She sighed as she moved farther from Owen Hubbard. “Thank you. Again. Although on this occasion I could have freed myself eventually, but the less time I spend in his presence, the happier I am.”
“I know,” he said. He led them from the ballroom into a sitting room crowded with other guests. Mauve-colored wallpaper shone in the bright electric light from overhead. The windows remained firmly latched, even though the room was nearly stifling from the multitudes present.
“I don’t understand why you are gallant with me but are such a boor to Parthena.” She bit her lip at her rash words.
He laughed again, his usual agitation absent at the mention of his wife. “I’m not married to you.”
Zylphia shook her head at his evasive answer but did not press him for more information. As they circled the crowded room, Zylphia smiled to those she knew. “It seems ridiculous to continue with these events when men are dying on battlefields in Europe.”
“I fear you are correct, but, until our boys are involved, we will continue to live as we always have.” Morgan slowed his steps as they neared Parthena and Rowena. “What did he say that upset you?”
Zylphia turned toward Morgan, her confusion evident. “He told me Teddy is back.” She paled when she saw the answering truth in his eyes. “He is? Why hasn’t he come to me? Why didn’t he tell me?”
Morgan held her arm, a consoling caress rather than Owen’s taunting grip, and spoke with a soft entreaty. “For once be patient, Miss McLeod. Have faith in him. Don’t let others, or any foolish doubts, tarnish what you know to be true.”
Zylphia jolted when Parthena approached them, the cutting tone of her voice disrupting their quiet interlude. “Let my friend go, Mr. Wheeler. You hardly know what to do with one woman. You’d fail miserably with a harem.”
Morgan stiffened and bowed in Zylphia’s direction before glaring at his wife. “Come, Mrs. Wheeler. It is time we make our excuses to the hosts.” A severe, quelling glance silenced any complaint from her.
Parthena thrust back her shoulders and pushed past him toward the foyer.
Rowena moved to stand next to Zylphia as they watched Parthena and Morgan depart. Zylphia shared a long look with Rowena as she rolled her eyes. “That one will never learn,” Rowena muttered. “He thinks by keeping a tight rein on her that her fascination with Mr. Russell will fade.”
“He doesn’t understand love, nor does he care to,” Zylphia said. “Although I don’t know if that’s fair. He seems to understand how I feel about Teddy.”
“Do you believe Parthena still cares for your cousin? She’s seemed content since she’s set him aside.” Rowena smiled impassively at a man who approached, and he walked past them to join another group.
Zylphia swallowed a snicker at Rowena’s ability to dissuade unwanted company. “I no longer know. I thought she did, but now I’m uncertain.” She sighed. “I thought I knew her. Before she married Mr. Wheeler, she was open and would share how she felt. Since her marriage, I can no longer discern what she thinks or feels.” She faced Rowena. “When I was speaking with Mr. Hubbard, he told me Teddy’s back.”
Rowena gasped, reaching forward to squeeze Zee’s hands as she tried to contain her joy in the crowded ballroom.
Zylphia relaxed upon realizing her friend had been unaware of Teddy’s return. “Before she married, if Parthena had heard of Teddy’s return, she would have told me immediately upon arriving here at this gathering, rather than allowing one such as Mr. Hubbard to impart such news.” She paused as her roving glance met Owen Hubbard’s glower. She smiled mischievously as she turned toward Rowena. “Mr. Wheeler might have no notion of how to treat P.T., but he was correct in his advice to me. I must ignore those who would only wish to cause me pain or to provoke doubt.”
“I admire your steadfastness, Zee. If I were you, and I’d heard that the man I loved and I’d remained faithful to all this time had returned, I’d be at his door, demanding entrance.”
Zylphia shook her head, as visions of doing just that flitted through her imagination. “I would love to, but we’ve already provided enough gossip for Boston society.” She let out a deep breath. “For once in my life, I must be patient.” Zylphia paused and studied her friend, realizing she had heard a hint of longing in her voice. “Who do you wait for?”
Rowena flushed and shook her head. “It is of no matter as nothing will ever come of it.”
“You don’t know that.”
