34

It was not Josefina Herrera’s habit to spy, but the sound of soft crying, of a sweet voice speaking in low, pained tones, drew her toward that old materials room.

“How can this be?” Marcus de Silva’s unmistakable voice came from inside the room, terse and low. “You’re certain?”

An unseen woman’s soft voice responded meekly with something in the affirmative.

“Well then, you must deal with the situation. Immediately.” He sighed and his voice melted into a soft, caressing tone. “Not to worry, I’ll be by your side. I’ll look about for a surgeon.”

“No!” The suddenly emphatic voice drew Josephine closer, hand upon her heart. “I will not allow it, Marcus.”

“Your future will be over. Ruined. I’ve seen what you can do on that stage, darling, what has become of your career. And it’s only just begun. I will not let you throw it away because of a simple accident. We will fix this.”

The silence quivered. So she was a dancer—someone from Craven?

The woman’s voice came again, low and firm. “I mean to stop. To quit the theater.”

A bang sounded. “Quit? Be serious, Vi! This isn’t finishing school, it’s your life. Nothing will ever be the same.”

“Is that such a terrible thing?”

“And what of your dreams? Do you truly want to let them go, just like that?”

Her voice was soft, but steady. “What if this is my dream?” A brief silence. “I do love the ballet, but I want this new chapter in my life even more.”

“Then you’d simply be a wife and mother, absolutely no different than any other woman. I’d be ashamed to be your husband, and we’d both be ruined besides—all our years of work, everything we planned. Is it really worth all that?”

“What you want me to do . . . it is monstrous, Marcus. Utterly despicable.”

“So now you’ve set out to prove you truly could have both. Is that why you’re here, practicing so late?”

“Yes.” Her voice was soft, her eyes bright. “As it turns out, I merely proved that I couldn’t. I’m already exhausted, Marcus. So tired of dancing, but I push myself, because you want it. You and my parents. The only thing I truly want is what you’re asking me to destroy, and I simply will not do it.”

“We have no choice—I will not sit back and let you destroy your career, your very dreams. Our future.”

Her voice grew dangerously steady. “And I will not let you destroy our child.”

“It’s not a child, it’s a leech. A problem. You’ll not be able to dance when it grows bigger—why, you’ll barely be able to walk!”

“A leech?”

He was silent. There was pacing. “Listen, Vi—”

“No, you listen, Marcus. You may be my husband, but you have no right, under God, to force me to end a life that the Almighty has created.” A soft rustling as she moved close. “Created between us, out of our love. Don’t you see how precious it is?”

“If it came in another five years, yes. I could see the beauty in it. But now, when everything is just beginning for us? I’m sorry, but it simply isn’t possible. Nor will you convince me to want it. I’ll send a surgeon by your rooms and we’ll speak no more of this.”

“Marcus!” Her voice was frantic.

“That’s my final word, Vi. As your husband. As head of this family. I will not accept any refusal from you. I give into your whims whenever I can, but on this, I will not be moved.”

Something slammed, then the footsteps stalked away, and it was over.

I clutched the arm of that couch so hard my fingers ached.

So that was the big secret. That was the reason for the end of their epic love story—the end of Mama’s stage career. He’d been the love of her life, she his prop. And I—an unwanted mistake. I could barely breathe around the shattered pieces of my heart. Never before had I felt the intense burden of my existence, and such a disconnect from humanity and purpose. I had ruined everything—simply by existing.

I climbed to my bedchamber and stared at my face in the mirror, the plain features offset by vivid eyes—the eyes of my father who wasn’t truly a father at all. He was merely a man accidentally saddled with a child. I took that hurt to bed with me, huddled up around it, and tried to sleep before the big performance.

When I woke in the morning, the sense of loss felt heavier. There was only one thing I could do with myself, one place I could take all my thoughts.