Rhys clapped him on the shoulder. "I get it. But we need you here, now. Minnie's safe with the girls. Trust that."
Tommy nodded, trying to let Rhys’s words sink in. He knew his captain was right. Worrying about Minnie was only hindering his performance, letting down his team. He had to push aside his fears and focus on the task at hand.
The game resumed, and Tommy threw himself into the fray with renewed determination. He chased down loose balls, made crucial tackles, and set up a goal with a perfectly weighted pass to Colin. But even as his body went through the motions, his mind kept drifting to Minnie.
Had he made the right choice, marrying her so impulsively? He knew in his heart that he couldn't have let her be sold off to one of Blackwood's cronies, to be whisked away to God knew where and subjected to unspeakable horrors. The very thought made his blood boil.
But how much better was marriage to him? He wasn’texactly the marrying type. He hadn’t planned on it, and he wondered how happy she was with him. He couldn’t figure out how to properly treat her as his wife, nor did she prove to be much safer with him than she had been before.
He forced himself to tear his gaze away from Minnie and return his attention to the game at hand. But even as he sprinted down the pitch, his boots pounding against the turf, his mind was a tangled mess of worries and what-ifs.
An opposing player darted past him with the ball, and Tommy lunged to intercept, but his timing was off. He stumbled, his feet tangling beneath him, and hit the ground hard. Pain shot through his shoulder as he rolled to a stop. Frustration surged through him. He couldn't seem to get out of his own head, couldn't focus on anything except the nagging fear that he’d fail Minnie, if he hadn’t already.
As he pushed himself to his feet, he risked another glance at the stands. Minnie was still there, her face pinched with concern as she watched him. Their eyes met for a brief charged moment before Tommy looked away. He had to get it together. For the team. For her.
The game resumed in a blur of sweat and shouts and flashing boots. Tommy's body went through the motions – running, tackling, passing – but his heart wasn't in it. Every fiber of his being longed to be up in those stands, planted firmly at Minnie's side, where he could protect her, shield her, keep her close.
In the end, Manchester Central eked out a narrow victory, but there was no joy in it for Tommy. As the final whistle blew, he bent double, hands on his knees, gasping for breath. Relief and exhaustion warred within him. They'd won, but it had been far too close for comfort. And he knew his inability to keep his mind on the match was largely to blame.
As the team trudged off the field, accepting congratulations from the small away crowd, Tommy's thoughts churned.Had he made a terrible mistake, tying Minnie to him on a whim? She deserved so much better than a life spent looking over her shoulder, shackled to a man who couldn't even promise to keep her safe.
But even as the doubts assailed him, he knew deep in his bones that he couldn't have let her be bartered away to one of Blackwood's buyers. The very thought made his stomach turn. No, as ill-equipped as he might be, marrying Minnie had been the only choice he could live with. The alternative was unthinkable.
He straightened up as Minnie hurried toward him, Lily and Emmaline on her heels. The concern in her blue eyes made his chest tighten. She reached for his hand, her slender fingers curling around his, and in that moment, everything else fell away.
Before he could think about what he was doing, he reached out, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her in close, uncaring that he smelled like sweat, that dirt and grass clung to his clothes and would now stick to her dress.
“Tommy?” she said, stepping back and looking up and him, the worry swimming over her face. “Is everything all right?”
“It is now,” he said, gripping her hand tightly. “Will you wait for me outside the bathhouse? Close, with Emmaline and Lily?”
“Of course,” she said as understanding washed over her face. “Is that what’s wrong? You’re worried that something is going to happen to me?”
“Every piece of me is worried about it,” he admitted.
“You can’t spend every moment thinking about it,” she said. “It will all be fine. My father was able to recover his merchandise and has detectives helping him, trying to find a way to bring down Blackwood.”
“It’s not enough,” Tommy said, shaking his head, steppingback and away from her. “Until that man is locked away or… otherwise, I’ll be worried.”
With one last look for reassurance, he hurried into the bathhouse, changing as quickly as possible to return to her.
It was the only way he could know any peace.
Chapter Seventeen
By the time he and Minnie had prepared for bed, Tommy bathing while Minnie remained turned to the other side of the room, he could have fallen asleep standing up.
An away game always made for a long day, but Tommy did appreciate returning home to sleep instead of finding rest in an inn somewhere. Besides, he knew the expense for the club to put them all up wouldn’t be worth it.
He groaned as he lowered himself to the floor, every muscle aching, especially in those places he had fallen upon during the game. He was going to be sore tomorrow, that was for certain, and for more reasons than just the game. He didn’t want to tell Minnie how much sleeping on the floor was causing his back to ache, as she would be sure to blame herself.
“How are you feeling now?” Minnie asked, sitting up straight in bed and looking down at him.
“Fine,” he lied. “Just a tough game, is all.”
“You weren’t yourself today,” she noted, and he smiled wryly.
“Wasn’t my day,” he said. “We all have those games.”
