At Your Request (Apart from the Crowd 0.5)(12)
“It’s not?”
“Not when I take into account how upset she’s been with you over the years for not becoming her daughter-in-law—a relationship I believe she’d been looking forward to embracing. Because of that, I can certainly see her withholding information that might have sent me racing off to your rescue.”
Unexpected tears took that moment to cloud Wilhelmina’s vision. Dashing a hand over her eyes, she plopped down on the nearby bench and released a bit of a watery-sounding snort. “I wouldn’t have expected you to race to my rescue, Edgar, especially not given the abhorrent manner in which I’d treated you.”
As he sat beside her, Edgar captured a tear she’d missed with his finger. “We may have parted on less than amicable terms, Wilhelmina, but you were my dearest friend throughout my childhood, and a bit beyond. Because of that, you should have known that I was a person you could always count on.”
Wilhelmina struggled to hold additional tears at bay. “Did your mother ever mention anything to you about a gentleman by the name of Mr. Holland?”
“Of course she did, although she didn’t go into any particulars except to tell me he was one of your many admirers. But even if this Mr. Holland was a gentleman you cared deeply about, I would have still offered you my assistance if you had need of it.”
A single tear leaked out of her eye, one she hid by dipping her head and pretending an interest in a somewhat ordinary yellow flower. “I never cared deeply about Mr. Holland, Edgar. He was very diligent as he went about the whole business of courting me, but a part of me knew that something simply wasn’t right with him. He was always too well-dressed, too charming, and paid too much attention to me.”
“You took issue with him because he paid too much attention to you?”
“I did because it was a deliberate attention, although I didn’t realize that at the time. But then, when he ended his courtship of me because he needed to marry a woman of fortune, well . . . everything became crystal clear. In all honesty, I was somewhat relieved to have him out of my life, but then he went and started the most dreadful rumors about me, implying there was something wrong with me. That right there is what set society against me and saw me banished to the wallflower section.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you,” Edgar began before he suddenly took to cracking his knuckles. “But tell me, where is Mr. Holland now?”
With her spirits lifting the moment she heard him crack his knuckles, Wilhelmina pulled her attention away from the yellow flower and smiled. “It’s very sweet of you to adopt such a protective attitude on my behalf, Edgar. But sad as I am to tell you this, I’m afraid Mr. Holland is no longer in the city. He’s sailing about the world on a yacht his new wife bought for him, a wife who had quite the impressive fortune, and a fortune she was apparently all too willing to share with Mr. Holland if he agreed to marry her.”
She shook her head somewhat sadly. “I’m afraid the current Mrs. Holland was under the impression Mr. Holland was a bit of a prize.”
“Perhaps by now, she’d appreciate me teaching Mr. Holland some manners then.”
“Since she’s not sailing on that yacht around the world with him, Edgar, you probably have a most excellent point, but again, he’s not in New York.”
Edgar cracked his knuckles one more time. “Very well, I won’t be able to deal with him just yet. But mark my words, Mr. Holland will be made to pay for his abuse of you. It’s simply a question of when.”
Unable to help but wonder how in the world she’d been so ridiculous back in the day to let this very honorable, and incredibly sweet, gentleman get away from her, Wilhelmina forced a smile. “Goodness, Edgar, there’s no need for you to turn all threatening on my behalf. That nasty business with Mr. Holland happened ages ago, and I assure you, I’m quite over it.”
“If you were quite over the embarrassment of Mr. Holland’s abandonment, and then your subsequent tumble down the society ladder, you wouldn’t have bothered to try and hide from me earlier.”
Not quite knowing what to do with the idea that Edgar still seemed to understand her far too well, Wilhelmina gave a bit of a shrug. “Perhaps I was simply trying to hide from you because I didn’t know what to say to you after all these years.”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “That excuse would have been more believable if you’d been at a loss for words for more than a second since I’ve been in your company.”
Narrowing her eyes right back at him, Wilhelmina found herself caught in his gaze, the intensity having her breath catching in her throat. Knowing he was not going to be distracted from the subject at hand, she allowed her shoulders to sag ever so slightly. “Oh, very well. You’re right. I was embarrassed and didn’t want you to see how far I’ve fallen in the world.”
Both of her hands were suddenly taken in his. “You, my darling friend, are not, and could never be, defined by the position you hold within society.”
“I’m fairly certain I’ve been defined by society as nothing more than a wallflower these days.”
Drawing her closer, he tipped her chin up and met her gaze. “You may be known as a wallflower to society, Wilhelmina, but I’ll always think of you as the most extraordinary woman I’ve ever known.”
With that, and before she could do more than let out the tiniest of sighs, he leaned closer to her, his breath warm against her face right before he claimed her lips with his own.