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“When is the wedding?” Delphia asked.
“We haven’t decided yet. In fact, the note in the paper was a surprise to me. I hadn’t realized a formal announcement was planned yet. We’d only just decided before I left that we would marry upon my return in August.“
“What? So soon?” Quinn asked, sharply. Her motherly instincts aroused, I thought.
A bittersweet twinge at her obvious fondness for me pricked at my eyelids. “She’s anxious to start our life together,” I said.
Quinn peered at me with surprise in her eyes. “I would have thought Lena would want a long engagement with many parties and festivities before having a large and expensive wedding. Isn’t that how they do it in society these days? Not that I would know. In Colorado we do it however we please, don’t we, dears?”
Her daughters nodded. Delphia darted a look at me, as if she were trying to work out a puzzle.
“My father and Mr. Masters are old friends.” Was that true? Friends or enemies or somewhere in between. I knew nothing, other than they’d teamed up together to ruin my life. Not ruin. It was not ruined, I told myself. Just altered. Drastically and finally. “They’ve asked for us to get married sooner than later. This marriage means a lot to both of them.”
“Why is that?” Alexander asked.
“It solves many problems for both of them,” I said, evasively.
No one spoke for a few seconds as this sank in. Alexander held out his glass for the maid to fill, all the while watching me. What did he see? Could he sense that I was trapped?
“We didn’t want to wait either. Once we decided, we wanted to marry as soon as possible.” Quinn sent a pointed look at her husband. “Do you remember, darling? We were very much in love, which made us impatient.”
“Oh yes. I couldn’t marry you fast enough.” Alexander shared a smile with his bride. “By then we knew each other very well, so there was no reason to wait. The children wanted us to marry, too.”
“We had a Christmas wedding,” Quinn said. “Oh, it was a grand day. Will your wedding be in New York or somewhere else?”
“Mr. Masters owns a home in Long Island as well as his Manhattan apartment,” I said. “Whatever Lena wants will be fine with me.”
“Good man,” Alexander said. “It’s best to let the woman have whatever she wants. You’re just happy to be there.”
“Quite right,” I said. If only that were true. I felt an urge to pretend that this was a love match instead of a business arrangement. The idea of Quinn and Alexander feeling pity for me made me inwardly cringe. Fiona and Addie could know the truth, but their parents would be devastated to think of me compromising in any way. They didn’t understand that I didn’t have the advantage of freedom. I could not choose who I wanted. If I’d been their son, perhaps. But I wasn’t. As much as I loved this family, they weren’t mine. They were only mine to borrow.
“Tell us more about Lena,” Quinn said. “Did you know right away she was the one?”
“She’ and I share a similar hair color, although hers is redder than mine,” I babbled, unable to think of anything else to say.
“Really? How remarkable.” Quinn clasped her hands together, her face alight with joy. “I wonder if that means you’ll have redheaded children?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “However they turn out, I shall be glad to have them.”
“Is that all she is?” Delphia’s eyes glittered at me from across the table. “Redheaded?”
“No, no,” I said. “She’s many things. Smart and pretty. Very accomplished.”
“In what?” Quinn asked. “Music? Academics?”
“Um, yes. Academics, I think,” I said. “Not music.” I’d not heard her speak of it, anyway.
“How well do you know this Lena?” Delphia asked.
“Delphia, mind your manners,” Quinn said. “We’ve put him on the spot, that’s all. We’re sorry, James. It’s simply that we’re curious to know who has captured your heart at last.”
“It’s quite all right.” I gulped champagne from my glass. If I wasn’t careful it would give me the hiccups. I’d been unable to eat after I learned about the announcement in the newspaper. It had made the whole thing real. I’d been able to put it out of my mind while spending time with Addie. AddieandDelphia, that is.
“Does this announcement mean you’ll have to leave us earlier than you planned?” Addie asked. Was her voice shaking, or was that my imagination?
“I’m not certain,” I said. “I’ll write to Lena tonight and ask her what she’d like.”
“Please make sure she knows we’d love to have her and her father come for a visit,” Quinn said.
