Adjacent but Only Just by Van Nichole

Author:Van, Nichole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiorenza Publishing
Published: 2022-09-14T00:00:00+00:00

13

In the week after the folly picnic, Malcolm’s words would not leave Viola be.

She had stripped off her gloves and nearly thrown them at him, and instead of recrimination, he returned with . . .

I understand.

I see.

Poor Ethan had never stood a chance, had he?

Ironically, she felt like Malcolm had the true heart and soul of a poet.

Literal death isnae the way we die most.

Had he known how thoroughly those words would resonate within her?

Over and over, they spun through her mind, an endless wheel looping round. She had a vision of herself stuffed inside a glove labeled with expectations and etiquette and the scores of things society demanded from a woman—body and soul restricted to the point of suffocation, the words she wanted to say lacking the breath required to live.

A death in truth.

Malcolm was correct. She did need to speak with her father, to confess her betrayal and clear the air between them.

After all, the dear man still thought she might marry Ethan Penn-Leith.

“He is simply the most marvelous gentleman,” her father said as the door closed on yet another visit from Ethan.

Ethan had called upon them dressed for travel, as he was departing immediately for a visit to his Uncle Leith in Aberdeen and would be gone for a week.

He had taken her hand at the door, bowing over her knuckles. “I shall feel bereft without our discussions while I am away. Please save some thoughts for me when I return.”

Though Viola had murmured something suitable in reply, she herself felt nothing but relief at Ethan’s leaving. She had been granted a week’s reprieve to ponder a way to approach the relationship with him. Or rather, to inform Ethan of the lack of a true relationship between them.

Which only left confessing to her father.

“Mr. Penn-Leith is to be commended,” her father continued, leading the way back into their small front parlor. “What a dedicated and devoted suitor he has been to you, daughter.”

Viola paused in the doorway. The air sat heavy with warm humidity, the sort that promised rain by evening. But for now, the large bow windows were pushed open wide, allowing the room to air.

The caretaker of their cottage must have felt the urgency of the impending rain, as two gardeners worked away in the front garden, their shears snicking and scythe shushing as they trimmed bushes and cut the lawn. The sound carried in through the open windows.

“Mr. Penn-Leith has never professed to be my suitor, per se,” she hedged, stepping into the room.

“Bah! The man can scarcely tear his eyes from you.” Her father waved a hand. He sat in his preferred tartan wingback chair beside the cold hearth, picking up a book from a side table. “Though you likely should be more obviously doting, if you wish to bring him to the point.”

Oh, dear. This was precisely what Viola feared.

She had to tell her father . . . now.

The sound of shears snipping hung in the room as she fought to suppress a wave of anxiety, her stomach quivering.

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