Love, Come to Me(59)

“I know enough to start now. The rest I’ll learn soon enough. I can’t wait—there won’t be another chance like this, not for a long time. The Examiner is a good newspaper with a small but established circulation, and the right kind of reputation. It just needs new guidance. It needs to be shaken up—”

“Why?” she demanded, jerking her hands out of his in a spurt of anger. “Why do you always have to shake things up and turn everything upside down? What’s the matter with leaving things alone like other people do?”

“Because ‘things’ don’t leave people alone. A man either takes charge of life or lets it run over him, and I don’t aim to be run over.”

“I’m happy with the way things are! I don’t want anything to change!”

Heath was sensitive to the panic in her voice. “Cinda, you’re not happy—and don’t try to tell me you are. I know you. I know you better than anyone else does.”

“That’s not true—”

“How could you be happy? You were meant for more than living your whole life here. Your father and the rest of the town have tried to make you into something you could never be, and they’ve convinced you that it’s what you want. But you’ve kept trying to resist in hundreds of small ways . . . crossing that damned river where you weren’t supposed to, picking arguments with Daniel. Do you think I didn’t know that your relationship with me was an act of defiance against all of them and what they were trying to do to you?”

“You don’t know me at all.” Lucy stood up and backed away from him.

“I know that you shouldn’t be tucked away in some little house with only your embroidery and your club meetings to worry about, dreaming about things you’ll never do or see. No one’s ever asked anything of you before, except that you stay in your place. But I want more from you than that.”

“What you want is to take me away from my home and the people who care for me.”

“Good Lord, woman, I’m not talking about moving to the North Pole! Boston isn’t so far away from here!”

“It’s a world away from here! It’s a city, a big one, full of strangers, and I don’t know anyone there—”

“The fact is, you don’t have a choice. We’re moving to Boston in two days.”

“Two days!” she repeated in shock.

“The papers transferring ownership were signed today. The new edition of the Examiner goes to press on Monday. I’m looking at a house on Beacon Hill tomorrow, and if it’s suitable, we’ll move in right away. If not, we’ll stay in a hotel until we can find the right place to live—”

“You can move to Boston,” she said, glaring at him mutinously, her voice steady with determination. “You can live there and visit me on weekends . . . or don’t visit me at all. But whatever you decide, I’ll be staying here.”

He looked at her as if measuring the strength of her resolve, and his eyes flashed dangerously. “Like hell you will.”

“I told you once that you couldn’t ever make me leave here.”

“Just why are you so hell-bent on staying here? Are you really that afraid? Or do you intend to shadow Sally and Daniel and make their lives miserable?”

“This has nothing to do with Daniel. I won’t go to Boston . . . I’ll leave you if you try to make me go with you.” In speaking hastily, Lucy made a serious error in judgment. As she confronted him and challenged him outright, she saw his jaw harden and his face become taut. In one sentence, she had managed to provoke him far beyond the point of reasoning with him.

“You’re going if I have to tie you up and carry you there in the back of a wagon.”

“I’ll turn right around and come back. You can’t make me stay with you! You can’t make me live with you.”

He crossed the space between them and seized her wrist, holding her hand up in front of her own face so that she could see the thick gold band on her finger. “Do you see that? I can damn well make you do a hell of a lot of things you don’t feel like doing. That ring is proof of a contract we made with each other, and you can’t back out of it.”

“A contract that can be broken,” she said, flushing scarlet with anger.

“Oh, no, it can’t.” His hand tightened around her wrist until it hurt. “You promised your loyalty to me. You’re going with me.”

“I’m staying right here in Concord,” she snapped, and the bruising grip lessened until she was able to twist away from him. They stared at each other, both breathing heavily.

“You’re my wife. You made a vow to stand by me, and you’re going to honor it.”

“I didn’t vow to give everything up on some whim of yours!” Lucy glanced at the stack of newspapers nearby, all of the old memories and pieces of history that he had saved, and she hated everything they represented. “All for a newspaper. My life is being ruined just so people can read four cents’ worth of news while they drink their tea and coffee—”

“What life? Do you call it living, to be buried here, hiding from the rest of the world?”

In a rage, Lucy picked up the stack of newspapers and flung them into the fireplace. Her chest was heaving with dry sobs as she watched the edges of the old and tattered pages glow bright orange. Suddenly it all burst into a dull roar of flames, and her face was illuminated by the blaze as she looked at Heath. He was not staring at the fire but at her. His eyes narrowed, and the thin, pale line of the scar at his temple stood out against the darkness of his skin.