Ester wanted to run after her, but what could she say? All this time she’d thought Mama weak, and the woman had been the strongest Croome.
Bex gathered up the document from the priest and they had a low conversation, something about names, but all she could hear was the sound of the great carriage going away. Her parents had left. She was cut off from them.
With a wistful look in his cobalt blue eyes, her new husband took her hand. “We have a five mile walk back to the inn. The evening air will do us good. Come along, Mrs. Bex.”
She walked beside him. Without the energy to act happy, she couldn’t put a smile to her lips. All she wanted to do was cry.
Chapter Fifteen
The Long Walk Back
Keeping his stride small so his little wife could keep up, Arthur held her hand and walked away from the blacksmith at Gretna Green—a married man.
He’d wanted to marry Ester, wanted to stay with their original plans to elope, but had decided to let her go. He’d failed her with his reckless driving, his lack of planning, but now they had a new start. He’d make the disappointment cresting upon her lips go away.
He gave her hand a little squeeze. “Ester, Ester Bex, a farthing for your thoughts?”
She didn’t look up but gazed down like she hunted for her slippers in the evening light. “That sum of money doesn’t seem like enough.” She folded her arms about her. “I don’t think it wise for you to know. It may doom our path more than we already have.”
Her gentle spirit was breaking, and that hit him squarely in the gut. He had to make it better for her and bring her back to that hopeful moment when she’d first leaped into his arms. He stopped, tugged her hand from the voluminous scarf that she tried to hide behind, and spun her. “You made a pretty bride, Mrs. Bex. This is the dress in which you floated down to me, a sun come to earth. Good to see it in the evening light.”
Pushing away until he dropped her arm, she brought her hands to her face. “I gained you.” Her voice was low and full of pain. “I’m happy of that, Bex. There’s no one I’d rather marry. But I lost my parents today. I’ve learned more secrets and lies about the past than I ever wanted to know. I’m robbed of joy. I’m so sick over this.”
A lump formed in his own throat. He had secrets, too, and telling her now would ruin her. He yanked at his drooping tailcoat. “Maybe it was best that you didn’t know all the bad. Maybe they thought not knowing was a way to protect you.”
She glanced at him with glassy, wet eyes. “They didn’t think me strong enough, so they sheltered me with lies. The way I hurt my mother, maybe they were right. I’m horrible.”
“You’re not anything but courageous. We’ll find a way to reconcile with your parents. I don’t think it’s a permanent break. Look, Ester.” He pointed to her father’s onyx carriage. It’s evenly matched team sat out front of the coaching inn. “They waited for you. Perhaps they have already had a change of heart.”
Her head rose, but then her pretty face became sadder with a bigger frown, then unreadable. “No, they just wanted to see if we made it this far. They’re leaving.”
He turned in time to watch the big carriage drive off. It was cruel to see them abandon her again. Thinking how to make this better for her, he came up with nothing. He swiped at his dry mouth and tried to sound the role of an encourager. “They surely waited to see if we made back to the inn safely, but they are still angered. It will pass. They still care, Ester. You can see that?”
“I see them leaving like I left them, but not through a window. They left in a comfortable fashion, hours before midnight.”
He took her hand, the one with the shiny gold band, and kissed her fingers. “I was there to catch you, Ester. I’m here now.”
She drew back and put her arms about her. “With a bad arm? I’ll take my chances walking.”
Arthur saw her swimming in regret. The concerns that made her decide to end the engagement were still there, unresolved. “Ester, you chose me. I’m not ignorant to think it was my charm alone. You agreed to spite your father.”
She put a finger to her full lips as they entered the inn. “Shhh. Not now.”
Old man Smythe, who’d doctored his shoulder, looked over his glasses and pushed a pile of coins at him. “Yourfather-in-lawpaid for your room and the keep of your horse, even the repairs. Interesting he’d do that for you. I never forget a face or the likeness of a captain. A Liverpool captain.”
The man knew or suspected. Well, his uncle’s trial had been big news for areas close to here. Picking up the money, Arthur braced and puffed out his chest. “I think it was a gift for his daughter.”
The old man shook his head. “I think you should be inclined to leave tomorrow. We don’t want no trouble.”
Slinging his coat back over his hurt shoulder, Arthur nodded and absorbed the warning. “We need to head back to London as soon as possible.”
He put Ester’s arm on his and led her to his room.
He closed the door and leaned against it. “Well, it’s done, Mrs. Bex.”
“Yes.” She stood with her back to him, inches from the bed. She sank onto it softly then sprang up as if it were hot coals. Pushing at her shawl, not catching his gaze, she looked miserable with a frown almost as wide as her thin face. “It is done.”
She looked miserable. Time to make it better.
