As they stepped inside the church, Henrietta saw Charles speaking to the vicar in hushed tones. She recognized his family sitting on the first pew and watched as Emma turned around and waved at her.
She brought her hand up to acknowledge her friend, but she found that her feet weren’t cooperating with her.
Marjorie tugged on her arm, and she started walking up the aisle towards the front. Charles stopped speaking to the vicar and turned to face her. Henrietta watched as his eyes lit up. Or was that her imagination?
Good heavens, what was wrong with her? She wanted to marry Charles, but not like this. She wanted him to marry her because he was in love with her. Because she was in love with him. Desperately. And she refused to trap him into a marriage with her.
She came to a stop in front of the vicar and Charles smiled at her. “Are you ready to get married?”
She put her finger up. “I need a moment alone.”
“Now?” Charles asked incredulously.
“Yes, now,” she said. “I… uh… need to adjust the pins in my hair.”
Charles leaned closer. “Can’t it wait until after the ceremony?”
“No, it cannot.”
The vicar spoke up. “You can use my office for a moment, my dear,” he said, pointing at the back door. “Just go through there and it will be on your right.”
“Thank you.” She turned and walked swiftly towards the office. Once she’d arrived and closed the door behind her, she walked over to the window and unlatched it.
She opened it and paused. Did she truly want to run away from the man she loved? No, she didn’t. But what if he never loved her in return, and she was left pining for him for the remainder of her days?
It was better this way, she told herself as she climbed through the window. Charles might be angry at first, but he would come around and realize that she was doing this for him.
As she started walking towards the street, she saw Charles leaning up against the side of the church, an annoyed look on his face.
18
CHARLES STRAIGHTENEDfrom the wall as he watched Henrietta walk hesitantly towards him. By the way she had been acting earlier, he suspected that she might try to bolt from the chapel. He had hoped that wasn’t the case. He couldn’t force her to marry him, no matter how much he wanted to claim her as his own.
“Were you even going to say goodbye?” he asked as she came to a stop in front of him.
She had the decency to look ashamed. “I was not.”
“Am I that abominable to you?”
“No, that is not it,” she rushed out.
“Then help me understand why you are fleeing from our wedding.”
Henrietta bit her lower lip. “I couldn’t go through with it.”
“Clearly,” Charles replied. “But I do believe I deserve an explanation as to why that is.”
“You do.” She pressed her lips together before saying, “I think it is terribly unfair of me to force you into this wedding.”
He had not been expecting that. “Do you truly believe you forced me into marrying you?” he asked incredulously.
“I do,” she replied, unable to meet his gaze.
He took a step closer to her. “I want to make something completely clear to you,” he stated. “I am marrying you because I want to.”
“You say that now,” she said, “but there will come a time that you will grow to resent me. And I refuse to let that happen.”
“That will never happen.”
