A Bluestocking Christmas Read Free Page B

mistake to come here. She shook her head. No the library had always been a haven for her. A place of quiet solitude. The driver, having jumped down from his seat, opened the door.  
    She gave a start as she stared into his weathered face. There was something so familiar about him that it made her heart skip a beat. It was as if he was an old friend she’d not seen in a long time, and it made her want to impulsively reach forward and touch his face. The outrageous notion held her in place for a moment as she struggled to place him. She immediately shook off her fanciful thoughts. No doubt, she’d been one of his customers in the past and remembered the kind, avuncular air about him.
      “It don’t seem right leaving ye ‘ere all alone, miss,” a frown crossed the man’s face. “Why not let me take ye home.”
    “Thank you, but I’ll be perfectly safe inside.”  
    “Do ye plan to stay long, miss?” The driver jerked his head toward the library, a worried expression on his kind, but aging, features. “I could fetch ye in a couple of hours. Not too late mind ye, I need to be getting home early, seeing ‘ow’s it’s Christmas Eve and all.”
    The man’s offer was too tempting to reject, and Ivy accepted his hand to alight from the black hansom cab. With a smile of gratitude, she nodded.
    “That would be extremely kind of you. Would nine o’clock be too late?”
    “Not at all, miss. Ye’ll be my last fare for the evening.”
    “Thank you,” Ivy said as she moved up the steps of the library and inserted the key into the door’s lock. “I promise not to keep you waiting.”
    “Don’t mention it, miss,” the driver said as he climbed back up to the high seat of the cab and the door of the library creaked opened. “Hopefully in there ye’ll find the courage to forgive yer cousin. Would be a shame fer ye to let the past deny ye a lifetime of happiness. But then maybe your visitor will help ye.”
    The driver’s words sent shock waves rippling through her. How did he know about Caroline, and what visitor was he talking about? Fear trickled down her spine, and she jerked around to confront the man, but the hansom was already rolling away down the street at a decidedly fast clip.  
    Suddenly frightened that she had made a terrible mistake in coming to the library, Ivy quickly passed through the building’s front entrance then locked the door behind her. For a long moment, she stood with her back pressed against the door in the cold, dark foyer pondering the man’s words. He’d said visitor. What if he were to try and break into the library with an accomplice. Ridiculous. What would anyone want from the library at this late hour?  
    As for her cousin, the man couldn’t possibly know about Caroline. How could he? She tightened her lips in self-disgust. It was nothing more than her subconscious trying to convince her to forgive her cousin and seek Simon’s forgiveness. Bitterness became a knot in her throat. Simon and Caroline were the ones who needed to seek her forgiveness.
    The sudden notion of offering her cousin the opportunity to atone for her sins flitted through Ivy’s mind. Perhaps there was a way for Caroline to earn Ivy’s forgiveness. Ivy would take the children and raise them as her own if her cousin agreed never to see her daughters again. It would hurt Caroline as deeply as Ivy had been hurt all those years ago. She was certain of it. She would see to it that little Ivy and her sisters would want for nothing.  
    An image of her aunt’s vitriolic expression flooded her mind. The picture was so real that she flinched. With a shake of her head, she rejected the vengeful idea. No, she wasn’t that heartless. No matter how deeply hurt she’d been by Caroline’s betrayal or her aunt’s obvious contempt, Ivy refused to become like them. She remembered all too well the loss of her parents. It would be cruel to tear her nieces away from their mother. It didn’t matter that Ivy would