“We shouldn’t have been there alone. Rhys was right about that. We’ll know for next time. I just don’t think I can handle having you taken away from me again.”
“I feel the same.”
“Promise me that from now on, we talk to each other, make sure we’re both comfortable with what we’re doing?”
“I promise.”
“I have to say, I was impressed, Minnie,” he said, his lip quirking up as she knew he was trying to change the tone of their conversation.
“With what?”
“With how you rid yourself of at least one captor. You never told me what happened there on the docks, right before we arrived.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling the flush in her cheeks. “The one man took a moment to untie the boat. He thought that the other two were watching me, but they were preoccupied witha cigar. I simply put my foot on his back and in he went. My plan was to run as fast as I could.”
Tommy kissed the top of her head.
“You’re incredible, you know that?”
Minnie smiled, but then thought of all he had done for her that night, both on the docks and in their bed.
She looked up at him and bit her lip. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
And finally, for the first time since they had hastily wed, she felt like their marriage just might be forever.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Despite the winter weather, Saturday’s match day dawned brightly, not matching Tommy’s mood.
“What’s wrong?” Minnie asked as she stood before him, smoothing out the wrinkles of his maroon-and-cream jersey. “Are you sure you are well enough to play? The physician said you should rest, that your bruises would take time to heal, and your head could cause you to feel sick again if you push it too hard. Then there’s your nose?—”
“I’m a bit battered still, but fine. Just nervous,” he admitted.
“I don’t think I’ve ever known you to be nervous,” she said, blinking those beautiful blue eyes at him.
“Can’t say I remember the last time I was,” he said with a bit of a laugh. “But today, when I do nothing to throw this match, it will be a sign to Blackwood that I’m not playing his game, and he will come after us hard. I know we’ll all be ready. But still, I don’t like not knowing what to expect.”
“I feel the same,” Minnie said, placing her hands on each side of his cheeks. “But we are in this together, and we have allour friends and your team on our side. What can be better than that?”
“Having this all behind us,” he said with a short laugh. “Thatwill be better.”
“It will be behind us soon enough,” Minnie said. “Keep the hope.”
“During the match, you’ll stay with Emmaline, Lily, and Ada the entire time?”
“Yes,” she said. “And in sight of the men Rhys hired to watch over us. We’ll stay in the stands and not go anywhere we might be alone. I won’t give you any cause to worry, Tommy. Just focus on winning the football match.”
“You know, for the first time in my life, I have to say that I no longer care so much about what happens on the football grounds.”
“You will once this is all done,” she promised. “Besides, this is what it means to be part of a team. They will be there for you off the pitch, but you have to continue to be there for them on it. They need you.”
“Ah, so you think I am talented, then, do you, Min?” Tommy said with a wink, and Minnie rolled her eyes.
“Time to go,” she said, and Tommy startled with a smile when she patted him on the bottom to send him out the door. “Today is the start of the end of all this. For everyone.”
Tommy had a great wish that was true.
He had never been one to feel a great amount of tension before a game. To him, football was fun. It was where he could be entirely himself and no one cared, as long as he was playing football well, which had always come naturally.
