The Davenports(89)

Olivia gently pulled away, keeping her arms on Helen’s shoulders. Helen felt her sister’s eyes roam over her face.

“My goodness, you’re acting like we’ll never see each other again,” Helen said, as if the same sentiment hadn’t just crossed her mind. Olivia’s eyes were already red, the skin around them shiny and puffy. “If you start crying, I’ll have to join you, so stop.”

“All right,” Olivia said. “I’ll stop, if you promise not to start. Are you sure you don’t want me to at least tell Mama and Daddy that Mr. Lawrence and I aren’t together anymore?”

“And have them lock you in this room until they find out why you’ve changed your mind?”

“I hardly think they’d do that.”

Helen raised an eyebrow. “You honestly want to find out?” Olivia pinched her bottom lip between her teeth. “I will tell them. When the time is right,” said Helen.

Olivia pressed her cool hands to her cheeks. After a few deep breaths, she returned to the task at hand. Helen watched her sister pull out a small suitcase from under the bed. The clasp of the luggage popped open and Olivia turned to the clothing draped over the furniture.

“I love you,” Helen whispered as she hugged her sister from behind. “Now, get to packing.”

Helen left Olivia in her room, singing loudly and off-key. Her lack of any skill hid the shakiness of her voice.



* * *



—

Helen again considered a stop-off in the garage, but her conversation with her father about how she spent her free time was still a sore subject. Today, she’d stay away. She walked past the morning room when strange movement outside on the patio caught her eye. Helen entered the hall and walked quickly to the nearest exit. She rattled the French doors open.

Jacob Lawrence stood there, squinting into the bright sun, pebbles clinking in his hand. He threw one. It bounced off the windowpane with a clear, high ping.

“What are you doing?” she said, staring up at the window above.

Mr. Lawrence started. He rubbed the back of his neck and tossed the remaining stones into a bush. “I was trying to get your attention.”

“By throwing rocks at the linen closet window?”

He chuckled. His sheepish grin made him seem not so adult as she thought when he’d first arrived. He’d grown more relaxed in the weeks he’d spent in Chicago. Helen wondered what other sides of him might be revealed in the coming months, years even.

“Is she really leaving?” Mr. Lawrence looked through the doors Helen had left open.

“Yes,” she said, a bittersweet feeling tingeing her words. She closed the doors and led them out of sight. She couldn’t believe they had a chance. Helen always thought love was for other girls. Her passion for the family business, no matter how many obstacles stood in her way, was the only thing she had going for her. It was the only thing she wanted. Now, with Mr. Lawrence by her side, she would have someone to share it with.

She reached up onto her toes and found air where she expected his mouth to be. Helen opened her eyes to a pained look on his face. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Her insides felt cold. As soon as the question left her lips she wished them back. She wanted to stay in this blissful bubble of possibility.

“I have to tell you something.”

Helen laughed nervously. “Don’t tell me there’s another fiancée I have to help escape town.”

Mr. Lawrence didn’t seem to hear her. His gaze was fixed on the spot in between them. She could feel it widening the longer he stared.

She touched him then, taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her.

“I love you, Helen,” he said.

“I already know that.” Her words sounded harsher than she’d intended over the alarm bells ringing in her ears. Whatever he was working up to saying, she didn’t want to hear it.

“I have a confession to make.” His body tensed. “I lied to you, your family. I’m broke. The Lawrence shipping tycoon is my great-uncle. My father abandoned the family business when he was my age and was cut out of my grandfather’s estate.” He sighed. “I’m what they call the poor relations. I was—” He stopped. All his swagger and bravado had disappeared.

“Looking to marry a girl with means?”

“No, I intended to buy myself back in. With help or employment. Meeting your father at the newsstand was merely a coincidence. Fate.”

Helen let go of his face. A chill had spread from her core, leaving her fingertips stinging with pins and needles.

“I do love you. All my feelings—they’re true. But I don’t have much to offer you now. Will you have me anyway?”

He reached for her, but Helen felt numb. Her nose stung with the threat of tears and her vision became watery. He waited for her to say something. For the first time in her life, Helen Marie Davenport was at a loss for words. No textbook or etiquette manual prepared her for his revelation. She remembered the hours they’d spent talking, sharing parts of themselves they rarely shared. Did he not trust her? Why would he have not told her this sooner? Would he still have married Olivia if she hadn’t fallen for the lawyer?

He did touch her then and her reaction was reflexive. She stepped beyond his reach. Helen found her voice, stronger than she would have imagined.