No sound came from inside, not even Rose’s welcoming yip.
“You’ve missed her,” Victoria said, opening the door to her own room and stepping out into the hallway.
Felix’s world came crashing down around him. “She’s got to be here. Where else would she go?”
Victoria leaned back against the wall and shrugged. “Don’t know.”
He fumed. “You need to tell me.”
“No, I don’t.” Victoria scowled at him, her face pinching close together. “Why would I tell you? You’ve done nothing but upset her. Even I could see that she was head over heels for you, and yet you never told her that you feel the same.”
“Look, I want to fix this with her, but if I’m going to be able to do that, then you need to tell me where she is, now!”
“Do you love her?”
He threw his hands up in the air. “What kind of question is that? Of course I love her.”
Victoria reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “She’s at the docks. Supposed to be getting onOur Lady Morningand heading back to New York in the next two hours.”
Felix snatched the letter before kissing Victoria’s temple. “I’m going to bring her home.”
“I don’t care if you bring her home right away, just don’t let her leave us forever,” Victoria said, tears glistening in her eyes.
“I’m not losing her.” Felic spun and walked down the hall, already opening the letter.
Dear Windham,
I love you.
I know that it is unkind of me to tell you in a letter and crueler still when I know that you will not find this until I am on the ship and on my way back to America.
As I cannot have you for my husband, I have decided it would be best to live out my life as a spinster.
I would like to thank you for all that you have done. You and your loving family have shown me nothing but patience, kindness, goodness and generosity, even when you were comparing me to a goose. I will always cherish the memories we have shared together.
I want you to know that I will press my father to uphold his end of the agreement. You and your family deserve to live in happiness. You should not be faulted for my leaving, especiallywhen you did nothing less than your best to find me a suitable match.
The truth is that I could never compel myself to love another in the way that I love you, nor would I want to. You have shown me that I can be accepted by others, and that I can open up my true self, even to a world in which I do not belong.
I would have married you one thousand times over. I would happily spend the rest of my life with you without one second of doubt in my heart and mind.
You are the air I breathe. The first person I think of when I wake in the morning and the last person I think of before I go to sleep. You haunt my dreams and it is there that I will look back on us and all we could have been together.
I wish you nothing but the best, and you should know that I will always love you, even if you have never felt the same way about me.
With love,
Isabelle
Felix ran down the dock, looking forOur Lady Morning, his heart hammering in his chest and sweat beading on the back ofhis neck. When he finally spotted the ship, it was at the other end of the marina and the last passengers were boarding.
Too far away. I’m never going to make it.
I have to try.
He needed to be with Isabelle. If nothing else, he had to try. She was the only thing in his life that made sense. She had taken up residence in his heart and there was no longer anything he could do to force her out.
Felix knew that he would never want her to be without her. In her, he had found his home. She had made him whole. He could only hope that he would be enough for her.