Rowena cut off Zylphia’s burgeoning argument with a frown and quelling glance. “I do, Zee. I’m relegated to pining for someone who loves another.”
Zylphia’s brows furrowed. “If I were Sophie, I’d harrumph right now.” Rowena laughed, and Zylphia smiled at her friend’s return to good cheer. “However, I refuse to believe you’ll never be loved for who you are.”
Rowena shrugged. “I’ve long accepted I’m unexceptional. Unlike you and Parthena, I have no artistic talents. I am rather plain, and I parrot the ideas of brilliant women rather than write them myself.”
Zylphia glowered at her friend. “I refuse to allow you to disparage yourself in such a manner. You are wittier than you give yourself credit for, and you intentionally hide your beauty from the unimaginative sheep gracing these ballrooms.”
Rowena laughed. “Whether or not you want to face reality, Zee, I understand I’m wanted for my father’s money and very little else.”
“Then find a man who doesn’t care about any of that. Find something that you truly enjoy. Whatever it may be. You have access to your father’s fortune. You might as well use it for yourself, rather than letting it sit in a vault and multiply for your future spouse. If you even deign to marry.”
“I’ve always been the most conventional of us all. I can’t imagine not marrying.”
Zylphia smiled. “Married or not, be the eccentric aunt to our children. I, for one, wouldn’t bow to anyone’s wishes but my own.”
Zylphia sat in her studio, a sketch pad on her lap. She had used charcoal today, and her fingers were covered in the chalklike substance. She deftly sketched the public gardens in spring bloom, despite the fall season upon her. She frowned as she shaded in the pond, grimacing as she overblackened an area.
She sniffed and closed her eyes, the frenetic movement of her fingers stilling. The faint scent of peppermint, coffee, and sandalwood permeated the air.
“Zee,” a man whispered, his voice low.
“Teddy,” she breathed, leaning toward his voice, his scent, but not opening her eyes. Tears trickled down her cheeks as she sensed the air move near her.
She battled a sob as a finger traced a tear along her cheek. Her eyes fluttered open, meeting his tender, hesitant gaze. “Teddy!” she shrieked, tossing her sketch pad to the floor and throwing herself into his arms. She knocked him off balance, and he tumbled backward, laughing as she landed beside him on the rug. Both sat on the floor, refusing to let go of each other.
“Oh, my impetuous darling, how I’ve missed you,” he whispered, peppering her head with kisses and holding her tightly with his left arm.
She kissed his shoulder, his neck, the side of his temple as she pushed herself upward to behold him. “How are you here?” she asked, unable to hide the wonder from her voice.
“I arrived yesterday.” A soft kiss to her nape dispelled the hurt threatening to emerge. “I wanted to see you immediately, but Mother persuaded me to wait until today. She informed me that our reunion could wait another day as you had important plans.”
Zylphia blinked away tears as she burrowed forward into his embrace. “Nothing could be more important than seeing you. Being with you.” She felt him relax at her words and settled for a moment into his embrace. “Talk to me. Convince me I’m not dreaming.”
“You smell like turpentine. Your hair is a mess, and you’ve just smeared my impeccably tailored suit with charcoal dust,” he said as he kissed her head again. “I couldn’t have dreamed such a wonderful reunion.” He met her amused gaze as she rose up a
gain. “And believe me, I’ve dreamed of our reunion more times than you can count.”
Zylphia traced the furrows his smile created on his face, then the new wrinkles since she’d last seen him. “Let’s not have a competition over who imagined more reunions.”
“Or whose were more vivid,” Teddy teased, rolling her under his arm and provoking a squeal. His gaze roved over her joyous expression a moment before he leaned forward and kissed her. It was at once tender and sweet, and yet a proclamation of his return to her life.
He jolted as the studio door opened, flushing with chagrin as he met Aidan McLeod’s frown. “I beg your pardon, sir,” Teddy rasped as he scooted away from Zylphia, who refrained from turning toward the door.
“I’ll have to beg Zee’s if I interrupted your reunion. Welcome back, Goff. You’ve been missed.” His astute gaze moved over Teddy, and he nodded once before he backed from the room, the door clicking shut.
