For the first time, his father's bluster sounded half-hearted to R.J.'s ears. "I'll have to disinherit you, then."
"I've wrapped up all that I could. I believe Jamison will be a good replacement for me. I've given over all my notes to him."
"Jamison?" His father's ruddy complexion turned pale, and his eyes closed. "Annabel was right. Marrying that girl has ruined you for Boston." With a sigh he said, "Very well. I'll put you in charge of developing an English branch? You can bring her back there, and the dust of scandal will settle soon enough." He brightened, as if the idea for R.J. to put Jamison in charge and leave Boston had been his idea. "Take Susannah with you. Find her a lord to wed and she'll soon be laughing about her wild thought that she could be a doctor."
R.J. protested. "You will be alone, then, Father."
"Nonsense. The doctors will see Annabel well again. And while they do, I'll have the business. And you will make us prosper on the other side of the Atlantic. The duke's connections will see to that." He blinked, as if he were convincing himself of the truth of his words. "Just a good business decision."
"Yes," R.J. echoed, feeling the emptiness of the words, "It will be good for business."
"I can see why you married her, R.J." His father said softly. "Do you know she begged me to forgive you. She promised if I did, she'd never set foot in Boston again. Quite a woman. Pity she gathers scandals like shepherds gather wool." Blinking twice, the old man turned and went back inside, leaving R.J. to wish, once again, that his mother had lived. Maybe she could tell him how to make amends to a woman who was willing to cross an ocean to avoid tainting him with her scandal.
He sighed. He could not expect all miracles. His future was his wife. He supposed she would be stubborn about the idea that he would keep her, scandalous jade that she had been painted. He smiled, thinking how he might forestall any chance for protest on her part.
Boston dwindled to the size of a city trapped in a glass toy as she stood upon the deck of the steamship. How odd that it was only six months' time since Juliet had seen it grow in her sights, full of promise and potential. No one could have told her then that people as deliberately and quietly cruel as Annabel existed. Or as foolishly afraid of the hint of scandal as Jonathan and R. J. Hopkins.
"How will I find them in San Francisco, when we are done in Rome?" Dominic tugged at her skirts shyly.
"Like I told your father," Juliet smiled down at him, enjoying the way his eyes lit at the word 'father' in reference to Phineas Abernathy. "We will sail directly there. No need to follow the settlers in a train of wagons, as your brothers and sisters must do."
"But —"
"Dominic, trust me. I will see you make your way back to your family after you have finished your training." She crossed her heart solemnly. "I have promised your father, and he would have my head if I did not keep my promise." She took a coin from her purse. "Go and buy yourself a sweet bun to calm your nerves, please."
She had spent the two days before her ship sailed refusing to think about what she could have done to prevent R.J.'s loss of faith. But now the pain vibrated through her until she wanted to cry out, no doubt bringing more disapproving eyes upon her.
She sighed. At least she had managed to get the children straightened out for the arduous move ahead of them. Phineas had hired three nannies with Annabel's funds, but the children were going to be a handful, even if they had one fewer for the trip.
Juliet had called upon the banker the duke had left funds with, in the case Boston did not welcome her. He had been generous. Generous enough that she need not sail directly home. So she had convinced Phineas to let her take Dominic to be trained for the opera in Italy. Missy had been quite put out until Phineas had promised she would have singing lessons when they reached San Francisco.
It had been satisfying to see their joy to have a permanent home with Phineas, at last. It was only her own life that needed to be sorted out. Had she done the right thing to leave R.J. to his father? She did not want to go home to Miranda without knowing the answer to that question.
All she knew was that she could not bear it if he were unhappy. The business was his life. He loved it, just as he loved her. She could never make him choose.
The one thing she knew was that after a lifetime of believing there would never be a man for her, she knew there was. And his name was Romeo, whether he liked it or not. She sighed and rested her cheek on the ship's railing. What had she done?
