The Davenports(67)

Amy-Rose wished that was all she felt. But it was like a body blow she didn’t see coming. “The storefront is leased.”

The banker nodded.

“To someone more suitable than me?” Amy-Rose watched the man across the table brace himself. She felt him study her features, which had relaxed in resignation. Even her grip on the arms of the chair loosened enough that her knuckles returned to their natural brown. Did he expect me to scream and carry on? His demeanor eroded the rest of her resolve. This was no argument she could win. “Excuse me,” she said. “I need air.”

Amy-Rose burst out onto the street, where the trolleys squealed on their tracks. The sounds of the city, the strength of the sun as summer approached, snapped her back to the present, to the news that brought her lower than she’d felt in years.

She paid for a buggy to take her back to Freeport Manor. With no property to rent, the splurge was irrelevant. The pressure to be careful with each penny seemed silly. Unnecessary. The ride calmed her and allowed her time to wipe her tears away. How could this have happened? Amy-Rose did everything the way she was supposed to. She had laid out her plan. Every extra dollar locked away in a bank vault. And for what?

After the bouncing ride, the solid ground outside Freeport’s carriage house felt too firm. Amy-Rose walked to the servants’ entrance on numb feet.

“Amy-Rose!” Tommy called from the stables.

Her pace quickened. She felt too raw to talk.

Gravel kicked up to her heels as he came to a stop next to her. “Hey, why didn’t you stop?” Tommy stepped ahead of her and his brows knit together. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Amy-Rose inhaled a mixture of horse sweat and the soap he used. The skin around her eyes was tight and puffy. “Mr. Spencer leased the shop.” She exhaled heavily, feeling the sting of new tears forming. Tommy’s arms held her tight until they’d passed. He waited quietly until she had sniffed away the bitter taste at the back of her throat and began to tell him what happened at the bank. It made it real, recounting the banker and her so-called options, but no less painful. “I was outbid!”

“Hold on. What happened?”

“Mr. Spencer leased the shop to someone else. After the time we spent together. He encouraged me, answered my questions.” Amy-Rose shook her head. “How could he lie to me?”

Tommy kicked at the gravel. “You don’t know that he did.”

Amy-Rose pulled a face. “A purchase like that takes time. I was there not two days ago and he didn’t say anything.” She gestured to the house, the garage and stables. “And it’s not like he doesn’t know where I live. He could have broken the news to me himself.” Tommy opened his mouth and she felt her temper flare. “Don’t tell me it’s just business. That’s what the man at the bank said. ‘Just business, nothing personal.’ As if they didn’t look at me and decide I wasn’t capable.” A fresh sob pushed its way past her chest. Tommy stood next to her, a silent salve to the pain and disappointment that escaped through hot tears until she was too exhausted to stand. She leaned against the siding of the house, letting the heat soothe her. “What am going to do now?” she asked, her voice a hoarse whisper.

Tommy shoved his arms into the bib of his overalls. “You can come out west with me. Like I said, there will be loads of opportunities out there. We can start fresh.”

California.

It seemed so far away from everything she knew. Sure, once the girls were gone, there would be no real reason for her to stay on. Eventually, she would have to leave the room upstairs.

“Listen, you don’t have to decide right now.” Tommy smiled. “Just know that it’s an option.”

Amy-Rose watched him walk back to the stables. He had his head tilted to the sky, whistling to the breeze. He’d made his decision so clear, he seemed to have left all his troubles by the wayside. Opportunities and options. That was what the banker said too. As she pushed her way inside, Amy-Rose wondered what other doors remained to be opened.





CHAPTER 30


    Ruby



“Ruby, dear, if I have to hear you sigh one more time, I will stop this carriage and have you walk home.” Mrs. Tremaine stared at her daughter seated opposite her in the open buggy.

“I was not sighing,” Ruby said. She fought the urge to cross her arms over her chest, choosing instead to readjust her skirt so its leaner silhouette would be free of her mother’s fuller one.

“You and Olivia spent the entire lunch nibbling at your sandwiches and gazing into full cups of tea. It was as if Emmeline and I were the only two there.” Her mother looked out into the distance.

Ruby wasn’t sure when the carriage left Freeport Manor to arrive near Jackson Park. It brought them out of their way to get home. Perhaps her mother wanted to watch passersby. The buggy itself moved at a pace slow enough to lull her to sleep.

“I understand why Olivia was distracted.” Her mother’s voice dropped several octaves, though they were well out of earshot of anyone. “Emmeline said she and William gave the couple a little nudge.” She leaned back in her seat. “She was concerned it may have resulted in a bit of a setback, but I assured her, it will all work out in the end. I bet the ceremony will be grand.”

Olivia did look preoccupied, but excited or anxious were not the words Ruby would have chosen to describe her inattention. In fact, Olivia had vented for nearly twenty minutes before she was calm enough to meet their mothers for lunch. Ruby had thought about divulging more of her own troubles with romance, and Olivia had tried to draw it out of her, but there was no good way to explain what she’d done.