Page 48 of A Dreamy Match Made in Heaven
“What is it?” Sophia asked.
“I probably shouldn’t say,” Adrianna replied.
“Why not?” Sophia prodded, not liking that her friend would keep something from her.
“It’s only that I do like him very much. More than I had expected to. And it makes me somewhat nervous, I suppose,” she answered.
“Why should you be nervous?”
Adrianna sighed and allowed her body to fall on the bed so she was lying backwards. Sophia enjoyed the drama of Adrianna’s actions, but sometimes she wished she could decipher what was really going on inside her mind.
“Honestly, I did not wish for this. I had no desire to fall in love right away. And he has told me that he has always been the same. That he didn’t want to find a match while he was still very young. And I find myself wondering if falling in love and rushing into marriage is a mistake,” Adrianna confessed.
Sophia nodded. She couldn’t quite understand the sentiment, as she had always been a young woman who desired a husband. But she knew Adrianna well and could imagine that it was difficult for her to be suddenly willing to give up her love of freedom and being on her own.
“I hardly think it is a mistake, but you ought to decide if it is really what you wish for. After all, it is clear that he loves you and wants to be with you. And if it is as you say and he did not always wish for this, just as you did not, perhaps you are even better suited to one another than we all thought,” Sophia encouraged her.
“You think so?” Adrianna asked, still seeming rather anxious.
“I do. The way that he looks at you is not the way a man looks at a woman he does not intend to marry. So if you do not wish to be Officer Kingsley’s wife, you should probably tell him now,” Sophia told her.
Sophia couldn’t express it through the honesty of what she had been through and experienced, so she tried to subtly tell Adrianna as best she could. Knowing that she ought to have told the Earl a long time ago that she was not interested in marrying him would have helped her escape a great deal of pain.
But it was all too late for that now.
“You must forgive me; I have been going on and on about Officer Kingsley and you have not yet told me how the day went with your gentleman. There was something that appeared between the two of you, but I cannot say that it looked like affection from where I stood,” Adrianna said.
Sophia looked at her and tried to keep the emotion from her face.
“No. I cannot say that there is any affection between the two of us,” she replied.
“I am sad to hear it. I should have liked for you to experience the happiness of love that I am doing. What is it about Officer Gregory that you find distasteful? Is he a boor?” Adrianna asked.
Sophia breathed deeply and looked away. She didn’t wish to discuss it.
“No matter. Just tell me more about your Officer Kingsley,” she insisted.
“Sophia…” Adrianna began in a warning tone.
“I do not wish to justify myself,” she complained.
“Well, I do wish to know why you are so displeased with the friend of a man that I, myself, am completely undone by. Surely there is something deeper at work here that has led you to your decision against him,” Adrianna said.
“And if there is?” she retorted.
“Then you ought not to keep them from your dearest friend,” Adrianna said.
“Alright then. If you must know, this was not my first knowledge of Officer Gregory. Thomas. In fact, I have spent much of my life near to him, and having Miss Wainwright bring us together was a shock,” Sophia confessed.
Adrianna’s eyes widened in surprise and Sophia thought that she had made a grave mistake in admitting that there had ever been any sort of history between herself and Thomas.
“You mustn’t tell anyone. Your aunt and uncle, and certainly not Miss Wainwright. And my mother and father should never be made aware that he was the man chosen for me,” Sophia said, hoping that her friend would maintain the web of lies.
“I don’t understand, Sophia. Why all this secrecy? And why do the two of you behave so coldly towards one another if you have a history together?” Adrianna asked, clearly wanting to know more.
It was exhausting for Sophia to try and explain all of this when her own thoughts were in a turmoil over it. She wished that everything could simply be left as it was and not discussed anymore.
And yet, she knew well that everything had to come out eventually if she was to explain to the friend who knew her best. She knew that Adrianna would be curious and wonder about what must have happened between the two, and why Sophia had not pressed forward in what appeared to be a most advantageous match.
