tears. Her right sleeve was already soaked, and so she switched to the other, dabbing it at her eyes. “You ought to,” she told him. “It is why I came.”
Nathanial drew in a slow breath. “I do not think I need to.” A small smile teased his lips. “Thank you for coming. What will you do now?”
Abigail shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Will you return to Boston?” he asked, noting the way her shoulders sagged as though she no longer had the strength to hold herself up now that she had accomplished what she had come here to do. “To your family?”
Again, she shrugged. “Where else would I go?”
Nathanial frowned. “You said your father wanted you to marry.” A question swung in his voice that Abigail understood.
A sad smile came to her lips. “Every rebellion has its price,” she told him, straightening her shoulders. “My father made it very clear that I am nothing without him. If I don’t marry a man of his choosing, he will cut me off.” Again, she dabbed her sleeve to her eyes. “I’m a woman. I have nothing of my own. I’m only ever someone’s daughter. I will be someone’s wife and then, one day, someone’s mother. What I never will be is my own person.” A shuddering breath left her lips before she forced her lips upward into a brave, little smile. “I want you to be happy, and I hope my coming here will bring you closure.” She stepped closer, and her hand settled on his arm. “Goodbye, Nathanial.” Then she turned and stepped away.
“Why didn’t you talk to me?” Nathanial asked, touched by what she had shared with him. If only she had done so two years ago.
Looking back at him, Abigail shrugged. “I don’t know. I should have. I know that now.” She sighed. “Some regrets we’ll have to live with.” She cast him a gentle smile and then once more turned to go.
“Stay!” The word flew from his lips before Nathanial could catch a clear thought. He all but flinched as his own ears perceived it, and he could not help but wonder if he had lost his mind. Still, it had been the look in Abigail’s eyes that had reminded him of something. That look that whispered of a desperate need, of someone standing on the edge of a dark abyss, someone alone and lost.
Nathanial knew how that felt. He had stood on that edge himself and he had thought that there would be no turning back.
And then Charlaine had found him.
Despite his refusal, she had fought for him. She had held out her hand and pulled him back from the abyss. She had answered his need and been his friend. She had saved him in every way one person could save another.
Deep down, Nathanial knew he ought to have been that person for Abigail two years ago. Although she had not confided in him, he, too, had failed to notice the pain in her heart. He ought to have. He ought to have been her friend then.
He had not.
But he could be her friend now.
“Stay?” Abigail whispered, a deep frown coming to her face. “What do you mean?”
Nathanial drew in a deep breath. “If you act against your own wishes, you will forever regret it. If you want, stay here and find a new life for yourself.”
Her jaw trembled. “You’d do this for me? After everything I…”
Nathanial nodded. “We were friends once,” he told her. “We can be again.” Oddly enough, the thought of her no longer pained him. Her coming here had indeed brought him closure, and he felt lighter than he ever had before.
Holding his gaze, Abigail stepped closer. “Do you truly mean it?”
“I do,” he told her, knowing it to be the right thing to do. Abigail needed someone to stand at her side, just as he had needed someone only a few weeks past. For him, that someone had been Charlaine.
“Oh, I would love nothing more,” Abigail gasped as tears filled her eyes. Relief stood on her face. Nathanial thought for a moment that he glimpsed something more. In all likelihood, it was only her longing for freedom and security and a new start. Nothing more. Nevertheless, Nathanial thought it right to set some ground rules so that neither one of them would get confused about where their relationship was headed.
He cleared his throat. “If it is your wish,” he began, feeling slightly at odds about the way he spoke to her again after all