She put a hand to my cheek. “Tell me.”
“I’m not marrying David.” I waited for the relief that would come at admitting the truth to her, but it didn’t come. The words broke something inside of me instead. “He is coming today, and weare going to speak. I’m planning on ending the engagement. He isn’t in love with me, and he doesn’t want to marry me.”
Her eyebrows furrowed, but not in anger, in confusion. “Anna, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a man more in love with a woman. Don’t think I wasn’t aware of what you two were doing when you left the music room the other day. I’m not naive.”
“No, even that wasn’t real. He simply wanted to help us.”
She leaned forward and put her other hand on my cheek as well. “We often want to help the people we love.”
I sniffed and shook my head. “He is grateful to me. That is all.”
She frowned, the enormity of my words finally sinking in. “Have you asked him?”
“Asked him what? He just returned from Lincolnshire. He’s found a different cottage for us to live in, and he is happy about it. I heard him tell Julia, Mama. The relief in his voice ...” I broke off, not able to continue.
Mama shook her head, her lips pursed in grim determination. “You can’t let him go that easily. A person can’t pretendthatwell.”
The unmistakable clacking of a carriage sounded outside, and unless Mr. Green had returned to add to his long list of money we owed him, it would be David coming to speak to me about how we were going to inform Mama. Little did he know, I’d already done it.
His knock came soon after.
Both of our eyes went to the door. “Do you want me to answer it?” Mama asked.
“Would it be so terrible if neither of us did?”
Mama took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut. “If that is what you want, I will stay here with you and ignore him.” She wiped the moisture from my cheeks with her thumbs. “But you are going to have to face him someday.”
He knocked again, and I nodded. Mama lifted my arms from her legs gently. “I’ll open the door and give you a moment to gather yourself.”
She pulled me up with her and wrapped her arms around me. “I don’t understand what happened, but this time, I will leave the decisions to you. I would have been very happy in Tate Hall, but if we need to remove to Lincolnshire, I shall bear with it better than I would have two weeks ago. Perhaps Mr. Green won’t be able to find us there. But please consider what will make you happiest. These past few weeks ...” Her arms tightened even harder around me. “It is like I had my daughter back after a long time of watching you fade so slowly I didn’t even see it. I’ve been wearing blinders. And I refuse to wear them any longer.”
Then she kissed my cheek and left.
I squeezed my eyes shut, willing any redness to leave them, then dashed to the mirror hanging above the mantel. I tucked what hair I could back into place and dusted off my skirts. Before I was prepared, David was there.
He hadn’t taken the time to remove his coat, and in his right hand was my old one. Mr. Green must not have wanted to sell it after all.
“What happened?” he asked the moment he laid eyes on me.
“Nothing,” I replied, but at the same time, Mama said, “Mr. Green was here.”
David strode toward me, his powerful legs making short distance of the space between us. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.” I couldn’t look David in the eyes, so instead, I focused on the dark-brown fur lining of his coat collar.
“He did something.” David’s voice sounded dangerous. “Why did I find your coat outside on the steps?”
Mama came up beside him. “Mr. Green must not have wanted it back.”
David dropped my coat as if it were made of hot iron. “Hegave you this coat?”
I laughed dryly. “I suppose that depends on what your definition ofgiveis. If bygiveyou mean ‘gifted it to me and then demanded payment years later,’ then yes, he ‘gifted’ it to me.”
David glanced about the room, and his eyes caught hold of the papers Mama let drop to the floor beside the chair she’d been sitting on. One was crumpled, and the others lay scattered about in such a haphazard way that they stood out among the otherwise tidy room.
He marched over to the chair. “What is this?” he asked. When neither Mama nor I answered, he waited a moment to see if we would gather them up or hide them from him. When we did neither, he stooped and picked up a few of them.
His eyes flew down the contents of each page, and his face grew dark. He gathered the remainder of the papers, skimming over the information on each one before turning to me, his eyes brilliant with fury. “Does he expect you to pay this?”
