinkingly, I relied on Claire to help me. It was a terribly selfish thing to do in retrospect. However, four years ago, it seemed merely like an exciting adventure. I never meant for Claire to suffer any consequences. I hope you will believe me.”
Franklin stared at her, his intelligent eyes scanning her face, seeing her pain and her regret.
“Of course I believe you,” he said at last, and a weight dropped from Rose’s shoulders.
“I am so grateful you contacted me,” Franklin continued. “I have been half mad with doubt and disbelief. Claire is the best kind of person anyone could wish for in a friend and in a wife, and she speaks often of her love for you. I can certainly picture her selflessly and without regard to her own reputation doing as you have described to me.”
Rose nodded.What an understanding man.
“I am extremely glad I eschewed etiquette and came over to secure a dance between you and Claire at that party so long ago. For you are indeed worthy of our Claire.”
Instead of seeming pleased, Franklin’s expression looked tortured.
“I said terrible things to her. I have wronged her, and I didn’t have faith in her in the face of my mother’s condemning words and blasted witness.”
Rose considered what Claire had said in anger and weighed that against all the months and months of loving Franklin Brewster.
“I am certain Claire will forgive you. She loves you, and that love cannot simply stop in one day. However, you must soften your mother toward her, too. It cannot be easy for either of you when your own parent disapproves.”
Merely the fear of that type of disapproval had caused Rose to behave badly toward Finn.
Franklin nodded. “I will tell my mother the truth and demand she apologize to my future wife, and that will be that. I mean to marry Claire, and my mother had better get used to the idea, or she’ll find herself minus one son, a daughter-in-law, and any future grandchildren.”
Rose smiled genuinely for the first time in days at the idea of Claire’s dream of marrying and having children finally coming true. Then she recalled the greater problem.
“All the young ladies at that absurd tea party overheard your conversation with Claire. If you mean to win her backandremove the blemish on her reputation, you had best do something public and large. Otherwise, you know what will happen? People will think you merely a besotted fool who accepts Clairedespiteher soiled past. And if that is the case, even after marriage, she will not be welcomed in society’s parlors. She will be a pariah, and you will both have to leave Boston.”
Franklin looked slightly shocked, his face paling from its early rosy blush. However, he clearly understood the gravity of the situation.
“I will make it clear that it was not her but—” he broke off and stared at her.
Rose felt her heart start to pound and the blood leave her head.Good God!Franklin would tell everyone that it was she who had the secret assignations. He would do that to save his love, as he should, and then the Malloys would be the pariahs.
He started again. “I will make it clear that she was only lending her carriage to help a less fortunate. I promise, your name will be left out of it. You brought us together to begin with, and now, you’ve done it again. Or at least I hope so. Claire and I will owe you a debt of gratitude.”
Rose felt the tears well again. How kind of him to say so, when it was her thoughtless actions that had nearly driven them irrevocably apart.
“Don’t worry. I know exactly how to do this,” Franklin said, the twinkle back in his brown eyes.
With all her heart, Rose hoped so.
