Forever Safe (Beacons of Hope)

by Jody Hedlund

  Tom didn’t respond. He was a man of so much honor that he probably considered a few stolen kisses a crime. He wouldn’t rise to his own defense. He’d likely allow her father to think the worst of him.

  Sure enough, the silence incited her father, and he lunged at Tom again.

  “No!” Victoria shouted, moving in front of Tom and coming face to face with her father’s anger. Tom attempted to slide around her, but she fought him. “Tom’s been honorable. He’s a good man. Just like you, Father.”

  Her father stilled. He glared at Tom but allowed Mother to pull him back.

  “Even though we’re married,” Victoria continued, “Tom has kept our relationship chaste.” She wanted to hide her face at the awkwardness of their conversation. But she must defend him, since he wouldn’t do it for himself.

  Again silence fell around them. Thankfully, the couple at the counter had taken their leave and the proprietor had discreetly disappeared, leaving them alone in the lobby. Her mother tucked her arm around her father. At the embrace, her father seemed to shrink into her. His shoulders deflated, and the stiffness in his features gave way to grooves that showed his age.

  Victoria’s heart twisted with remorse that she’d caused her father so much worry and pain.

  Behind her, Tom reached for her hand and wrapped his strong fingers around hers. The pressure soothed her and reminded her that he loved her. He would stand beside her, and together they would build a new life.

  Her father finally released a sigh that was laced with weariness and defeat. “You understand that if you go through with your plans, you’ll alienate yourself from your friends. Very few will understand or accept your decision.”

  She squeezed Tom’s hand, hoping to ease the bluntness of her father’s words. “I don’t care. If friends reject me because of the man I love, then they weren’t worth having as friends.”

  “Victoria,” Tom started to protest.

  She shook her head at him. “I mean it. I don’t care.”

  “Your father’s right,” Tom said. “You’ll likely become an outcast if you marry me.”

  Her father glanced at Tom again, and this time he seemed to study him more carefully, as though finding an ally instead of an enemy. The thought of the two of them joining forces made Victoria’s heart quaver.

  “You married Mother,” she said quickly. “She wasn’t from among your elite circle of friends. In the long run, it didn’t matter. Did it?”

  Her father opened his mouth as if to retort but closed it. He drew his mother closer and turned and kissed her cheek.

  The tautness in Tom’s hold began to loosen. Was he feeling the same relief that she was? She was tempted to pull him into a hug. But her father swung his attention back on them, on her.

  “If Tom is really the man you want, then I’ll do everything I can to help you both—”

  “With all due respect, sir,” Tom interrupted, “I can’t accept your charity. I won’t be beholden to—”

  “If you want my daughter,” Father’s voice rose, “then you’ll accept my charity, whether you want it or not.”

  Tom pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes on Father. Victoria could sense that he wanted to object but was holding himself back.

  Her father rose to his full height and cocked his head first at Tom and then toward the door. “I think it’s time we head down to the tavern and have a good long talk about the future and how you plan to take care of my daughter.”

  Victoria didn’t relish the thought of her father and Tom planning her future without her input. But when Tom squeezed her hand and she looked up into his eyes, something there asked her to trust him.

  She nodded and let go.

  “In the meantime,” her father said with a tender glance toward her. “I think you and your mother have a busy day ahead.”

  “We do?”

  He smiled. “Yes. You need to plan a wedding.”

  She nodded, her throat constricting.

  “Make it beautiful and spare no expense,” he said, his eyes filling with love.

  She threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. “I love you, Daddy.”

  Chapter 24

  Victoria pressed a hand against her stomach to stop the wild crashing, but no matter how many times she attempted to calm the churning, her nerves wouldn’t stop acting like a stormy sea. She retraced her steps to the second story window of the keeper’s cottage, the same room she’d shared with Tom during her stay at Race Point.

