Page 31 of A Dream of Redemption
Helen got to her desk early. She wanted to be there when Clary arrived. Her body hummed with excitement at seeing him, and she hoped he was eager to see her too.
Every time she heard the front door open she tensed, hoping he’d arrived. Marisa joined her close to noon and still no sign of Clary. She did not want to ask Marisa where he was. She did not want her family to know of her interest in him. Helen inwardly winced at that thought. Why did she not want them to know?
Because a friendship is inappropriate and you don’t want Clary to be right.
Her brother was likely to have kittens if he thought she was setting her sights on a man such as Clary.Then why are you pursuing what you know is inappropriate?
She picked up a letter from the tray sitting on her desk and opened it. “Oh, Marisa.” She beamed at her sister. “It’s a letter from Claire. The girl the men rescued from Glover. She’s learning to write but says Mrs. Riley helped her with this letter.”
“How wonderful. What does she say?”
Helen laughed. “Not much, as she says she is still learning her letters but she and Anne are learning to cook from Mrs. Thorn, and they no longer want to run away.”
Tears welled in her eyes. She had helped someone and it felt great. She rose. “There is also a missive for Mr. Homeward. I have to show it to him. When do you expect him?”
“Oh, he arrived early this morning. He sent a note saying he wanted to meet with me this afternoon if I had time. I expect he’s in his study.”
Even if she wanted to, her feet would not move. “He’s already here?”
Marisa looked up and frowned. “Yes. Why is that odd?”
“No reason. I thought he might have come to update me on the Glover situation, that’s all.”
Marisa’s eyes narrowed. “You are not to get involved in the hunt for Glover. Promise me you will leave that to Clary and his men. It’s dangerous. Look what happened to Clary.”
She didn’t have the heart to tell her sister she’d been there when Clary had been knifed. “But don’t you want to know too?”
“He’ll tell us when he has anything to report. I suspect Glover has fled because he knows we are after him.”
“Clary thinks he’ll still be in London because the money he can earn here is easier. In smaller towns people seem to note and care when children go missing.”
Marisa hesitated before saying, “Then let’s hope the men catch him sooner rather than later.”
“I hope so too.”
Her stomach churned. Clary had been here all morning! He had not even popped in to say hello. Anger turned to disappointment. He was putting walls up, and a part of her knew it was the right thing to do, but hell, the heart wants what the hearts wants.
“Well, I shall pop next door and give him Claire’s note.” She did not wait for Marisa to reply.
The walk down the hall seemed to take forever, which Helen was grateful for. She wanted to get her warring emotions under control. She stopped at his door and knocked before simply letting herself in.
When he looked up from behind a rather large pile of papers the first thing that entered her mind was he looked tired. Perhaps he was not as well as she thought. The second thing was that his bold stare caused strange flutterings to take up residence throughout her body. Her reaction upon seeing him was becoming common and quite pleasant indeed. She tried to stay cross with him but when he smiled her heart rebounded.
“I won’t stay long as you must be busy since you did not stop to greet me this morning. Here is a note from Claire. The first, or second, if you count mine, that she has ever written.” She passed it to him. “I’m so proud of her.”
He opened and read it and his smile grew.
“I’m so pleased we went after Glover, even if you did end up with a knife wound. Reading that makes it all worth it, doesn’t it?” He looked at her but did not reply. “You look busy. I shall leave you to your correspondence but when you have time I’d like to show you the plan I have for extending the orphanage. The building next door would work perfectly. I think I shall buy it.”
“Have you talked with Her Grace about this?”
“No. I wanted to talk to you first to see what you thought of the idea. We could help so many more children if we doubled the size of the dormitories.” He said nothing.
Their meeting was not going well. She needed to get him away from this study so they could talk freely—as simply a man and a woman.
“You look tired. Perhaps some fresh air would help. Why don’t we take a stroll in the park and I can tell you about my proposal?”
His smile dimmed. “You can tell me about it here.”