“Oh my, please tell me that wasn’t my father,” Zylphia moaned, covering her face with her hands while her shoulders shook.
“Zee, there’s no reason to cry. Your father knows we belong together.”
She lowered her hands, giggles bursting forth. “Can you imagine what he must have thought when he heard me shriek? And then when he saw us?” She blushed crimson red. “It’s one thing for my father to know I love you. It’s another for him to see the evidence of it.”
Teddy’s gaze intensified, his gray eyes lit with a fiery intensity. “Say it again. To me.”
“I love you.” She studied his face, sat up taller. Her gaze wandered over him, noting changes wrought during their separation. “What happened to you, Teddy?”
“I survived,” he said, his left hand pulling the hair over his left ear.
She reached up, brushing away his hand. She sifted her hands through his silky sable hair. The only perceptible change in her expression was a slight furrowing of her brows as she catalogued the alterations that had occurred. Her fingers caressed a faint scar over his right eyebrow and a healed burnt patch behind his left ear that he attempted to cover with a shaggy haircut. Her hands continued to rove down his right arm, grasping his right hand where the tips of his three middle fingers were missing.
“Oh, my darling, how you have suffered,” she whispered as she raised his hand and kissed first the palm before kissing each finger. She sat back and met his gaze, his more guarded by the moment. “I love you, Theodore Goff. Exactly as you are. Exactly as you have come back to me.” She traced the scar over his eyebrow. “I will never wish for you to be any way other than you are.”
His eyes glistened as though battling intense emotion. “I love you, Zylphia McLeod. The woman steadfast enough to wait for me and brave enough to never lose hope I’d return to her.”
He clutched her to him, kissing her with over a year’s worth of suppressed passion. His hands roved over her head, shoulders, back, and down to her hips. He pulled her hips more tightly into his, before pushing her away with a groan. He moved his arms around her upper back, embracing her, his hands ever moving as they relearned the landscape of her body.
“Zee, can you sneak out tonight? Visit me at my house?” he whispered into her ear. “I want privacy for our reunion.”
She flushed as she saw passion’s promise in his gaze. “Yes.”
He rose and extended his left arm to help her up. She pushed it aside and reached for his right hand. She met his startled gaze and waited. He gripped her hand and tugged her to her feet.
“Did that hurt you?” she asked. At the subtle shake of his head, she stopped him from turning away from her by clasping his cheeks between her palms. “I don’t want you to hide any part of you from me. I will attempt to do the same for you. I hate that you were injured in battle.”
“I don’t want to disgust you,” he murmured.
“You’ve earned these scars in ways I will not ever be able to imagine. They are honorable, just as you are. They will never disgust me, just as you don’t.” She studied his gaze a moment and then smiled as she leaned on her tiptoes and kissed him.
He reached around her with both arms, pulling her tightly to him as he deepened the kiss. He spun them until she was backed against the door and kissed her until they were breathless. “Promise me that you’ll find your way to me tonight.” He kissed the side of her neck, and she arched into him.
“I promise,” she said. She moved with him, her arms looped around his neck, as he settled them to the side of the door.
He backed away and ran a hand over his disheveled hair and charcoal-stained suit. He took a deep breath and fought a grin as he watched her attempt to compose herself. Tracing a finger along her cheek, he dropped his hand to grip hers and raised it to his lips for a soft kiss. “Until later, my love.” Her eyes gleamed with love and the promise of what was to come as he backed out the door and closed it behind him.
“What is going on up there?” Delia asked as she moved to ascend the stairs.
Aidan placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. “Delia, come with me. Zylphia is fine,” he said.
His wife frowned but followed him into his study. “Why do you seem so pleased with yourself?” She studied his contented expression.
“Because there is now the possibility for harmony in my house.” He sat down and tugged Delia until she toppled onto his lap. “Teddy is home,” he whispered into her ear.
Delia reared back, her mouth agape as she stared at Aidan.
He nodded. “It’s a perfect reaction. There are no words created, not for our Zylphia, to express the wonder of his return.” He smiled as Delia flung her arms around his shoulders and wept. “She’ll be all right, love,” he murmured.
