Mr. Weatherby
“What a surprising day,” Jonathan said to himself once he had seen Lord Hamilton and Lord Addington off and returned to his study. Johnson had refilled the brandy decanter, and so now he sat with a glass in hand, thinking over all that had happened.
“You are quite the merciful one, Jonathan Weatherby,” he said, chuckling, tipping the contents of his glass into his mouth. He refilled his glass again, wondering at just which feelings were taking him over in that moment.
He had grown tired of angering his daughter. After Charles had left, he could barely sleep, thinking of the way both Sophia and Charles had looked. Jonathan had tried so hard to make it work. He wanted that kind of a son-in-law, one that he could trust and respect. But he should have known that matters of the heart were more important.
He had felt that way about his own dear wife when he’d first asked to marry her. He wanted Esther more than anything else, and it had been his heart that had guided him, not the amount of her dowry.
“I should want that for my daughter, as well. I do not know why I have kept it from her,” he grumbled to himself. But soon enough, after another glass of brandy and more thoughts of Jasper’s enthusiasm, he set to chuckling again.
Jasper Addington was going to make his daughter happy. Johnathan knew it, for she had never so set against her father than in these last days when she was trying to tell him just how much she loved the man. And so, he would go along with Jasper’s plan.
Just then, he heard a knock on his door, and the voice of his daughter. Good thing he had thought to lock it, for she had tried to open it. Trying to keep his laughter at bay, Jonathan called out, “Go away, Sophia! There is nothing to say!”
He heard her stomp away, and he started laughing again, this time in earnest. Oh, how she would rail against him when she found out the truth.
***
Sophia
In tears, Sophia returned to her chamber, flopping down on the bed, with Anne at her heels. “What happened?” Anne said, frantic.
She sat down on the bed, her hand patting Sophia’s back. “What did you discover?”
Sophia let the tears flow, for there was no stopping her despair now. Her father was immovable and for what purpose really? Only to see her live a life of misery?
“They have left now, and when I went to ask Father about it, he merely sent me away, saying that there was nothing to say! He has rejected their offer, Anne, I just know it! Why else would they just leave and so quietly, and why else would Father lock himself in his study?”
“He locked himself in?” Anne asked, surprised. “I wonder why he would do that.”
Sophia sat up, her sadness suddenly mixing with a fresh dose of anger. “Probably to protect himself from what he knows will be my wrath! How could he do this to me? Cut me off from the one man I love!”
Anne chewed on her lip for a moment, trying to remain calm, before she said, “Tell me exactly what your father said when you asked him.”
Sophia did, and Anne shrugged. “Well, perhaps it is not so decided as you say, but more like they need to discuss a few more details before making a final decision?”
Sophia shook her head. “I think it is best not to continually attempt to bring my hopes back up, for they are always dashed, with father at the helm of my ruin. I wonder what Mother would have said, with Father acting as he is now. I wish there was someone around he would listen to when they gave him a piece of their mind!”
She flopped down on the bed again and set to weeping. Anne frowned and left the room. Sophia could hear the soft click of the door, and she knew it was for the best. She was entirely inconsolable, for now her future was bleak. Would she ever find love again if her father would not let her have Jasper?
Did she even want to? What was life going to be like if she had to be stuck with a man who would pale in comparison to the one who held her heart? Sophia let her heart pour out onto the pillow, and it felt so good to finally find some relief.
A few hours later, Sophia heard Anne’s voice calling her to awaken. Groggily, she sat up, rubbing a hand over her face. She could feel that her eyes were a little swollen, and she wondered what a horror she might look. “Anne,” she said softly, “I did not realize I was sleeping. What time is it?”
“It is after dinner, but I have brought a tray for you. However,” she paused, handing her a letter. “A messenger came just a bit ago, and I thought you wouldn’t mind being woken for this.”
Sophia nodded, wondering what it could possibly be. Her heart wanted it to be Jasper, but what more was there to say? She took the letter anyway, unfolding it in her hands.
Meet me at the edge of the forest in the park at sunset.
