Page 99 of I Do, I Do, I Do
Before they rode off in a swirl of dust, Tom blew Zoe a kiss. “You’re pretty, you’re a great cook, and damn, I’m sorry!”
The minute they rode off, Clara and Zoe turned on Juliette. “Why did you send them to the cemetery?”
“We need time to compose ourselves,” Juliette said, sounding a hundred times more calm than she felt. “We need to decide if we intend to forgive them.” She called to Mr. Glascon, “Drive on, please. We wish to return to the inn.”
Clara gasped and clapped a hand over her heart. “Weneed to decide ifweare going to forgivethem?”
Zoe frowned. “Juliette,weare the ones in the wrong!”
“Well, I don’t think so.” She lifted her chin. “We confessed all, and they did not forgive us. It took them a whole week to realize they were wrong not to understand. They let us down.”
“But they finally understood why we couldn’t tell them about Jean Jacques, and here they are! I want to throw myself around Bear’s neck!”
“And that’s what you should do. But onlyafterhe begs your forgiveness and you decide to forgive him.” She knew she was speaking in the prissy voice, but couldn’t stop herself. “Aunt Kibble always said a person should begin as they mean to go on. It’s excellent advice.” She lifted an eyebrow. “Do you want to spend the rest of your lives always being the one who apologizes and hopes to be forgiven? Or would you prefer to be the one who is apologized to and who grants the forgiveness?”
Zoe nodded thoughtfully. “Clara, I believe Juliette has made a very good point.”
“I see it, I see it. How long should it take to forgive them?” Clara hastily pinched color into her cheeks and pulled at the frizzy red tendrils curling on her forehead. “How do I look?”
“You look fine, wonderful.” Zoe found a tiny vial of perfume in her handbag, touched the backs of her ears, then handed the vial to Juliette. “Hold out as long as you can, Clara, before you forgive him. Juliette, is my hair coming out of the pins?”
“There are a few loose tendrils, but it’s charming.” Juliette dabbed perfume at the base of her throat and then gave Clara the vial. “Tell me, does this look soulful?” She blinked her eyes and tried to look wounded but loving. “Do I look like a femme fatale?”
“Your expression will melt Ben to his knees.”
They tumbled out of the carriage, called hasty goodbyes to Mr. Glascon, then rushed into the inn’s lobby.
“They have to be only minutes behind us.”
“Damn. There’s no time to freshen up!”
Clara stepped up to the startled Mrs. Wilson. “Some gentlemen will be arriving momentarily. We have need of the privacy of your dining room again.” A clatter of hooves sounded outside.
Without waiting for Mrs. Wilson’s approval, they lifted their skirts and dashed for the French doors as the inn’s front door slammed open and men’s boots sounded in the foyer.
Bear burst into the dining room and his gaze devoured Clara. “Of course you’re respectable and better than me. That’s how I want it, and that’s the end of it.” He talked as if picking up a conversation begun a minute ago. “As for the rest, I’m an idiot.”
“I’ve held out as long as I can. You’re forgiven!” Dashing across the room, Clara flung herself into his arms, and he swung her up and in a wide circle before he set her on her feet and wrapped his arms around her.
“I understand why you couldn’t tell me.…” She smothered his words with kisses.
Ben swept off his hat in front of Juliette. “I was angry and I said it all wrong. I don’t give a damn if some garbled story gets out and creates a scandal that rocks San Francisco. And I don’t care about Villette. The only thing that matters in my world is you, Juliette. I love you and want to spend my life with you. Can you forgive me for not seeing the situation from your viewpoint?”
“Oh, Ben. I’ll always forgive you, and I’ll always love you.” A joyous smile lit her expression, and she rushed into his arms. “I’ve missed you so much!”
Tom gazed down at Zoe. “I love you, and I believe you love me. We can work out everything else.”
“I lied to you, Tom.”
“I know it, and I don’t like it. So don’t do it again.”
“I won’t.” She tilted her head and gazed up at him, loving the sharp handsome angles of his face, the twinkle in his green eyes. “It took you a week, huh?”
He laughed and pulled her against his body. “You never saw three more miserable men in your life. Lord, I’ve missed you, darlin’! Are you going to forgive me for not trusting that you had reasons for doing what you did?”
“I forgive you,” she whispered as his lips came down hard on hers.
“Ladies? Gentlemen?” The man who had ridden with them cleared his throat and led a somewhat dazed Mrs. Wilson into the dining room. “Take your places, please.”
