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Would that have made a difference? If she had been married this autumn and had met him in the
Greenwalds' drawing room, would she have recognized him in that single long glance across the room as
that one person who could make her life complete? As the one love of her life?
She lay on her bed, gazing upward, swallowing several times in an attempt to rid herself of the gurgle in
her throat.
Would she? Would she have fallen as headlong, as irrevocably in love with him no matter what the
circumstances of her life? Had they been made for each other? It was a ridiculous question to ask herself.
She did not believe in such sentimental rot. Made for each other!
But had they been?
She wished they had not met at all.
If they had not met, she would be inItalynow. She would be celebrating the sort of Christmas she was
accustomed to. There would be no warm domestic bliss within a mile of her. She would not have been
happy, of course. She could never be happy. But she would have been on familiar ground, in familiar
company. She would have been in control of her life and her destiny. She would have kept her heart
safely cocooned in ice.
Would he come home today? she wondered. Would he come for Christmas at all? But surely he would.
He would come for his father's sake. Surely he would.
What if he did not? What if he never came?
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She had never been so awash in self-pity, she thought. She hated feeling so abject. She hated him. Yes,
she did. She hated him.
And then the door of her bedchamber opened and she turned her head to look. He stood in the open
doorway for a few moments, looking back at her, before stepping inside and closing the door behind
him.
She closed her eyes.
* * *
All day Edgar had been almost sick with worry. He was taking an enormous risk with several people's
lives. If things went awry, he might have made life immeasurably worse for both Sir Gerald and Lady
Stapleton as well as forHelena. He might have destroyed his marriage. He might have exposed his father
to censure for behavior unbecoming a man with pretensions to gentility.
But events had been set in motion and all he could do now was try to direct them and control them as
best he could.
The Stapletons had not changed their minds overnight. And so they set off early for Mobley Abbey on
Christmas Eve on roads that were still covered with snow and still had to be traveled with care. Sir
Gerald, Edgar noticed, was very tense. His wife was calm and outwardly serene. Each of them, Edgar
had learned during his short acquaintance with them, felt a deep and protective love for the other.
Without a doubt they had found comfort and peace and harmony together. Equally without a doubt, they
were two wounded people whose wounds had filmed over quite nicely during a little more than a year of
marriage  their marriage, he guessed, must have coincided almost exactly with the birth of their son. But
were the wounds healed? If they were not, this journey to Mobley might rip them open again and make
them harder than ever to heal.
They arrived at Mobley Abbey in the middle of the afternoon, having made good time. Edgar, who had
ridden, set down the steps of the carriage himself, though it was Sir Gerald who handed his wife and
sleeping child out onto the terrace. The child's nurse came hurrying from the accompanying carriage and
took the baby, and Edgar directed a footman to escort them to the nursery and summon the
housekeeper. He took Sir Gerald and Lady Stapleton to the library, which he was thankful to find empty,
ordered refreshments brought for them, and excused himself.
He went first to the drawing room.Helenawas not there. His father was, together with a number of his
guests.
"Edgar!" Cora came hurrying toward him and took his arm. "You wretch! How dare you absent yourself
for almost two full days so close to Christmas?Helenahas been quite disconsolate and I have scarce
removed my eyes from the sky for fear lest another snow storm prevent your coming back. It is to be
hoped that you went toBristolto purchase a suitably extravagant Christmas present for your wife. Some
almost priceless jewel, perhaps?"
"Edgar," his father said, rising from the sofa on which he had been sitting and conversing with Mrs. Cross,
"it is good to see you home before dark. Whatever did take you toBristol?"
"I did not go toBristol," Edgar said. "I toldHelenaI was going there because I wished to keep my real
destination a secret. We are all surrounded by family and friends whileHelenahas only one aunt here." He
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bowed in Mrs. Cross's direction. "I went to see her stepson, Sir Gerald Stapleton, at Brookhurst and
persuade him to come back with me to spend Christmas."
"Splendid!" Mr. Downes rubbed his hands together. "The more the merrier. My daughter-in-law's
stepson, you say, Edgar?"
"What a very kind thought, Mr. Downes," Mrs. Cross said.
"Sir Gerald Stapleton?" Cora's voice had risen almost to a squeak. "And he has come, Edgar?Alone?" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]