Jasper
Sophia looked up at Anne, her eyes wide. “What is this, Anne? He wants to meet me again? But why?”
Anne frowned, taking the letter in hand. “I am not certain, miss, but surely it is for the pleasure of seeing you again. I told you, perhaps not all is decided just yet.”
Sophia grimaced. “I do not know if this is the wisest idea. I do not wish to bolster my hopes once more, like I said.” She sat back against her pillows, a line forming between her brows as she thought it over.
On one hand, if her father had refused Jasper, then what point was there to drawing out the pain of his loss? But on the other hand, she couldn’t resist seeing him just one more time, sharing one more touch, perhaps one more kiss before they went their separate ways.
“Anne, I must go. Help me dress, and we shall meet him together.” Her voice sounded confident, but underneath she was trembling. She feared that she might burst into tears suddenly at the sight of him.
“Yes, miss,” Anne said smiling. “I like the idea that there could be a little hope left.”
Just as the sun was beginning to set, Sophia and Anne made their way through the park, this time on foot. They attempted to be a little more circumspect compared to their last meeting with Jasper, and yet, Sophia worried that someone still might find them and set the whole city’s tongues to wagging when there would be no proposal out of it.
The park looked lovely, drenched in the warm evening sunlight, and she wondered why more people didn’t walk at this time as opposed to in the bright morning sunshine. This was definitely much more romantic.
Time to forget romance, Sophia.
She shook her head, attempting to forget the warm feelings that thoughts of romance brought to her heart. She would have to accept her reality and move on. Grief was growing so tiresome.
“You know, I never expected to fall in love, Anne,” Sophia said as they walked, clutching her hand to her cloak.
“Oh? Why not?”
“I do not exactly know, but there was something that scared me about it. I remember seeing the women of my acquaintance a few years older, leaving their families after their coming out, moving into their husband’s house, and I never wanted that, to be removed from my home and put into a stranger’s.”
Anne chuckled. “A stranger’s? But certainly you would have known the man.”
Sophia smiled at her youthful innocence, her eyes drawn to the fading sunset. “I suppose, but those women I mentioned were married within months of their coming out. You know very well that a woman cannot be with a man unchaperoned. So I felt that they could never get to know each other. Perhaps that was why I was so adamant about having secret meetings with Jasper before he left.”
“Yes, but you were chaperoned there as well.”
“Of course, but you were supportive. You did not stop us from talking and sharing. I felt that I had made a true friend in him, and he held my heart entirely before he left. It came upon me unawares, I think. From the first moment I saw him in that ballroom, my life was changed. Do you feel that way about your John?”
Beaming, Anne said, “Yes. Whenever you spoke of Jasper, and when I saw your heartbreak after he left, I knew that it was true love, for I felt it myself after I met John. He is everything I could have ever dreamed of and more.”
Sophia turned back to her friend. “I am so happy for you, Anne. What a wonderful thing. I know exactly how it is to feel that way.” Her smile turned into a slight frown, and she made a deep sigh.
“I suppose now I must get used to being alone. To living a life without the man who holds my heart. It will be a difficult thing, but I will have to learn. Many have done it before, I am sure. There is no way that I am the only one in this cruel world to experience such heartbreak.”
“But, Miss Sophia—” Anne began, but their heads turned when they heard footsteps approaching them, and Sophia’s eyes lit on the broad-shouldered form of Jasper, and her heart tightened and melted at the same time.
Was it to be the very last time she could set eyes on him? Would the pain ever get easier?
“Sophia,” he said with a large smile, and she frowned as she approached him hesitantly. Why should he be so happy?
Her heart flipped. “Jasper,” she said, wishing that she could pause that moment in time and preserve it forever. The moment before he told her the news. That her father had rejected his offer and that it was all over between them. Perhaps even that he was returning to the Americas.
She held her breath as she waited and looked up into his eyes.
And then an idea came to her. An idea that might not be entirely logical or wise, but an idea that would give her Jasper forever. She blinked up into his handsome face, the idea sending trickles of warmth through her every muscle. There was a solution, after all, but it was somewhat risky.