Emmaline stared at Minnie with eyes so wide that Minnie would have laughed had the topic of conversation not been the complete overhaul of her life.
“Yes, that about sums it up.”
Emmaline leaned across the hard wooden bleacher and placed her hand on Minnie’s knee.
“My goodness, Minnie. I have never been prouder of you.”
They started laughing, Minnie and her three friends, as they sat in the stands and watched Manchester Central take to the field to play in the first game of their FA Cup bid. They were the returning champions, so they had a lot to prove this season, as they tried to defend their title.
Minnie had to rein in her laughter, as it was bordering on hysterical, and she sensed the knowing looks her friends were sending her way.
“It is something you would do, isn’t it, Emmaline?” Lilysaid, and Emmaline nodded as she stared out over the field wistfully.
“Do you miss it?” Minnie asked her friend. “Do you wish you were out there with them?”
“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t,” Emmaline said with a sigh. “But I’m still playing football, and that’s what matters most.”
“Even though none of us can come close to matching your talent,” Ada said from beside her. Of all of them, Ada had been most committed to Emmaline’s women’s football club, which was just beginning to find its footing.
“I can still hardly believe that you played with the men,” Minnie said, shaking her head.
“Look at us now, married to three of them,” Lily said, before sliding her gaze over Ada’s way. “Do you have your eye on any of them, Ada?”
“Of course not,” Ada said, even though her cheeks reddened slightly, nearly matching the burnished auburn of her hair. “I am all but promised to David.”
“Yes, but should not something have come of that already?” Emmaline asked, even though Lily gave her a disparaging look as most of them tried not to bring it up to Ada, for they were aware of how it bothered her that David had not actually made good on his promise to wed her.
“Soon enough,” Ada said, although she bit her lip and kept her gaze on the match as it began, Rhys losing the coin toss as always.
“Rhys needs to let someone else take the toss,” Emmaline murmured, although her gaze on her husband was loving.
“Well, Tommy seems to have been the lucky one lately,” Lily said with a soft laugh, and suddenly Minnie found all eyes on her once again.
“You never mentioned the wedding night,” Emmaline said smoothly, her lips curling into a smile.
“Nothing happened,” Minnie said quickly. “I fell asleep.”She twisted her hands in her dress. “Then last night, he was downstairs working late to try to catch up after missing two days of work. By the time he came to bed, I was sleeping once more. I am not sure anything ever will happen. Tommy and I wed to save me from a worse fate, but that does not mean there is actually anything romantic between us.”
Emmaline scoffed at that. “You cannot be serious, Min. The man has watched you with his tongue hanging out of his mouth ever since he met you. You must know that.”
“Perhaps there was an infatuation, yes,” she admitted. “But now that we are actually married, I do not think that he feels for me what he thought he did. He was likely drawn in by my looks and then disappointed when he discovered who I actually was.”
“That cannot be true,” Ada said stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t think there is anyone who has come to know you, Minnie, and hasn’t fallen more in love with you.”
“There’s a first for everything.”
“Give it time,” Lily said softly. “You’ll discover if you truly feel anything for one another.”
“I am worried that he will regret this soon enough,” Minnie said. “Then what do I do?”
“You take it one day at a time,” Lily said. “It’s what you do in any marriage, whether there is love there or not.”
“Now, I would like to know more about what drew you to marry Tommy with such haste that you ran away from not only your family and from us, risking breaking a law,” Emmaline said, her lips pursing and her nose crinkling. Her grandfather was one of Minnie’s father’s business partners, so she would have an interest in any business concerns that befell Minnie’s father.
“My father lost money in gambling debts and other financial losses that I do not truly understand,” Minnie said. “Itwas a large amount — enough to ruin him. Enough that he was willing to sell me off to pay off his debts. I suppose he thought if he couldn’t afford my dowry anymore, what did it matter?”
“Oh, it matters quite a bit,” Emmaline said, her face darkening in anger as she crossed her arms over her chest. “How could he be certain of who you ended up with?”
“From what Tommy said, he did try to have final approval.”