  She peeked past the curtains fluttering in the breeze to the large canopy that had been erected on the beach in front of the lighthouse. A royal blue carpet had been laid on the sand for the convenience of the guests, and the blue matched the large stunning bouquets of hydrangeas interspersed with lilies of the valley that surrounded the tent. Under the canopy, rows of chairs had been arranged facing the ocean, and most of them were already full. White lacy ribbons hugged each of the chairs and were also wound around the poles that held up the open tent. An orchestra was nearby underneath another smaller canopy. Placed slightly away from the orchestra was a tent filled with servants who were busy preparing the lobster and clam bake that would take place after the wedding ceremony.

  Victoria had wanted to keep the wedding simple. But she hadn’t been able to say no to her mother’s plans. Victoria was, after all, an only child. And her mother had been anticipating a wedding for years.

  Somehow her mother had been able to work miracles over the past three days of planning, having supplies shipped in from Boston and from other small towns around the Cape. She’d insisted on inviting a few of their closest family friends and had even arranged for Tom’s sister, Ruth, and her family to be there.

  Victoria could see them sitting in the front row next to Zelma and James, who thankfully had welcomed her with tight hugs when she’d arrived this morning. She’d appreciated Tom’s parents’ ready forgiveness for her part in deceiving them. Zelma had reassured her of her love and God’s hand at work in everything.

  Victoria smoothed her damp palms down the front of her wedding gown. Although lovely, it was plainer and more practical, something she could wear again. She lifted the train and turned away from the window. The creamy silk was studded with pearls at the waist, but otherwise had an unadorned V-neckline and just a little lace at the sleeves. A maid had fixed her hair into elaborate curls at the top of her head and decorated them with lace interwoven with seed pearls.

  With everyone already assembled, her father would likely fetch her in a matter of minutes, especially when Tom took his place next to the rector, who had traveled with them from Provincetown.

  As if the thought had summoned Tom, the tower door opened, and he stepped out in his black wedding suit with a crisp white shirt set off by a black bow tie. The dark color brought out the sharpness of his hair and eyes, but the white of the shirt showed the tan he’d gained in working outside over the month. There was no doubt that he was a swoon-worthy man. And not just in how handsome he was. But all of his qualities were admirable. Even her father was beginning to come around. Just that morning as their steamboat had docked, her father had finally admitted that he liked Tom. He’d called him humble and hardworking, but also tough, shrewd, and levelheaded.

  “He’s just the sort of man I want to run my business some day,” her father had said.

  His words had soothed Victoria’s guilty conscience at depriving her father of the social status he’d lost when she’d walked away from Nathaniel.

  Her father had monopolized Tom since the first day he’d arrived on the Cape. They’d shut themselves away in one dark room after another in private conversations until Victoria had no idea what the two men had left to talk about.

  When she’d questioned Tom, he reassured her that they’d come to an understanding about the future, about Victoria’s assets and Cole Enterprises. “I won’t take your father’s money or touch your assets,” Tom had said. “But I told him that eventually, when we’re ready to return to Ne
w York, I’ll work for him and he can pay me a fair wage.”

  Victoria had smiled at Tom’s declaration, knowing full well that her father’s idea of a fair wage would likely supersede Tom’s, and that the two men would fight another battle at some point. At the very least, she knew they both loved her and had her best interests in mind.

  She watched Tom stride in his confident way down the beach. He walked about a dozen paces before stopping abruptly and glancing back at the house, at her window. With a quick intake of breath, she shifted out of sight. She should have known he’d realize she was watching him.

  They hadn’t had much time together since her parents had arrived, and she missed him. When she’d greeted him earlier in the morning, she’d wanted to throw her arms around him and feel his solid strength against her. Her mother had hurried her along, but not before she’d seen the burning ember in his eyes telling her that he wanted to hold her too, and that he would tonight and every night hereafter and forevermore.

  Hereafter. Forevermore.

  Her chest tightened at an incoming, all-too-familiar sensation. One she’d felt only a few other times in her life. The last was in June. On her wedding day. In the front hallway of the Newport cottage. As she’d walked outside to get into the carriage.

