Caleb’s eyes widened. “You proposed?” Griffin nodded. “And she refused?”
“That is what I just said.” Irritation added a bite to Griffin’s words.
“It would seem that your problem is far more difficult to tackle than I realized.” Caleb’s features tightened, straightening his mouth. “You cannot force her to be your wife.”
This wasn’t helping. “I. Am. Aware.” Griffin took another long swallow of his drink. He lowered the glass and stared pensively into the amber liquid. “The thing is I do think she’d marry me if she knew the depth of my affection for her.”
“Then I suggest you show her.” Leaning back in his chair until the leather squeaked beneath him, Caleb allowed a conspiratorial smile to pull at his lips. “Lay your heart bare, Brother. Women love nothing better than a man who’s willing to be vulnerable. But first, apologize for the wrong you have done her. Romancing her will be easier if you’ve been forgiven.”
Emily refused to cry. It wasn’t her style. Even though she felt like a good sob would help wash away some of the pain. Still. She didn’t like the idea of dissolving in tears because of a man. To do so would give Griffin too much power over her. Power he didn’t deserve. So she stared stiffly out of the window, her blurry gaze focused on a tree in the distance.
Silence draped the room in loneliness. Until Cassandra spoke again. “Lady Langdon was wrong to mention her husband’s connection to you. It was badly done.”
“Deliberately spiteful,” Mary said. “I do not like her at all.”
“Neither do I,” Laura murmured.
Emily glanced at her friends and her sister and turned away from the window so she could better face them. Mary stood next to the dressing table while Cassandra and Laura sat on the bed. They looked every bit as bleak as Emily felt.
“Thank you, but my issue is not with her. It is with Griffin’s interference in my affairs.” When neither one spoke, Emily said, “Do you not see? These past six years, I have blamed Mama for my inability to secure a proposal from Langdon. I have resented her for something that wasn’t her fault at all.”
“You should probably apologize to her,” Laura said.
“Of course I must, but…” Emily spun away, frustrated with the way things were going and feeling a need to move. Would there always be something in the way of her dreams? “I never would have taken Griffin for such a thoughtless man.”
“He probably did what he thought was in his friend’s best interest at the time,” Cassandra told her soothingly. “His allegiance was to Langdon. Not you.”
“Yes, I know. But he judged me and found me lacking. So lacking in fact that he urged Langdon not to marry me.”
“Do you believe you and Langdon would have been happy together?” Mary asked.
“That is…” She’d been about to say, ‘not the point,’ but stopped to consider. “He would have given me children of my own.”
“Not necessarily,” Cassandra said. “He has no children now, so there’s at least a fifty percent chance that he wouldn’t have been able to do so.”
Emily shook her head. It wasn’t really the lost chance with Langdon that she found upsetting. She’d recovered from that a long time ago. It was the fact that Griffin had labeled her unsuitable at a time in her life when she’d struggled to attract attention. Gaining Langdon’s had been difficult. The dowry had been an undeniable help. And it pained her to think that even though Griffin had not known her back then, he’d still told his friend that he could do better.
It added a superficial element to his character that she had been certain he lacked. And she’d loved him for his character. But now… “How can I love someone who would be so shallow?”
“I think you’ve a few different things to keep in mind,” Mary said. “For one thing, people change with experience. You ought to consider the man you have gotten to know in recent months, just as he should consider the woman that you are now. To go backward would be a pointless endeavor, for it would only lead to misplaced blame.”
“Mary. I—”
“No. Let me finish.” Mary held up a hand in defiance of Emily’s protest. “You are not the same woman you once were. To punish a man for wanting the one you’ve become would be not only unfair to him but extraordinarily hypocritical. Do not forget that you have been hoping for Griffin’s attention since the moment you met him.” She gave Emily a pointed look. “Cass and I would have had to be blind not to notice the way you’ve been mooning over him like a starved woman in a pastry shop.”
Emily sucked in a breath. Her cheeks heated with the embarrassment of having been so transparent. Had Griffin known all along that she was mad about him? If so, she now had yet another reason for never wanting to see him again. “I want to go back to Clearview. I want to return to the life I am used to.”
“And abandon your best chance of the happily ever after you have always dreamed of?” Laura asked dubiously. She’d risen and come toward her. Stepping close, she drew Emily into a sisterly hug.
“He does not love me,” Emily whispered. “If he did, he would have told me so by now.” She pulled away from Laura, afraid the sympathy and affection would bring on the tears she struggled to keep from falling.
Mary snorted. “Men can be thickheaded when it comes to such things. My advice to you would be to forget the words, for that’s all they are, and consider his actions.”
Emily frowned and attempted to do so. Her thoughts conjured memories of Griffin insisting that he would protect her, of him fixing her clock, of the pleasure in his eyes when he’d seen her wearing the red evening gown, the jealousy that had followed when Mr. Partridge had shown an interest, and all the kind gestures in between. There was no indication that he loved her, but it did prove that he cared.
“If you leave,” Mary added, “you would be running away. And unless he chooses to follow, your issues will remain unresolved.”
“I have no idea what to say to him.”
