“I’m just following your orders, Louis. Every time we have a function to attend, you want me to have a new gown.”
He shook his newspaper and folded it, then placed it neatly alongside his empty breakfast plate. Leaning forward, he said in a soft voice, “Maybe instead of a new gown, I should think about a new wife.”
The blood left her face. Was he contemplating her murder? He’d threatened it many times before, and she’d always feared one day it would no longer be a threat. She had to get away from him, once and for all.
“May I use the automobile, then?”
Louis waved his hand. “Yes.”
Before he could change his mind, Emily pushed back from the table and fled the room. She was to meet Hunter about eleven o’clock. That would give her time to have an actual fitting before she snuck out the back door. Thank God Millie understood her predicament. The fact that the dressmaker had been the brunt of several of Louis’s insults and tirades over her bills had helped.
The late summer sunshine kept the air warm and humid as Emily patted the beads of perspiration from her forehead and entered the automobile.
“The dressmaker, Mrs. Smith?” Martin asked.
“Yes. Please.” She settled back as the vehicle rolled away from the house into the morning traffic. Her Tuesday visits to Millie’s shop had become the highlight of her week. She lived for the moment she was excused from her fitting and able to join Hunter behind the store.
He’d told her last week he was going to investigate Louis’s firm. He also had a friend who was very good at uncovering deceptive business practices that he would contact. What she clung to was his assurance that he would also find a way to free her from the clutches of the vile man she’d married. Her thoughts wandered as she stared at the people crowding the business district, with the shops all doing a lively business. For the first time in three years she had genuine hope.
Forty minutes later, she tapped her foot and took deep sighs as Millie adjusted her most recent gown and stuck her with innumerable pins.
“Mrs. Smith, if you would only stand still, I would be able to finish this fitting and you may be on your way.”
“I know, and I am sorry. But we have so little time together, I hate to waste it.”
Millie stood back and observed her, the dressmaker’s eyebrows raised. “Please remember if it wasn’t for these fittings you would have no way to see your young man at all.” She nudged Emily on her hip as a signal to turn, giving a critical eye to the hem as she turned. “I’m also nervous at the thought of your husband showing up here some day with you nowhere in sight.”
“Oh, God, I never thought of that.” Emily stepped down from the pedestal and turned so Millie could unfasten the back of the gown. “I don’t remember him ever coming here while I had a fitting, though.”
“No. I don’t remember that either. He’s only been here when he wanted to complain about his bill.”
“I’m so sorry, Millie.”
“Don’t apologize for his actions. Just be grateful you have someone who will help you.” She took Emily by her upper arms, gripping tightly. “Is he a good man?”
Emily felt the heat rise to her face. She wasn’t comfortable speaking about Hunter with Millie. Regardless of her husband’s actions, she was still legally married. To be discussing meeting another man left her with an uneasy feeling. This was not how she ever thought her life would go. “Yes. He is a good man.”
“He will take care of you?”
Emily nodded, tamping down her doubts about trusting anyone again to take care of her. “Yes. I believe he will.”
“Good. We’re finished. Go on and meet him while I’m busy working on your gown.”
Emily gave her a quick hug the
n shimmied into her dress, buttoned it up, and headed to the back door. She slipped out and spotted Hunter right away. He stood leaning his forearm against a rail fence, his foot resting on the bottom rung. As soon as the door closed, he straightened and turned to her. Her heart did a double thump at his smile.
He reached out and brushed the hair off her forehead. “We need to have a serious talk.”
Her stomach took a dive at his somber expression. With shaky hands she tied the ribbons of her bonnet tighter and attempted a smile, but failed. “Where shall we go?”
“More than anything I want to take you by the arm and stroll up and down the streets of this town. Then escort you into the finest restaurant Galveston has to offer.” He cupped her chin, his eyes telling her something she wasn’t quite sure she was ready for. “I promise you one day I will do that.” His eyes darkened and his jaw tightened. “Whatever it takes.”
She shivered at his mood that washed over her like a cold winter morning.
His face softened, and just like that he became the Hunter she’d grown to care so much for. “I have the carriage again, and had one of the cafés pack a lunch for us.” He took her by the hand and pulled her forward. “We’re going on a picnic.”
He’d tried to act as if everything was all right, but the darkness she’d first sensed when he stood by the fence hadn’t left. The ride to the area she liked to think of as ‘theirs’ was quiet. Not the usual comfortable silence she’d experienced with Hunter in the past, but a different type of stillness. This was not a tranquil quiet, but one of tension. She shivered again.