“And in return?”
“In return, if his hunch proved right, he received the pleasure of seeing you entrusted with a leading role, as befitting your talent. Fournier guaranteed it.”
What I want ... is for you to fly.I swallowed. Trembled. Regret punctured me, sharp and sour. That foolish, foolish decision—it had happened so long ago. It hadn’t anything to do with Jack, yet telling him my Seven Dials secret had cost everything between us. Just like the unseen rock-like thing that stood between my mother and father, keeping two people apart, it had fractured something precious. But why? Why did they all have to end this way? I gripped the chair, suddenly needing freedom from this trap, this track my life could not escape no matter how I turned.
I raised my gaze to his face. “WhydidMama keep away from you? What was the real reason she didn’t come to you after the fire?”
His tanned face paled, as if caught unawares by an oncoming carriage, then he looked down. “She wanted her own way in certain matters. I was not prepared to let her have it. Some women are born with iron-clad opinions, and marriage simply doesn’t suit them. There now, that’s all I can say without speaking her mind for her. You know yourself that she did what she wanted—she defied her own parents to wed me, did she not?”
“What was it?” My voice was a whisper, but he did not answer.
He rose with regret darkening his face and bid me goodnight. He would be in touch, he said, about when we could next meet.
I remained in that dim parlor alone, staring into the flickering flame in the oil lamp. I had gained a father this night, yet I still felt utterly fatherless. Disconnected from everyone. As displaced as Jack Dorian, and as misguided as Lily.
There was a soft rustling of petticoats as a serene figure entered and sat beside me. “He won’t tell you the truth, but I will.” Mama Jo made no apologies for interrupting my private grief.
I turned and looked at her lined face, wisdom etched in every crease.
“I hadn’t planned on telling you, but it sounds as though you have important decisions to make regarding a future connection with Marcus de Silva, and you should know what he isn’t telling you.”
“I’m ready to hear it.”
She gave a nod. “I do not know your mother. I’m not even certain who she is exactly, or where she came from, but I can tell you what I know about her reasons for disappearing from him. You see, I was at the theater the night of the fire, cleaning up. I overheard their argument, and I think you need to know what it was about.”
34
It was not Josefina Herrera’s habit to spy, but the sound of soft crying, of a sweet voice speaking in low, pained tones, drew her toward that old materials room.
“How can this be?” Marcus de Silva’s unmistakable voice came from inside the room, terse and low. “You’re certain?”
An unseen woman’s soft voice responded meekly with something in the affirmative.
“Well then, you must deal with the situation. Immediately.” He sighed and his voice melted into a soft, caressing tone. “Not to worry, I’ll be by your side. I’ll look about for a surgeon.”
“No!” The suddenly emphatic voice drew Josephine closer, hand upon her heart. “I willnotallow it, Marcus.”
“Your future will be over. Ruined. I’ve seen what you can do on that stage, darling, what has become of your career. And it’s only just begun. I will not let you throw it away because of a simple accident. We will fix this.”
The silence quivered. So she was a dancer—someone from Craven?
The woman’s voice came again, low and firm. “I mean to stop. To quit the theater.”
A bang sounded. “Quit?Be serious, Vi! This isn’t finishing school, it’s yourlife.Nothing will ever be the same.”
“Is that such a terrible thing?”
“And what of your dreams? Do you truly want to let them go, just like that?”
Her voice was soft, but steady. “What ifthisis my dream?” A brief silence. “I do love the ballet, but I want this new chapter in my life even more.”
“Then you’d simply be a wife and mother, absolutely no different than any other woman. I’d be ashamed to be your husband, and we’d both be ruined besides—all our years of work, everything we planned. Is it really worth all that?”
“What you want me to do ... it ismonstrous, Marcus. Utterly despicable.”
“So now you’ve set out to prove you truly could have both. Is that why you’re here, practicing so late?”
“Yes.” Her voice was soft, her eyes bright. “As it turns out, I merely proved that I couldn’t. I’m already exhausted, Marcus. So tired of dancing, but I push myself, because you want it. You and my parents. The only thing I truly want is what you’re asking me to destroy, and I simplywill not do it.”
