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“Do, dear Dinah,” Aunt Joan said. “I’ll take care of Lucy.”
Dinah took Lucy’s hand. When she looked into her friend’s eyes, Lucy could see angry tears there. She knew that Dinah was on her side. She was a true friend.
“If it’s true, then he will be sorry,” Dinah promised her.
Lucy attempted to smile in gratitude but failed, the corners of her lips unable to bend upwards. More tears fell down her cheeks. She dabbed at her eyes with the handkerchief.
Dinah left, and Aunt Joan went to fix some tea. Alone, Lucy felt the distinct desire to do something. So, she got up from the settee, walking over to the little writing table in the corner.
She began to write Silas a letter, releasing him from any obligation to her. She wanted to take some of her power back. She couldn’t continue—not after he had betrayed her, right from the start.
Dear Silas,
Mr Stalton was so kind as to tell me all about how and when your affection for me was born. I must admit, I was blindsided. I was under the impression that you truly were in love with me, as I was in love with you.
If it is true, which I believe it is, then you do not love me at all. You have hurt me, more than anyone has hurt me before.
A tear fell from her eye and onto the paper, causing the wet ink to splatter across the page. That would make it worse, real evidence that she was crying over his betrayal.
“Damn it,” she hissed, in a most unladylike manner. She crumpled the unfinished letter in her hand. Getting up and taking it over to the fireplace, she knelt down on the hearthstones. She took a match and held it to the note, slowly lighting it on fire.
He’s not worth giving an explanation to, she told herself as she watched the paper set fire then curl into ash.Not when he would treat me in such a manner.
She wondered when he had planned to tell her. When she’d already married him, and was stuck with him for the rest of her life? Or before, when, instead of asking for her hand, he revealed all, letting her know just how little she’d meant to him.
She decided that it was likely the latter. He wouldn’t have allowed himself to be stuck with her. He would have shed himself of her, as easily as a snake sheds its skin.
