Divided Interests (Southern Bride 3)

This is my choice to leave Johnson City, to travel the world and…”

My voice trailed off. Lucas pulled me closer, his arm wrapped around my waist.

“Keep reading, Paige. Please.”

I lifted my gaze to his. “The wardrobe trunk. She left him the day he asked her to marry him.” When I looked back down at the date on the letter, tears filled my eyes. “It’s dated almost a year before the letter we found in the observatory. Why would she have left him?”

Lucas looked just as confused as I felt. “I don’t know. It sounds as if she declined his proposal, then he asked her again, but they didn’t marry for another year? So two years after his original proposal is when they married. Why did they wait so long?”

“Because she wanted to travel, see the world,” I said. I swallowed hard, trying to clear the heaviness in my throat. Lucas reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.

“Keep reading.”

I focused back on the letter.

This is my choice to leave Johnson City, to travel the world and experience the things I have read about in my books. I wish when I had begged you to run away with me, you would have agreed. Instead, you called me a silly girl with big dreams. I guess that is what I am then, a foolish girl who wants to see the world. Who wants to visit the places she has dreamed about.

I will understand if you wish not to take me back. I know rumors will run wild, and I know what they will say about me. Please know it is not true. I will remain true to you and only you, William. You have my word.

I will write when I arrive in Paris. Lou is to accompany me on the ship, then he is going to England to visit his aunt and uncle and will return home ahead of me. I do have a schedule. I left it on your bed. Read it, my darling, and it will be as if you are with me. Or better yet, come join me, William! Come explore the world with me. Together!

Lucas let out a disbelieving laugh. “What in the hell? She left with Granddad’s best friend, then asked him to meet her in Europe before they were even married? And here we were worried about rumors.”

I gave him a soft smile. “Poor William. He must have been heartbroken. To read where she wanted to go and not be able to go with her. Why wouldn’t he have gone with…?”

Lucas and I stared at each another. I set the letter in my lap and covered my mouth with my hands. It wasn’t exactly our story, but suddenly it all felt too familiar.

Lucas closed his eyes and shook his head. “It makes so much more sense why Granddad was angry with me. Why he begged me to go after you…because he hadn’t gone after Grams and he regretted his decision.”

“Why did he not go after her, though? Or why didn’t they travel after they married? Surely they could have compromised.”

Lucas looked away. “Maybe stubbornness runs in the family.”

Lucas flipped through the letters, finding another one and opening it.

“This one is dated six months later.”

“Six months! How long was May gone?”

He shook his head and started to read.

My Dearest William,

I have not heard from you and I must be honest, I was hoping to see you in London. I waited at the restaurant I wrote to you about. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how heartbroken I was when you didn’t arrive. I guess that is the silly romantic girl in me, thinking you would run after me and follow me on this journey. I feel so silly. I feel ashamed. I abandoned you and do not fault you for doing the same, if that is what you have done.

I’ve met some lovely people and have encountered a duke here in London. He is a distant cousin of a wonderful woman I have met and has gifted me with a beautiful necklace made of a ruby from what I suspect might be from a distant queen of England. He laughs when I ask him about it and tells me I should write books with an imagination like mine. It is a thought…write books about my travels. I could fill journal after journal with the tales. Oh, how I wish you were here with me. I cannot wait to show you the wonderful things I have found for our home when I return.

Love you always and forever,

May

Lucas set the letter to the side and searched for another. “This one is dated ten months after the first.”

With a shake of my head, I looked at Lucas in disbelief. “She was traveling in Europe for a long time, I think.”