Tom, to hold him tightly, and to make him love her in return. Somehow.
She could force his hand if she really wanted to. She was inventive enough to scheme and plot to get her way. But she didn’t want a love that was coerced. She wanted him to give it to her freely. Since he obviously couldn’t, she had to let him go.
“One last thing,” she made herself say as Tom assisted her out. She placed her hand into his and pressed the ring into his palm.
His eyes widened. But once she was standing on the dock, he accepted the ring and stuffed it into his pocket without giving it a glance. The action had a finality to it that snagged her chest, made worse by the fact that he didn’t seem to be affected by the show of severing their marriage.
In fact, as Tom led her away from the waterfront past the racks of drying cod, he was stiff and alert, not displaying the least bit of emotion. Even though she knew by now that his expressionless face meant he was doing his job, she wished he’d demonstrate a little bit of grief at their parting.
When they finally reached the hotel where Nathaniel was staying, she tried to resign herself to the fact once and for all that she and Tom were destined to go their separate ways. As they stepped inside, the mustiness of cigars permeated the stale interior. Except for the hotel proprietor behind a front counter, the small lobby was empty. This hotel wasn’t nearly as fancy as those she was accustomed to staying in. Even though the striped print seat cushions of the arm chairs and settee were slightly frayed, the room was tidy. A bowl of seashells sat on a low coffee table. More seashells of all kinds and sizes lined the large picture window overlooking busy Main Street.
Tom stepped in behind her, and his attention moved from one window and door to the next, assessing every detail.
“Victoria, darling.” Nathaniel’s voice echoed in the stairwell. His patent leather shoes tapped a rapid rhythm as he descended. He wore a Newmarket black coat with a gardenia in the lapel buttonhole. His double-breasted waistcoat was of buff drill that coordinated with his gray checkered Angola trousers.
He crossed rapidly toward her and didn’t give her the expected chaste kiss on her hand or even a slight kiss on the cheek. Instead, he pulled her into an almost desperate embrace.
“I’ve been so worried about you,” he said against her ear.
“I’m sorry I worried you,” she replied. “But I’m doing just fine. I promise.”
He held her tightly for several long seconds. Behind her Tom cleared his throat, and she wriggled to free herself. Nathaniel released her but immediately reached for her hands. She was glad for the gloves hiding her chafed skin. Even so, her gloves were no longer the pristine white that they’d been when she’d left Newport.
His eyes sought hers, warm and tender as always. His mustache and hair were groomed with care, and he looked every bit the dashing gentleman who had captured her heart at the start of their relationship.
“How are my mother and father?” she asked.
“They send their love.” Something reserved in Nathaniel’s response told her that perhaps her father wasn’t a proponent of her early return.
“And your parents?”
“Mother is excited to be planning the wedding again. And Father is, well…” His eyes reflected a pain she seldom saw there, usually only when he thought about his father. “He’s busy,” Nathaniel finished with a forced smile.
Everyone in New York society knew about Mr. Winthrop’s moodiness and the fact that he disappeared for months at a time. No one knew where he went or what he did in his absences, and the one time she’d asked Nathaniel, he’d only shaken his head and said he was sworn to secrecy.
“Oh, darling, I’ve missed you so much,” he said.
She squeezed his hands and struggled to find the right words to say in response. She couldn’t very well tell him that she’d missed him too. The truth was that she’d hardly thought about him. So she settled for the next best answer, which was partly true. “I’m glad to see you again.”
“You made me the happiest man in the world to get your first telegram telling me that you wanted to renew our engagement and go forward with the wedding.”
Words of denial were on the tip of her tongue, but she could almost feel the tension radiating from