How to Turn a Frog into a Prince - Bree Wolf Page 0,1
not prolong the misery it brought him to another.
Words cannot express the sorrow and shame that now live in my chest. I’d thought Abigail a different woman, indeed. I’d thought her heart mine, mine alone. Unfortunately, it seems I was thoroughly mistaken.
As I would make a request of you, dear brother, you deserve to know the fullness of this devastating affair.
A few weeks past, an English lord came to Boston and was paraded around society with the utmost delight. He possessed a charming smile as well as pleasing manners, but as has become clear now also a black soul.
As far as I was able to deduce, he flattered Abigail, complimented her and whispered to her of marriage and taking her back to England to be his lady. I know now that Abigail was not the only woman he said these words to; neither was she the only one who believed them.
This man, who goes by the name of Lord Mortimer, asked for a token of her affection and, to my great shame and utter sadness, Abigail offered him the ring I’d given her.
Father’s ring.
Then she severed all ties with me, certain to be an English lady before the year was out. However, as far as I was able to ascertain, Lord Mortimer left Boston not three months past—without Abigail or any of the other young women he had courted.
Shame is now my constant companion, for the thought of Father’s ring in that man’s possession turns my stomach and chills my blood. Please, Brother, if possible, do what you can to retrieve it. Not for me, for I do not believe I shall attempt to open my heart to another ever again. Nor do I believe I deserve to have Father’s ring returned to me.
But you do.
Retrieve it and offer it to the woman of your choice. I pray it will be a wiser one than my own.
Your brother,
Nathanial
Leaning back in his father’s old chair, Nathanial felt fatigued. His heart was hammering as though he’d spent his day working in the iron furnace, familiarizing himself with each step of the production process as his father had taught him. Still, there was no sense of pride mingling with the physical exhaustion he knew well.
Instead, the by now familiar bitterness lingered upon every thought, especially those that could not help but turn to the woman who’d broken his heart in the worst possible way.
How had this happened?
Always had Abigail seemed like the sun to him, her golden tresses aglow with light and brilliance. Her radiant smile had often threatened to bring him to his knees, and he remembered well the way her eyes had misted when he’d presented her with his father’s ring and asked for her hand. A deep smile had come to her lovely face, and she’d thrown herself into his arms with a joyful sob escaping her lips.
They’d been happy, had they not?
How could he have been so mistaken? How could he have not seen that her heart had not belonged to him? Not truly, at least. Had he merely been a consolation prize? Had her father pressured her into accepting his hand?
After Lord Mortimer had returned to England without making good on any of his promises, Mr. Spencer, Abigail’s father, had paid Nathanial a visit. He’d apologized on his daughter’s behalf and assured him that all had merely been a mistake. He had wanted for their nuptials to go ahead as planned.
Nathanial had refused.
Although his heart still longed for Abigail, he clung almost stubbornly to that small sliver of pride he had left. He had demanded the return of his father’s ring, only to learn how deeply Abigail had betrayed him.
Shocked beyond anything he had ever thought possible, Nathanial had hardened his heart against her, now forced to face the humiliation of admitting his error in judgment to his brother. What would Zach think of him? No doubt, he’d be disappointed, and he had every right to be. Would he ever forgive him?
Nathanial could only hope that Zach would somehow manage to retrieve their father’s ring. If not, Nathanial knew he would never forgive himself. Not that he deserved forgiveness for his failure. But at least he’d learned his lesson.
Never would he dare trust a woman again.
Never.
Little did he know that near Kingston, Jamaica, his future wife was at this very moment on the brink of losing the only family she had left and would soon find her way to London, England…