  The swell was like a rising tide, drawing nearer, threatening to drag her under. She flattened herself against the wall and closed her eyes. “Calm down, Victoria. Calm down. You can do this.” She took several deep breaths, exhaling and inhaling slowly.

  She hadn’t expected to feel this again. Not with Tom. He was different from her other fiancés. He wasn’t a passing fancy or mere infatuation. She wanted to be with him. Longed for him. Had dreamt about when they could finally be together as a true husband and wife.

  But to be together forevermore?

  “Oh, Lord,” she whispered through trembling lips. The haunting images of a bleak, black, sightless future rushed in to taunt her. She pinched her eyes closed to block them out. “No!” she almost shouted. Her heartbeat slapped hard against her chest, propelling her across the room to the door.

  She had to leave. She had to get away before she was sucked under and drowned by her fears of the future. With a sob building in her chest, she clattered in her satin wedding shoes through the hall, down the stairs, and out the back door of the house.

  A rush of sea breeze laden with the scent of baking lobster swirled around her. For a frantic moment, she huddled against the back of the house, panicked that Tom might see her and try to stop her. Ahead of her lay mile after mile of sand dunes and beach grass. She had to get as far away as possible before he noticed she was gone.

  A sob slipped out, but she cupped her gloved hand over her mouth and started running.

  *

  Tom stood at the front of the gathering under the canopy and twisted the wedding band in his pocket that he’d reluctantly taken from her that morning. The longer the ring was off Victoria’s finger, the greater his urgency to put it back on. He shouldn’t worry about her precedence for running away at her weddings, but the thought nagged him nevertheless.

  A trickle of sweat slid down his back between his shoulder blades underneath his shirt. He resisted the urge to scratch it. Instead, he reminded himself why Victoria wouldn’t flee from their wedding. She hadn’t loved any of the other men the way she did him. This time she had no reason to run, not when their love was so real and powerful.

  Even though many of the guests were still quietly chattering among themselves, they were studying him too. He had no doubt they were wondering how he felt to be marrying Victoria Cole, the incredibly wealthy heiress to Cole Enterprises.

  He hoped he looked more composed than he felt. He’d known she was rich. He’d seen listings of Cole Enterprise’s assets when he’d researched Henry Cole before taking the bodyguard position. But he’d miscalculated exactly how wealthy Victoria really was.

  Thankfully, he hadn’t known or he would have worked even harder to push her back to Nathaniel. To ease his conscience, he’d told Henry he didn’t want any financial support. He wanted to take care of Victoria on his own.

  Henry hadn’t wanted any part of that plan and had insisted Victoria have access to her money and all of the luxuries she wanted. After a great deal of arguing, they’d finally compromised. Tom would provide for his and Victoria’s everyday needs. But Victoria would have access to her account to use at her discretion.

  Tom glanced at the front row, where Victoria’s mother was already seated and talking pleasantly with Henry’s sister and her children. In looking at her now in the latest fashion with the regality of a queen in her fancy gown, he’d never guess she’d once been a simple light keeper’s daughter.

  He doubted he’d ever make such a sweeping transformation. But he was willing to try to be a part of Victoria’s world, if that would make her happy.

  A movement by the house caught his attention. Arch, who’d been waiting by the door, was finally opening it. Tom held his breath. He needed more than the brief glimpse he’d gotten when he’d caught Victoria looking out the bedroom window. He needed to see her walking toward him on her father’s arm. He needed to see her smile to know she was okay. He needed to put the ring back on her finger and make her his for good.

  As the door widened, Henry stepped out. Tom waited for Victoria to make her appearance. But the door closed behind Henry without Victoria anywhere in sight. The muscles in Tom’s chest constricted. He willed Arch to open the door again and for Victoria to float out in her wedding gown. But the slight stoop of Henry’s shoulders was all the evidence Tom needed to piece together what had happened.

