AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She was halfway down the upstairs hall to her bedroom, looking immensely forward to throwing herself on her bed and having a good cry in private, when she remembered she would need to return her father’s ledger before he could notice it had gone missing.
I will do it in the morning, she thought, making the split-second decision to just go on to her own room, rather than press her luck any further by continuing to skulk about.It is not as though he will need to look back at records from over half-a-year-ago with any sort of frequency.
When Evelina did make it to bed, however, she almost wished she had stayed out. Really, she wished she had taken Thomas up on his offer to run away together, before finding out the truth of their relationship—that he did not fully trust her.
But Evelina was used to not getting what she wanted at this point. As she laid beneath her down quilt, the haunting breeze knocking against her window, the reality of her situation pressed down upon her, suffocating.
Was it at all possible Thomas was correct? That her own dear father could be behind something as odious as murder?
He was a harsh man at times, to be sure. Gruff and stubborn. Yet he had also allowed her to play in his office as a small child. He’d sung the praises of Evelina and her sister in their youth, declaring them both his greatest pride and joys. He’d counseled her into giving the Season a final chance…at least before shifting his perspective in the opposite direction and insisting on the engagement with Jerome.
Jerome…
Evelina stifled a sob with her pillow. Here, in this dark witching hour, was the truth of the matter: her relationship with Thomas was likely over.
With no other suitor, was Evelina going to have to move forward with her engagement to Jerome?
