Hopeless Heart

“I understand.”

“Do you?” she pressed. “You seemed quite adamant that I should go back to it.”

“I have to be honest with you, at the time I thought your departure was nothing more than a dramatic tantrum,” he reasoned, carefully ignoring her indignant huff. “Firstly, I caught you skinny dipping. But, when I got here and found you in that tree, now that was a shock, I can tell you.”

“I didn’t know you were there when I was in the lake,” she replied quietly, painfully aware that her cheeks were now aflame.

“I must confess that I wasn’t as much of a gentleman that day as I should have been. I should have left as soon as I realised what you were doing. What I did instead was stay close-by and attempt to convince myself that it was nothing more than girlish waywardness. It wasn’t. It was considerably more than that, but thinking that at the time gave me an excuse to ignore the truth that lay before me. You were no longer a girl. Your delectable body showed me that you are now very much a stunning woman.”

Georgiana was stunned, mortified, horrified, and delightfully pleased all at the same time.

“I didn’t realise you saw me,” she whispered.

Will nodded slowly.

“But afterward, in my father’s study,” she whispered. “You were so cold and aloof. I realised that I could never discuss how I felt with you so I left.”

“In my defence, all I can say is that I shouldn’t have kissed you that day and it threw me. It was wrong of me, and just made me doubt everything I thought I knew. I intended to call by to speak with you in the morning, but when I arrived the entire house was in chaos,” Will sighed. “I decided to leave you for a while once Theresa told us where you were going. Your father wrote to Ruth to ask her to let him know when you arrived, but it was generally agreed you needed to take a holiday for a while.”

“I am surprised Cecily agreed to it,” Georgiana sighed, glad she wasn’t around to witness her mother’s dramatics on the morning of her departure.

“She didn’t, but she wasn’t given much choice in the matter. Your father put his foot down. In fact, he appears to be doing that a lot more of late. Cecily has no idea what has gone wrong, but she isn’t allowed to get away with half as much as she has in the past. Your departure seems to have prompted your father to make her practice her self-control.”

“The dramatics have stopped?” She asked in astonishment.

“Not quite,” Will replied cautiously, but didn’t expand because he wasn’t there to talk about Cecily. “Once you had left, I have to confess that I managed to remain at home for a couple of weeks befor

e I was driven to come and see you, just to make sure you were alright.”

“Cecily demanded it,” Georgiana replied with a nod.

“No. Your parents had words once you had gone, and Cecily was made to stop demanding anything of anyone. No, my need to see you was more personal than that. I just had to see you.” Will’s eyes met hers. “I have to confess that I needed time away to think about making changes in my life so decided to kill two birds with one stone as it were.”

Georgiana nodded. “Your wedding to Penelope.”

“Marriage changes everything in a man’s life. The weight of expectation changes from one of getting wed to producing an issue who will continue the family name, but the expectations are there nonetheless. Once the issue is born, a man’s responsibility changes to providing for the family until they are old enough to inherit the fortune. It is never ending, and can be a heavy burden if one is married to the wrong woman.”

“But your discontent is something you can resolve by ensuring you marry the right woman. You have that choice. If you are happy then it makes the burden you have to carry all that much lighter,” she said.

“I know,” Will whispered.

Georgiana’s stomach lurched with sickening dread, but she had to force the words out. She suspected that he was trying to tell her that he knew how she felt about him, but was married to Penelope because she was the right choice.

Hoping to forestall him, she braced herself. “I can understand you easing the burden of expectation set upon you by marrying Penelope Smedgrove.”

“I haven’t married her,” Will assured her gently but firmly.

Georgiana stared at him. “Have you not? B-but I thought the wedding was supposed to have taken place about-”

She gulped. Had she gotten the dates wrong?

“About now,” he finished for her with a nod. “Yes, it should have been–if it was ever set in the first place.”

She stared at him in confusion. “Pardon?”

“There was never a wedding,” Will re-iterated.

Stunned, Georgiana sucked in a breath but then began to cry.