Happily Ever After Read Free Page B

her composure.
    Three years ago, with her mother’s and her
father’s avid blessings, she had promised herself to Harlan. Three years and
two months she had waited for him to come home and marry her, so that she could
go and make them another perfect home. She had gladly rebuffed the advances of
all her would-be suitors until every last one of her friends was wed, and only
Sophie remained. And still she had waited, content in the knowledge that her
darling Harlan would someday return from some faraway exotic land to claim her
for his bride—like some knight in shining armor.
    Poppycock!
    They were supposed to have lived happily ever
after... together with three children and a miniature pony for their
daughter—all nothing but a young girl’s foolishness!
    And, yes, indeed, she had been a young girl when
Harlan had left Boston, but she was twenty-three now, and no longer some giddy
school-miss with girlish dreams meant to be broken. No longer was she content
to make do with straggled letters intended to keep her on a shelf!
    Harlan thought he was so smart, did he?
    Jonathon’s company was the only company he sorely
missed, was it?
    Well, Sophie had more pride than to allow him to
discard her at will, only to reclaim her when it pleased him! She wasn’t about
to give him the satisfaction!
    “Please believe me… I never intended to join him,
Sophia,” Jonathon reassured her, his tone reproachful of Harlan. “I could never join in his unconscionable sophistry
against your father!”
    Sophie narrowed her eyes at Jonathon. She was just
about tired of hearing about her father! Why was everything always about her
father, his money, his connections, his name? She decided in that instant that
she would never again allow herself to be party to such an
arrangement—even if it meant she would spend every day of the rest of her
life completely alone! If a man could not love her for herself, then she just
didn’t want him!
    In fact, she rather liked the idea of being alone!
And why shouldn’t she? She didn’t really need a man in her life!
    She only wished Harlan were here so she could rip
up his letter and toss it into his face—along with his wretched
engagement ring and a few well-chosen words.
    She felt almost giddy at the thought, empowered
with the decision to forsake the wretch.
    “Sophia,” Jonathon pleaded. “Please don’t weep, my
dear.”
    Startled by his request, Sophie straightened her
shoulders. Weep? Oh, but she wasn’t weeping!
    Though she could certainly understand why he thought
so, with her back to him and her head bowed as it was. Her brows drew together
suddenly as a thought occurred to her.
    Why, indeed, wasn’t she weeping?
    Maybe she was simply in shock?
    Yes, that must be it; she would break down later
when Jonathon left. And then she would sit down and write a scathing letter to
Harlan, breaking off their engagement once and for all—she only wished
she could be there to see his face when he read it—the rat! She wasn’t
about to wait about like some ninny for her fiancé to deign to return, simply
to tell him to go to the devil. She absolutely would not put her life on hold
one instant longer!
    It was Sophie’s father’s money and connections
that had won Harlan his prestigious grants, and Sophie had supported Harlan
with all her heart, wishing him to be happy in all his endeavors, and now it
just wasn’t good enough to simply see his grants declined.
    Resentment sidled through her.
    Perhaps he wouldn’t regret losing her, but he would regret losing her father’s
support—although she didn’t precisely know what her father would say
about all this. She had no idea if he would support her or if he would endeavor
to convince her that Harlan meant no harm... that all men strayed... that it
bore no reflection on his feelings for her... but for the first time in
Sophie’s life, she intended to take a stand. She was quite untreatably weary of
being the good daughter!
    A devilish thought