But a full-mouthed kiss that was long enough for Victoria to look away in embarrassment. She happened to glance at Tom at the same moment he peeked at her. He lifted his shoulders as if to tell her this was normal.
James pulled away and pressed a kiss upon the top of his wife’s head before straightening. “Tom has some good news.”
Mrs. Cushman’s cheeks had turned a deeper shade of pink that made her look younger and in love. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at her son in anticipation.
Tom cleared his throat and then held out a hand toward Victoria. She took that as her sign to cross toward him. As his fingers closed around hers, she felt the tiniest of tremors. He was nervous.
She squeezed his hand to reassure him, although again she had a twinge of remorse for allowing his mother’s hopes to rise high, knowing they would crush them at the end of the month.
“Mom.” Tom’s grip tightened. “This is my wife, Victoria.”
Mrs. Cushman’s mouth opened and then closed. She stared first at Victoria and then Tom, her expression frozen with disbelief.
“That’s right, Zelma.” James’s wide smile filled his face. “Our Tom finally got married.”
“Married?” She said the word as if it were an impossibility.
“Yes, just recently,” Tom said quickly as if he needed to reassure himself as much as his mom.
Mrs. Cushman turned her bright eyes upon Victoria, eyes that seemed to peer straight into Victoria’s soul.
Victoria held her breath, wondering if Tom’s mom could see her for the fraud that she was. But the woman only smiled at her gently. “Victoria.” The one word was laced with welcome and acceptance, and Victoria knew immediately that she’d love Zelma. She held out her hand and Victoria took it.
Zelma, like her husband before her, drew Victoria into a hug and held her tightly. “You’re most welcome here, Victoria,” Zelma said. When Victoria straightened, she decided that she was going to enjoy her stay at Race Point much more than she’d thought possible.
“You’re very kind,” Victoria said, and then she embarrassed herself by yawning. She managed to cover it, but not quickly enough.
“Your wife is tired,” James said to Tom, almost with a note of accusation in his voice.
“We’ve had a long night and day of travel,” he replied.
“Why don’t you take Victoria upstairs?” his mother said. “She can refresh herself and rest before dinner.”
Victoria realized she was so weary she could hardly stand. Somehow she managed to excuse herself from Tom’s parents and follow him up a stairway. Another long hallway ran through the length of the second floor, with two bedrooms on either side. She supposed two were for the keeper and two for his assistant. The room Tom led her to was at the front of the house facing the ocean and had a large double bed, a tall chest of drawers, and a sofa in front of the window.
The walls were painted a light shade of blue. White ruffled curtains like those in the big sitting room downstairs hung at the windows, and a matching white bedspread covered the bed. A couple of paintings graced the walls, and, like the others she’d seen, these were of the sea. Although the room was small and rather plain, it was pretty and clean. She could survive a month in it, couldn’t she?
Tom issued her several instructions, but she was too tired to pay attention. After he left and closed the door behind him, she sat on the edge of the bed, worked off her shoes, and rolled down her stockings, letting them fall in balls on the floor. She wiggled her cramped toes and realized that sand was gritted between each one. She searched the wall for a pull cord, a way to call one of the servants to bring her a basin of water for washing, but as she stretched, she fell back onto the mattress.
The breeze blowing through the open window tousled the loose tendrils of her hair and cooled her cheeks. She closed her eyes, telling herself that she would rest for just a moment, that she had nothing to worry about here at Race Point, that she was finally completely safe. But as her eyelashes hit her cheeks, her thoughts returned to Tom and their marriage. And she couldn’t keep from thinking that perhaps her heart was in the greatest danger of all.
Chapter 9
Tom knelt on the floor of the lantern room and scrutinized the bridge, to which the chain was attached.