“Which makes it even more wonderful that you trust me with them. Give me one more day, and then I promise I will tell you everything I can.” Lucy couldn’t promise to tell themeverything. If Matthew chose to stay here instead of returning with her, she wouldn’t break his trust.
Matthew stepped into their circle and handed Lucy her drink. He looked around and raised an eyebrow. Apparently none of them were very skilled at looking discreet. “What’s wrong?”
“We need to go home and put Mandy to bed,” Mr. Garvis said, as if that explained everything. “And I’ve promised my wife I would build her a bookshelf for her reading room.”
Mrs. Garvis’s face brightened and she gave Lucy a huge grin. Apparently their plan would benefit her friend. Mr. Garvis put a hand on Matthew’s shoulder. “Would you be willing to help me with that tonight?”
“Tonight?” Matthew glanced around at all the festivities happening around them.
Mr. Garvis nodded. “I’m afraid I agreed, in no uncertain terms, to finish it tonight, and I won’t be able to do it without help. I haven’t even started.”
Lucy quickly finished her punch. The dance was about to finish, and Matthew needed to leave. She turned to Matthew. “I’ll see ye tomorrow, then,” she said with a smile, returning to her Scottish brogue.
Matthew blinked a few times, and for good reason. She’d gone out of her way to bring him here, and now she and everyone else were eager to have him leave. He looked as if he was about to ask her a question, but then thought better of it. He glanced at Mr. Garvis’s hand, still on his shoulder, then everyone else’s faces. When he locked eyes with Lucy, he nodded, almost in resignation. “I hope so.”
Lucy froze, her smile turning rigid. He’d never said those words to her before. What did it mean? Was he worried that she wouldn’t still be here in the morning? Could he feel the tension in the air and know it had something to do with his ability to stay in Fenswallow?
Should she tell him everything now? What if this was her last chance?
But the Garvises practically pulled Matthew away from her, and before she could get any more words out, he was gone. Lucy put her hands over her face and took three long, deep breaths. She would get to see him, and she would get a chance to explain herself. The Garvises would make certain of that.
A hand touched her shoulder. She looked up to see Matthew standing right in front of her. He’d returned. Without thinking, Lucy’s eyes darted to the dance floor. Thankfully, Miss Creighton was still dancing with Mr. Victor.
Matthew’s eyes were soft. “Thank you for making me dance. It was a pleasure I hadn’t allowed myself for far too long.”
Lucy held her chin high in order to stop any tears that threatened to fall. Everything would change the next day. She may never get another chance to dance with Matthew. Her deception, both three years ago and now, might upset him enough that he would never want to see her again.
She prayed that would not be the outcome.
“Do ye have any deliveries for the milliner’s shop tomorrow?” she asked.
Matthew furrowed his brow. Perhaps she shouldn’t have asked him such a strange question out of the blue. He shook his head. “No, but I do need to pick up a few things from there to be delivered.”
“Could ye do that the day after tomorrow?”
Matthew took a step toward her. “Their customers will be expecting their items tomorrow.”
“Could they wait an extra day? Please? I don’t want to go to the millinery tomorrow.”
Matthew’s eyes searched her face as if he guessed she were hiding something. “All right. But if your father asks, please don’t mention this to him. Let’s have him assume I always get my deliveries taken care of on time.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” Lucy smiled, though she could feel her lips shaking. “And dancing with ye was my pleasure.”
CHAPTER 20
Matthew yawnedand dragged his hand over his eyes after bidding farewell to Mr. Garvis. It was late afternoon and he was finally headed to Mr. Bennion’s home to pick up the cart and Miss Shroud and start on their deliveries. Mr. Garvis hadn’t been lying last night when he said he hadn’t yet started on the bookshelf project. He had all the supplies—Mrs. Garvis made certain to point out that he’d had them for months—but Mr. Garvis just hadn’t gotten to it.
They’d worked so late into the night that Mr. and Mrs. Garvis insisted he sleep at their home, and when he awoke, Mrs. Garvis wouldn’t let him leave until they finished the project. She’d assured him that the shops always opened late on the day after the festival, so he shouldn’t be delivering in the morning anyway.
Mr. Garvis had walked with him until the edge of town, then he’d turned back down the road to open the bookshop.
If this were a normal day, in which he hadn’t promised Miss Shroud that they wouldn’t go to the millinery, he would have walked with Mr. Garvis to his bookshop, stopping in at the millinery on his way to Mr. Bennion's home. Surely, the parcelshe needed to pick up were small, and he could easily carry them to Mr. Bennion’s cart.
He didn’t see himself as the stellar delivery man Miss Shroud had made him out to be, but he did hate to disappoint people.
He stopped, turned, and looked down the road into town. Had she told him she didn’t wanthimto go? Or had she simply saidshedidn’t want to go? Would it hurt to quickly pick up the parcels now? That way she could avoid the milliners like she always did, and he could still deliver his parcels on schedule.
What was so wrong with the milliner’s shop, anyway? Miss Shroud claimed she wanted to visit the Arctic, but would never set foot in a store that sold hats. He smiled. She was unfathomable, but she certainly had made his life more interesting.
