Page 27 of Letters to a Wallflower
Her mouth twitched and he felt it, deep down in his gut. “Not even that last moment?”
“Not even that one,” he rasped.
“I . . . ah . . . I think perhaps I’ll go down and keep watch at the front.” The second skirted figure sat down the lantern and headed quickly down the stairs.
“Was that . . . “ Ben frowned after her.
“Yes. Maggie Wilson. She told me you visited her and it seems you sparked some doubt in her. She found?—”
He pressed a finger against her mouth. “Hold a moment. I want to hear everything, but I’ve been sitting here in the dark with plenty of time to think and I find I have something to say.”
She pulled his hand away and offered him the familiar smile that had only lately began to tie him in knots. More fool, he. “Please do. And afterward, I shall take my turn.”
“Ever stalwart,” he murmered. He sighed. “Akers has been a foul, unmitigated ass and I look forward to making him pay, but I must confess,, I have cause to be grateful to him, too.”
Frowning, she opened her mouth, but he shook his head and she closed it again, waiting.
“It makes me feel wild, thinking of the pain he caused you, and yet, had he not, you would likely have been married to someone else by now. I would have returned and it would have been too late for me to really look at you.” She smiled tenderly and his heart lurched. “I would not have had the chance to layer my memories of that intrepid girl over the vision of the kind, warm, beautiful woman you are today. I would not have shared laughter?—”
“Or adventure,” she cut in.
He touched her face, cradled it in his palm. “I might have never have had the chance to touch you, kiss you . . .” His other hand came up to frame her face. “Or to ask you to be mine.”
The soft expression on her face began to fade. “You are under no obligation?—”
“Not obligated,” he interrupted. “Honored. I do see you, Helen, and I am enraptured. You are at the center of my thoughts, of my soul. I can think of nothing that would make me happier than spending the rest of our lives together.”
Wonder emanated from her. It lit her from within and he surely felt it easing inside him, warming his chest and stretching a smile across his face.
“I see you, as well,” she whispered. “So many more layers than I could have recognized as a girl and I treasure them all, even the ones made of pain and strife, for they made you who you are—perfect for me.”
Joy spread through him, as warm and thick as honey. When he lowered his head to kiss her, he could nearly taste it. He took a moment over it, then pulled away to place kisses on her chin, her cheeks, on the tip of her nose. “Now that that’s settled, tell me about Maggie and what brings you both here, tonight.”
They compared notes and realizations and sobered at the thought of all the lies and manipulations Akers had resorted to.
“Like you, my first instinct was to confront him right away, but now I wonder.” Ben frowned. “You have the papers Maggie brought you? You have hidden them away?”
“Yes.”
“Good. We will need to lock them up. I think we should pause a moment, and recruit a couple of reinforcements. Let us make all of our case at once, so that we might see the back of him for good.”
“Tell me what that brilliant mind of yours is thinking.”
Chapter 10
In the end, it was early the next afternoon when they convened back at the boarding house. Leighton had come in near daybreak and was still inside, presumably asleep. Helen hoped it hurt his head when Ben stepped forward and pounded on her former friend’s door without ceasing.
They could hear the grumbling grow louder as Leighton approached the door. “Enough!” he growled as it swung open. “What is it you?—”
He stopped as he saw the group gathered there. Ben pushed past him and the rest all filed in behind him.
Leighton eyed them all—Helen and Ben, Will and another gentleman—Mr. Wittmore, the printer. His eye went to her instinctively, in search of support.
“Helen,” he began.
“I should have known you would keep a filthy house,” she answered, eyeing the place with disdain. “Now I know it fits perfectly with the rest of you.”
Leighton’s face darkened. “It’s to be like that, is it?”
