Page 106 of Temptations of a Wallflower
Reaching the theater box, Sarah smiled when she beheld Eleanor, Daniel, and Cam already there. Everyone greeted each other warmly.
“Maggie’s backstage?” Sarah asked, taking her seat.
“I can never drag her away for long,” Cam answered. “Though,” he added with a wolfish grin, “I try.”
“A true lover of the arts,” Jeremy said wryly.
“How fares the latest book from Cleland Publishing?” Daniel queried, shaking Jeremy’s hand.
“Reports are back from bookstores across the country.” Jeremy grinned. “They can’t keep copies ofLittle Fairy Stories for Big Peopleon their shelves. And our other titles are doing just as well.”
“I would never have guessed that the reading public had such an appetite for moralistic bombast,” Cam drawled.
“They’re mostly philosophical treatises.” Jeremy shook his head with mock sadness. “Yet I’d never expect an untutored barbarian to make that distinction.”
“You’ve truly fallen from grace,” Cam returned with as pious an expression as he could muster.
“Into the arms of my wife.” Jeremy’s look for her was intimate, ripe with possibility. She fanned herself, though the gesture was only partially playful.
Eleanor said, “Cam, if you read anything other than plays, you’d know that his books are aimed to help those with the most rudimentary education find their footing in the world.”
Sarah glowed with pride at Jeremy’s work. He’d transitioned from assisting a few hundred people in a parish to several thousand across the country. Thebooks he published were an unusual amalgam of philosophy and instruction. He’d written two volumes himself already, but he also had a stable of writers—men, women, highborn, commoner, and Sarah herself—who provided writing that, it seemed, readers devoured. The first few months had been shaky, with Sarah and Jeremy’s income generously supported by her dowry and income from her novels. But since that uncertain time, profits had steadily risen, as had readership. They had a staff of half a dozen already.
They lived in London most of the year, with a little cottage near Rosemead for the summer months. The arrangement suited them both exceptionally well, giving them necessary solitude from the rest of the world. Whenever they went to church, they were still greeted warmly by the villagers, even though Mr. Wolbert was now the vicar.
“My apologies,” Cam said with a bow, though he spoiled the effect by grinning.
“You can’t help being a boor.” Jeremy spoke with affection. The past year had seen him change so much. He was still a reserved, thoughtful man, but he spoke and moved with more confidence now. His laughter came more frequently. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind.
Neither of them saw their parents, despite the duke’s earlier decision that relations would thaw in six months—but Sarah still hoped that the situation might warm in time.
“Maggie tries to reform me,” Cam answered despairingly. “Yet even she knows when a task is impossible. But, quiet! The burletta’s about to start.”
Jeremy sat beside Sarah, their hands automatically finding the other’s. As the crowd quieted, Sarah glanced over at her husband, who looked back at her with a warm, promising smile. Her heart overflowed in palpable waves. She had discovered so many valuable things in the last year and nearly lost them all. Yet she’d held on, and now possessed more than she’d ever believed possible. She had friends. Writing. A man who loved her, and whom she loved. Two people who allowed each other to be fully themselves. There was no last page, only another and another, their story ongoing and unfolding, chapter by rich chapter.
The curtain rose.
