without that triumph.
She was afraid. She was so afraid.
Like father, like daughter. Oh, dear God, would it come out now? Would it all come out? And how much more damning then? What would this do to the people who loved her, who had had such hopes for her?
What was it people said? Blood will tell. Had she done something, made some ridiculous mistake? Christ, how could she think clearly now when her life had been turned upside down and shattered at her feet?
She had to wrap her arms tight around her body against the spring breeze, which now seemed frigid.
Sheâd committed no crime, she reminded herself. Sheâd done nothing wrong. All sheâd done was lose a job. Just a job.
It had nothing to do with the past, nothing to do with blood, nothing to do with where she had come from.
With a whimper, she eased down onto a rock. Who was she trying to fool? Somehow it had to do with everything. How could it not? Sheâd lost what she had taught herself to value most next to family. Success and reputation.
Now she was exactly what sheâd always been afraid she was. A failure.
How could she face them, any of them, with the fact thatsheâd been fired, was under suspicion of embezzling? That she had, as she always advised her clients not to, put all of her eggs in one basket, only to see it smashed.
But she would have to face them. She had to tell her family before someone else did. Oh, and someone would. It wouldnât take long. She didnât have the luxury of digging a hole and hiding in it. Everything she was and did was attached to the Templetons.
What would her aunt and uncle think? They would have to see the parallel. If they doubted her . . . She could stand anything, anything at all except their doubt and disappointment.
She reached in her pocket, chewed viciously on a Tums, and wished for a bottle of aspirinâor some of the handy tranqs Margo had once used. To think sheâd once been so disdainful of those little crutches. To think she had once considered Seraphina a fool and a coward for choosing to leap rather than stay and face her loss.
She looked out to sea, then rose and walked closer to the edge. The rocks below were mean. That was what sheâd always liked best about them, those jagged, unforgiving spears standing up defiantly to the constant, violent crash of water.
She had to be like the rocks now, she thought. She had to stand and face whatever happened next.
Her father hadnât been strong. He hadnât stood, he hadnât faced it. And now, in some twisted way, she was paying the price.
Â
Byron studied her from the side of the road. Heâd seen her car whiz past as he was leaving Joshâs house. He wasnât sure what impulse had pushed him to follow her, still wasnât sure what was making him stay.
There was something about the way she looked, standing there at the edge of the cliff, so alone. It made him nervous, and a little annoyed. That vulnerability again, he supposed, a quiet neediness that called to his protective side.
He wouldnât have pegged her as the type to walk the cliffs or stare out to sea.
He nearly got back into his car and drove off. But he shrugged and decided that since he was here, heâd might as well enjoy the view.
âHell of a spot,â he said as he walked up to her. It gave him perverse pleasure to see her jolt.
âI was enjoying it,â she muttered and kept her back to him.
âPlenty of view for two to enjoy. I saw your car, and . . .â When he got a look at her, he saw that her eyes were damp. Heâd always been compelled to dry a womanâs tears. âBad day?â he murmured and offered her a handkerchief.
âItâs just windy.â
âNot that windy.â
âI wish youâd go away.â
âOrdinarily I try to comply with womenâs requests. Since Iâm not going to in your case, why donât you sit down, tell me about
Constance Fenimore Woolson