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“Of course, why would I not be?”
“Your stepmother.” Her eyebrow rose. “You looked…unlike yourself at the sight of her. Are you on bad terms?”
“I do not think it possible for us to be on good terms. However, neither of us has harmed the other. So I do not think of us as great enemies.”
“Then why did you turn?”
“I do not know.” I honestly did not. I was simply used to not being near her.
“I often wish to turn away,” she softly replied as she glanced up at the sky. “Especially from the Du Bells, as you know. It is because they are always good-natured, kind, and happy. I feel…smaller near them. I like them, but at the same time, I am deeply jealous I cannot have a happy family, as well.”
“You believed yourself not part of one?”
“Do you not know my story?”
“I know your past. But that is not your present or future,” I replied. “Verity, you are part of a happy family. You are part of the Du Bells—”
“I am not.”
“You are, for is not your brother their in-law? Will not your future nephew or niece be their grandchild or relation, as well? You are family. If not by blood, by connection. And I know better than anyone that even the thinnest connections matter.” I was connected to my father’s wife, even though she had never spoken to me.
She pouted. “Were we not supposed to be talking about your life? How did we again return to mine?”
I tried to withhold my amusement. “I believe it was you.”
“Well, I shall change the subject back then.”
“Lady Verity, we very much should return,” I said when I noticed two women whispering as they watched us.
“I—” She paused at the rumbling of thunder.
The once beautiful clear sky morphed into an outright downpour in the briefest of seconds, sending everyone around us into a sprint for cover.
“Theodore!” She grabbed my hand, and I stood stunned at the contact. As the water soaked her face, she grinned wildly. “Run with me!”
Enchanted, truly bewitched, I held on tightly and did as she requested.
We ran away together.
And for a brief moment, it felt as if everyone else in the world had fallen away. I was not sure how far or how long we ran, but I wished so desperately to continue running with her forever. My heart leapt with joy when I was with her. I felt such freedom and openness with her.
“Oh!” She gasped with a hand over her chest, seeking to catch her breath when we reached a hidden pathway under a small bridge. All of her—from her light blue dress to her hat and even the curls underneath—was drenched. Nevertheless, she stared back at me with the largest and purest smile. “I have not run like that in ages.”
I was frustrated by how I could not better describe my feelings for her.
“Theodore—”
“I am so very much in love with you.” The words spilled from my lips like the rain from the sky. “I do not know when or how but you have become my greatest joy. I have nothing to propose to you with, and I know I am not worthy, but even still, I wish more than anything for you to be my wife.”
She stepped closer and before she could speak I reached into my pocket, taking out a necklace made of blue silk with a floral pendant and a tiny pearl at the end. Until now it had been kept buried away in a small jewelry box with my things. “It is not much, but it is the only inheritance left to me by my mother.”
She stared at it and then back at me. “You are giving it to me?”
“If you shall accept.”
“How could I not?” Slowly, she turned her back to me. “Shall you help me wear it?”
Brushing her curls to the side, I did as she asked, but my hands could not help but linger upon the skin of her neck. Even the slightest touch of her warmed me, and when she faced me once more, her beautiful brown eyes held me captive. Lifting her chin up I could feel her breath upon my lips. She leaned forward, her eyes closed; however, before we kissed a thunderous voice called out.
“Theodore!”
Verity jumped from me, placing distance between us as we turned to see there, at the entrance of the path, was the woman in yellow, my stepmother, and beside her was a coachman, holding an umbrella. She stood, eyes wide, looking between us.
“I…we…Lady Whitmear—” Verity stumbled over her words.
“The rain has eased, Lady Verity. I shall walk you to your carriage. Come stand beside me,” she snapped harshly, though her glare did not leave me…and I was too shocked to speak, too shocked to think.
Fuck.
Oh fuck!
Verity
I knew not what to say, so I did as ordered, moving to her side. Then we began to walk. When I turned back, Theodore was just standing there, his head down, fists clenched…I could not see his expression but I knew with each step I took farther away from him, this did not bode well, not at all.