* * * * *
He had decided to wait until the steamer was much too far away for her to jump into the water, or convince the captain to turn around. The sorrow in her gaze as she watched Boston disappear on the horizon gave him pause. He had expected that she would forgive him. But what if she did not?
No matter. He stepped close to her, and murmured. "I have to say I admire those buttons of yours, Mrs. Hopkins."
She turned. For a moment her eyes widened and surveyed him, from head to toe, as if she were afraid to believe the evidence of her eyes. Breath caught, she held out her hand and touched the broadcloth of his jacket. On a cry of joy she closed the distance between them, and then she was wrapped in his arms.
"Did you think I would let you go?" Reluctantly, noting the disapproving gazes, he set her on her feet again. "No more scandals, Dominic will never forgive us."
She smiled at him, and then she frowned. "You went to the orphanage? You spoke to Phineas?"
"I did. I told him not to tell you. That you would only argue. That I would find you when you had no choice but to accept my company for a few weeks' time."
She looked at him, as if she were torn between kissing him and scolding him. "Unless I take myself to the ladies' cabin."
"You cannot bear the ladies' cabin. You would suffer me before you retired there."
"I would, if you would suffer me. Phineas and I—"
He said quietly, taking her back into his arms briefly to press his lips into her hair, "I knew you didn't betray me, Juliet. I just didn't know how to convince the world you are innocent."
"Have you figured out a way?"
"No. The world will have to think of Juliet however they will."
She stepped back from him, and closed her eyes as she asked, "Do you believe I will ever stop causing scandal?"
"I hope not." He laughed. "Without you my life would be nothing more than business and duty. You brought me joy. You made me see there is more to life than business and reason."
"What about your father? His business?"
"I gave him no choice. If he wanted his son, he had to take his wife as well." He brought her back into his arms and gave her a kiss that smothered any answer she might have had.
"And Susannah?"
"Father believes she has come to London with us."
"You will support her plans, then?"
"I have seen her to school. I hope it goes well for her."
After a while, she broke away from him. ''I'm afraid we're creating a new scandal, R.J. If your father hears of it, perhaps Simon will employ you?"
He ignored the shocked stares of the other people on deck and pulled her back into his arms. "I can find employment anywhere, Juliet. But there is only one you. And I want you, scandals and all."
He murmured into her hair, "There is only one question left to be asked. "Do you want the top bunk or the bottom."
She moved her mouth to whisper in his ear, "Whichever one holds you."
* * * * *
The trip to Italy was glorious. Sun during the day. An incredible moon at night. Dominic was accepted as a student. One day she hoped to see him onstage, his voice mesmerizing operagoers as it had the other orphans in Boston.
"Are you ready to face your scandalous past again in London?" R.J. took her hand in his as they stood quietly enjoying the sunset on their secluded balcony.
"As long as I have you, I can face anything," she said softly, squeezing his fingers. "Even gossipy old crows who will count months to see if our child comes too early?"
"There's no fear of that," he said softly. "We've been married a good half-year."
"Well, that's one scandal we won't have to live with, then," she teased.
He laughed. "The first time I saw you, I knew you were a remarkable woman."
"The first time you saw me, you thought I was a shallow, heartless flirt." Juliet smiled at him to show him that the knowledge no longer haunted her. "And I thought you a passionless man with a dried husk of a heart."
"Thank goodness we had the moon to show us the way."
Kelly McClymer fell in love with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White as a child. Her most prized possession is her copy of The Complete Tales of the Brothers Grimm. These are the stories which gripped our ancestors as they huddled around the fire at night, which taught countless children to persevere through hardship and succeed against the odds. Her favorite fairytale remains "The Six Swans" -- where a young sister must not speak a word for six years in order to save her brothers from their stepmother's evil spell.
The Fairy Tale Bride (Miranda's story)
The Star-Crossed Bride (Valentine's story)
The Unexpected Bride (Hero's story)
The Impetuous Bride (Juliet's story)
The Next-Best Bride (Helena's story)
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