Page 18 of The Captain's Midwinter Bride
Battling back a smile, Annalise squeezed her. “Brave girl. Very well, I’ll just ask it. What happened to Mr. Ramsgate?”
“Mr. Ramsgate?” Beth whispered, dropping her gaze.
“Yes, Mr. Ramsgate. Oliver’s friend from London.” She softened her voice. “I was under the impression you were both fond of each other.”
Pressing her lips together, Beth offered a curt nod. “I thought so too.”
“Then what happened, dearest?”
Beth tensed and made to step back, but Annalise pulled her closer instead. After a moment, she relaxed. “I don’t know. He returned to London to visit his parents, and then he never came back.”
Annalise was unsure what to say to that. Any number of reasons could have prevented the young man from returning, yet she had seen the way young Henry Ramsgate had looked at her daughter. As if she were the most beautiful, fascinating creature he’d ever beheld. She had expected him to ask to pay his attentions to Beth, and she would not have objected. He was intelligent, kind, and a hard-working surveyor with the railway. Mr. Ramsgate also came from a good middle-class family who lived on Gloucester Street in London. A pairing between the two would have been ideal, yet it had not happened. She wondered if that was why Beth had accepted Mr. Newell’s suit with what seemed like little thought just a few months later.
“What should I do, Mother?”
Annalise blinked. “What do you mean?”
“Do you think I should marry Mr. Newell?” Beth pulled back to meet her gaze, her eyes red rimmed. “After all of this, I’m not sure I want to.”
“It’s not for me to say, my darling. Only you know if Mr. Newell is truly deserving of not only your affections, but your lifelong commitment.”
Beth clenched her eyes shut.
“But I will say this.” Annalise stroked her cheek. “If Mr. Newell was not willing to defend you to his mother, would he be inclined to defend any children you had together? If someone were to insult them, claim they are less than, would he dispute such assertions with all the fierceness a father can?”
Annalise thought of Phillip. He would never let anyone disrespect her or the children. She knew it down to the marrow of her bones. And when he learned of how Mrs. Newell had treated Beth, and Mr. Newell’s lack of defense, he was going to be apoplectic.
“Probably not.” Beth’s voice was miserable. “I can’t call off the wedding, though. It’s so soon.”
Annalise stroked the hair back from her daughter’s brow. “Beth, do you want to sacrifice your entire life being married to a man who doesn’t respect you? All because you don’t want to cancel the wedding?”
Beth opened and closed her mouth several times, her face pale. Taking pity on her, Annalise squeezed her shoulders. “You don’t have to make decision at this moment, but I believe you should spend some time considering very carefully what you want.”
“What if I don’t know what I want, Mama?”
“You’ll have to figure that out.”
She thought of Phillip’s desire to leave for Wales after the wedding. Would he still depart if their daughter called off the event? Would it really change the root of his desire to leave?
And would she go with him?
“We all have to make a decision about the course of our future at one point or another.”
* * *
Phillip walked through the small dressing room and paused outside of Annalise’s chamber. The door was ajar, and she was his wife…but still he hesitated. Should he knock and wait for her admittance? Just stroll in as if he owned the place? He did, after all.
In the end, the decision was taken from him when Annalise called out, “Do enter, Phillip.”
The room smelled of her perfume, and he greedily inhaled the scent into his lungs. He spied her sitting at her dressing table, pinning her mahogany curls up into a simple but elegant coiffure. Her curious gaze met his in the mirror.
“You haven’t changed your mind about accompanying me to the dinner party tonight, have you?”
“I have not.” He clenched his hands to keep from running his fingers through the wispy curls at the base of her neck. “But are you certain it’s to be a dinner party? The Newells promised us an intimate dinner, and it turned into a bit of a crush.”
“Yes, there were far too many people in attendance at the Newells’, if you ask me.” Annalise crinkled her nose, and it kicked up the corner of Phillip’s mouth.
“Precisely why I distrust the Pellinghams’ invitation.”