  Victoria was gone. She’d run.

  Even though panic slammed him with the force of regular nor-easter, he forced his face to remain expressionless. “I’ll be right back,” he said to the rector, praying it was true. Then, as calmly as he could so that he wouldn’t worry either his parents or Victoria’s mother, he whispered, “Give me a minute.”

  At his words, Mrs. Cole’s sightless eyes found him. The elegant lines in her face drooped with dismay. And Tom had the feeling she’d guessed what had happened too.

  He tried to keep his stride smooth and unhurried as he crossed to Henry. But a fist was closing about his throat, choking off his air. The escalating panic made him want to tear off his bow tie and suit coat and sprint as fast as he could.

  Henry shook his head gravely, answering Tom’s worst fears. She was gone.

  “I’m sorry, Tom,” Henry said in a low voice, as they met halfway between the house and beach. “I really thought things would be different this time, that she’d finally make it down the aisle. I thought you were the right man. And I thought she loved you enough to make herself do it.” His eyes held genuine remorse.

  “She does love me.” Tom hadn’t imagined it. Had he? At times he’d feared her powers over him were turning him into a lovesick sap, that he wasn’t thinking clearly anymore, that he was losing his edge. But even if he was growing a little soft, he couldn’t have misread all of the clues.

  Something else was holding her back.

  Fear. He’d seen it in her eyes before. Especially the day she’d almost married Nathaniel.

  She was afraid. He still didn’t know of what. But he planned to find out.

  “Do you know where she went?” he asked.

  Henry shrugged. The motion was filled with resignation and defeat. Maybe a father could make excuses for his daughter running from a couple of weddings. But now? There were no excuses left. Clearly Victoria had problems that even true love couldn’t conquer.

  Tom narrowed his eyes on the house, on the window, and then returned to the door. “I’ll find Victoria.”

  “But even if you find her—”

  “When I find her.”

  “When you find her, she still won’t go through with the wedding.” Henry obviously spoke from experience, had likely tried to convince Victoria in the past, to no avail.

  Tom moved away from Hen
ry. “Tell everyone the wedding will start soon.”

  Henry shook his head. “Most of them will guess what’s happened.”

  “We’re getting married,” Tom insisted. “Just tell them to wait.” He didn’t stand around to listen to any more of Henry’s protests or nay-saying. Instead, he finished walking calmly to the house. He turned down Arch’s offer to help look for Victoria. This was something he had to do for himself. He had to be the one to find her and talk with her.

  Once he entered the house and the door closed behind him blocking him from the sight of curious guests, he jolted into high speed. He raced up the stairs, taking them two and three at a time. When he reached the bedroom, a rapid sweep of the room left him no clues.

  He bolted back down the stairs and scanned the rest of the rooms before barging out the back door. One glance was all it took to see her footsteps in the sand, leading away from the house.

  She had at the most a five-minute lead. From the deep indentations and wide spacing of her footsteps, he could tell that she was running. But as he sprinted after her, he surmised that she was getting tired, a fact that was confirmed when the spacing of her footprints showed that she’d finally started walking.

  Within a minute, he saw her in the distance, struggling to reach the top of a dune. He didn’t say anything, didn’t want to alert her yet that he was close on her heels. Once she disappeared over the other side behind a tall clump of yellowing grass, he picked up his pace.

  By the time he reached the dune, his lungs burned from his effort. When he crested the hill, he stopped short at the sight of her crumpled in a heap at the bottom. His heart skidded up into his throat. Had she fallen?

  “Victoria!” He slid down the sandy embankment and fell to his knees next to her, attempting to assess her condition. “Are you hurt?”

  Her face was buried in her hands, and soft sobs echoed in the hollow.

  He lifted his hand to her shoulder but hesitated to touch her. He didn’t want to frighten her any more than she already was. But the shuddering of her body and the brokenness of her sobs reached inside and ripped at him. He lowered his fingers to her back tentatively. At his touch, she leaned toward him.