comfortable, she expected to find Theresa across from her, giving her another rebuking glare. Instead, Theresa stood outside whispering with the coachman. When she glanced up, she tugged her ear. “I’ve lost one of the diamond earrings that my grandmother gave me, and I need to go back up to my room and search for it.”
Victoria tried to scoot forward. “I’ll help you look.”
Theresa waved her back. “You go ahead to the dock. Nathaniel will be expecting us. He’s already there purchasing tickets for the steamer.” Theresa had already started back to the hotel. “Tell him I’ll be there shortly.”
Victoria hesitated, but when the coachman closed the door, she reclined against the hard leather seat and tried to sort through all of the confusion that had moved in like a thick New England fog. What was wrong with Theresa? Where had her dear friend gone, and who was this snapping person who had taken her place? If Theresa was angry with her, then why had she come with Nathaniel in the first place? And why would Tom abandon her after his determination all along to protect her from her attacker?
She stared out the window as the carriage rolled along the Provincetown streets. Her thoughts traveled back to the picture of Zelma sitting at the table this morning with her Bible open in front of her. When Victoria had said goodbye, the dear woman had clung to her hand, almost as if she’d sensed Victoria wasn’t coming back.
Victoria couldn’t keep from smiling at the memory of the passionate kisses Zelma always had for her husband and the tenderness James always had in return. Zelma had patiently taught her a great deal over the past month. She’d been a kind instructor, never rushing her and always encouraging. Victoria would miss the cooking and sewing lessons, along with Zelma’s sweet company.
Zelma was clearly a wise and godly woman. But she’d been wrong about one thing. She’d said that God was using Victoria to work in Tom’s life, that with her at his side he wouldn’t be able to run away from all his mistakes any longer.
Victoria hadn’t seen how God had used her to work in Tom’s life. Tom hadn’t wanted to stick by her side. Even when they’d been together, he hadn’t wanted to talk about anything from his past. He was still running from his mistakes.
“Oh, Tom.” She sighed and closed her eyes against a sudden swell of tears. In comparison to what she felt for Tom, she wasn’t sure she had truly loved any of her other suitors. Tom had been so unlike them. And it wasn’t simply because he was a common man who didn’t belong to the same social circles she did.
No, the differences went much deeper than money and prestige. Tom himself was different. He didn’t coddle her—as Theresa had suggested. Unlike other men, he wasn’t afraid to tell her no. He treated her like a person, not a wealthy heiress.
Of course, Nathaniel was different too, at least different from most New York society men. He was everything a woman like her could want—sincere, good-natured, and kind. She’d met too many rich men who could put on a congenial facade for a short time, but underneath they were full of their own self-importance and too enthralled with social-climbing to care about her. With her fortune, she was simply a means for them to accomplish more and look better.
Even though she ought to be happy with a man like Nathaniel, and even though she ought to rejoice in their future, she couldn’t conjure any joy no matter how hard she tried. Instead, her thoughts returned to the time she’d spent with Tom at Race Point.
For a few moments, she allowed herself the secret pleasure of reliving those weeks. All of the laughter and talking. All of the quick, heated embraces. All of the brief contacts and the simmering glances. And the few kisses they’d shared. Her stomach did several flips at the memory of the last one in the lighthouse.
At the bump of the carriage wheels in a rut, her eyes flew open. She caught hold of the door handle to keep herself steady on the seat. As she peered out the window, she savored the landscape—the sandy hills and tufts of willowy beach grass growing in clumps here and there. It amazed her that anything green could grow in such a barren environment.
She shifted and glanced out the opposite window. Under the clear sky, the ocean had