“Mary.” The sound of her name was closer this time. Turning, she saw that it was Sarah, her pale blonde hair curling softly against her cheek.
“I called to you from across the lawn, but you must not have heard me,” Sarah said. Frowning slightly, she moved a little closer. “Are you all right, Mary?”
Unable to speak for fear that she might start crying, Mary managed a solid nod.
“Clearly that is not the case.” Sarah’s eyes filled with concern. “You look as though you have just received some troubling news. Is it your parents? Are they not well?”
Shaking her head, Mary looked away, her eyes fixed on the soft surface of the water which occasionally rippled as mayflies darted across it. “As far as I know, my parents are both well.” She took a quivering breath. “Do you know what it feels like to have your heart torn from your chest?”
There was a small pause, and then, “I am familiar with the sensation. Yes.” The confession surprised Mary. For a second she didn’t quite know what to say. As it turned out, she didn’t have to say anything at all since Sarah continued by adding, “Spencer and I had a few difficulties before we decided to marry. I kept something from him—something terribly important—and he judged me for it once he found out.”
“What stopped you from telling him?”
“Fear, I suppose.” Moving off toward the right side of the lake, Sarah waited for Mary to fall into step beside her before saying, “I did not think that he and I would ever be able to be together, and so I chose not to mention the one thing that could ruin his good opinion of me forever.”
“But he found out anyway.”
Sarah nodded. “The truth has a funny way of surfacing at the most inopportune moment.”
“Perhaps you should have been honest with him from the start,” Mary suggested.
“Perhaps,” Sarah agreed. She was silent for a while before saying, “We all keep secrets, some greater than others. I daresay you have your own fair share of them.”
The comment brought Mary up short. “What do you mean?”
Sarah shrugged. “Nothing, other than that it is rare for a young lady to be venturing about outside on her own during the early hours of the morning. If you will recall, Spencer and I crossed paths with you a couple of weeks ago when we were returning from a walk.”
“I remember it well, even though I am not prepared to tell you the reason for it. I hope you can understand.”
“Of course.”
“But Mr.Heartly knows the truth.” Mary couldn’t stop her voice from rising. “I shared my secrets with him as soon as it became clear that our friendship was developing into something more.”
Nodding, Sarah seemed to ponder that. “So you feel betrayed?”
“I... I do not know exactly what I feel, other than that I wish I would have discovered the relationship he has to my brother a lot sooner than I did.”
“Mr.Heartly is a friend of his?”
A snort was all Mary could manage. “Not in the least.”
“I see.” Following the path to the right, they allowed it to lead them around some flowerbeds and back in the direction of the house. “That does complicate matters. I trust that you are fond of your brother?”
“Of course I am,” Mary said. “He is my family!”
“That is true,” Sarah agreed, “but being related by blood is not always enough. Character counts as well, and although I do not know the reason for Mr.Heartly’s dislike of your brother, I am certain that it must be justified, in which case you may want to consider which of the two deserves your loyalty the most.”
“I fear that Mr.Heartly will no longer wish to have anything to do with me,” Mary said. “The look in his eyes when he saw my brother and the things he said... I believe he will want to distance himself as much from him as possible, even if that means cutting all ties with me.”
“You cannot be certain of that. Talk to him, Mary—if you still wish to spend your life with Mr.Heartly, that is. But be prepared to turn your back on your brother if need be.”
“How can I possibly do that?”
“By asking yourself if he is worth sacrificing your future happiness for.”
It wasn’t a question that Mary wished to consider, and yet she knew that she had to. Andrew—the carefree boy she’d grown up with. He’d always been prone to laughter, always ready with a smile to cheer her up. But he was selfish. Undeniably so. And Richard had paid a great price for that. Didn’t he deserve her support?
“I cannot think of what to do right now,” she murmured, more to herself than to Sarah. On one hand, she wanted to run into Richard’s arms, but on the other, she feared the power that he wielded over her. “He showed no consideration for my feelings at all, and in not doing so, he shattered my heart. How can I trust that he will not do so again?”