“No matter what happened, I knew Zee was strong enough to survive it,” Delia stuttered through her sobs. “But now she has the chance to thrive.”
He nuzzled her head for a few moments until there was a gentle knock on his door. Delia remained perched on his lap. “Enter,” Aidan said.
Theodore Goff entered the room, biting his lip as he beheld the scene of Delia McLeod sitting on her husband’s lap. “I beg your pardon for interrupting.”
“You weren’t. Delia had just finished her celebratory sob at the news of your joyous return,” Aidan said. He helped Delia to her feet before he rose. He extended a hand to Teddy, nodding with approval as Teddy held out his injured right hand. “Welcome back, Mr. Goff.”
Delia moved around the desk to give Teddy a quick kiss on the cheek before opening the study door to depart. She shared a long glance with Aidan before she slipped out and closed his study door behind her.
“Would you like anything?” Aidan asked, waving toward a bar of decanters filled with amber liquid.
“No, thank you, sir.” Teddy cleared his throat as he stood on the other side of Aidan’s desk.
Aidan moved toward the decanters and poured himself a small tumbler of whiskey, waving for Teddy to sit. Teddy sat with casual elegance in a black leather chair that creaked with his movements. “I can’t begin to tell you how relieved I was to see you today, Goff.” Aidan took a small sip of his drink. “The rumor of your return had preceded your arrival to my house.”
Teddy flinched. “I followed my mother’s advice, most likely for the last time.”
Aidan drummed a slow, silent tattoo on his chair’s armrest. He settled in as he waited for Teddy to speak.
“I seek your permission to ask Zylphia to marry me,” Teddy said.
Aidan nodded and took another sip of whiskey. After a moment he set down his drink and met Teddy’s gaze. “Don’t you believe this is a bit premature? You’ve been away for over a year, Goff. I’d think you’d want to ensure that you truly do suit before you bind yourself to a woman. Divorce might be more common these days, but I do not find it acceptable.”
Teddy frowned. “Is it that you doubt my constancy? Or Zylphia’s?” He flushed with agitation. “I fought in a damn war. Saw men blown to bits in trenches next to me. I lost the be
tter part of the use of my right hand, and, through it all, I thought only of returning to Zee. Of what kind of man I wanted to be for her if I survived.”
He nearly growled when Aidan continued to stare impassively at him. “A bomb landed not two feet from me, and, as I heard its whistling arrival, my only regret was that I hadn’t loved Zee better.”
“What happened to the bomb?” Aidan tilted his head to the side quizzically.
“A dud.” Teddy stared blankly in front of him for a moment, lost in his memories of fear, destruction, hunger, and near-death. “I thought I’d lost my chance to love the most wondrous woman I’d had the fortune of knowing.
“I love your daughter, sir. I know you have reasons to doubt me. Reasons to believe we should wait. However, I’ve learned that fate can be fickle, and I want all the time I can have with Zylphia. I pray it is many years.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I don’t need your dowry. I can provide for her on my own.”
Aidan smiled with triumph. “You’ll do, Goff,” he said as he held out his hand. “You always treated Zee well, and you challenge her in a way no one else ever has.” He smiled fully as Teddy clasped his hand. “I welcome you into my family.”
“Thank you, sir,” Teddy said as he squeezed Aidan’s hand.
“You and Zee acted like juvenile idiots before you left, and I hope the war taught you what is important.”
“It did. It has.”
Aidan settled into his chair. “You say you don’t need the dowry I have set aside for Zee, and I believe you. You’re an astute business man, and I look forward to working with you with more frequency once you are my son-in-law. However, I want Zee to have access to that money. For her causes. Her painting. Her daughters. For whatever she sees fit.”
“Do you believe I wouldn’t support her?” Teddy asked, gripping his hand as though battling indignation.
“Not at all. However, if something were to happen to you, I want to ensure that there is never any doubt as to who controls that money. I never want my daughter to worry about her future.”
Unrelenting Love: Banished Saga, Book Five Page 16
