“Doesn’t every young lady want to be a fairy tale princess?”
“I suppose.”
“Well, then, my princess, you best begin to pack. I’ll come to you before the sun rises.”
“I’ll give you my address,” she said.
He nodded, finding paper to write it down upon. “Are your parents the type to chase you? To lock you in your room so you cannot escape?”
She bit her lip in that way of hers that made him want to swoop in and soothe it.
“I would have said no, but if it would save my father’s business and reputation, then perhaps they would.”
“Then we best do this as quietly as possible,” he said. “Only tell those you trust.”
“You’re not telling me to keep it completely to myself?”
“No.” He shook his head. “You have to decide what you’re comfortable with.”
“I’ll tell my friends that I am leaving, but I won’t say where, so they cannot be implicated,” she decided. “How will you leave work and the football club?”
“My employer is understanding, provided I won’t be long and let him know ahead of time,” he said. “I’ll tell him that it is a personal matter and then return. As for the football club, we’re not due to play until Saturday.”
“The game someone wants to bribe you to throw.”
“That’s the one.”
“What are you going to do about that?”
“Haven’t decided. One problem at a time,” he said flippantly, although it had been on his mind, especially now that he was paying for train tickets and would have a wife to support.
“You’ll make the right decision,” she said, and he wished she would just tell him what she thought that decision should be. She looked down a bit shyly. “I would like to see you play.”
“And you will,” he said with a large smile. “As my wife.”
His wife.
He had said it a few times, but it was starting to sink in that they would be married. She would be his, and he hers. It was hard to believe.
He had told her they would be going on an adventure. And this was just the start of it.
Chapter Nine
Minnie tried three different times to sneak out of her bedroom and down the hall, but each time she was thwarted by a servant passing through.
She’d had no idea how early they arose to prepare for the day.
She supposed she was going to have to learn a great many things about how to look after herself — and a husband. She couldn’t recall the time before her father had become prosperous. For as long as she could remember, they had always had servants about.
Worries about that, however, could wait until later.
First would come the wedding itself. Minnie had stayed up all night wondering about marriage to Tommy. Specifically, just what he would expect from her. He had said he didn’t anticipate her being in his bed if she wasn’t ready for it, but they were to be married — surely, at some point, he would expect it?
It wasn’t that she was opposed to intimacy with him. She just… wasn’t quite ready. Not now. Not with everything happening. And how was she to promise that she would ever be ready?
Tommy had agreed to marry her regardless of what she could offer him, so she would have to base her decision on that.
Finally, she had realized there was only one option.
