Page 128 of To Know Miss May

Father had said August had denied his request to still work in the gardens. “Turned ’is nose up at it, ’e did.”

But honestly, Livvy didn’t know what she could believe and what she couldn’t—at least where Father was concerned. It was far safer to ask August herself. She’d never forgive herself if he didn’t keep the job he fought so long to earn. Especially because he lost said job due to simply being honest with Livvy.

Blowing out a slow breath, she eyed the correspondence again.

Yes, she would meet with August tonight. She needed to see him one last time, to let him know he would always hold a special place in her heart. Even if they couldn’t be together.

And more than anything, she needed to say goodbye. For on the morrow, she would be leaving the Mount forever, bidding farewell to her home, her favorite places, and her favorite people.

To add the love of her life to it as well would break her heart all over again. So she would say goodbye tonight and pray that she could survive the heartache.

* * *

August rubbed his hands together, staring out at the misty sea. In the darkness of the night, he could see very little beyond what the nearby light of the castle cast across the shores.

But he could hear the waves, and that was enough. They signaled the familiarity of the sea. Though he could no longer see the vast ocean, he knew it was still there, could hear the lapping water, smell the briny scent, feel the mist spraying up in the soft wind.

He closed his eyes focusing on the way his senses were enlivened at night due to the sea, rather than the anxious knot his stomach tied itself into over and over again, like a rag wrung free of water, though still trying to fetch some from its dry fibers.

Would she come?

The thought continued to penetrate his hopeful defenses, creating threads of doubt through the tapestries of his heart.

He’d been waiting there for half an hour, praying, hoping she would make an appearance, though he knew she did not need to. Though he knew he did not deserve it.

The movement of air alerted him first to the change around him. He turned, afraid to believe it was her, yet unable to stop the hope that lit his soul like the sun.

At first, he could see nothing but darkness, shrouds of mist cloaking him and the cliffside where they’d chosen to meet.

Then out of that darkness, a movement occurred, and he could just make out a cloaked form emerging from the mist, drawing ever closer to him.

“August?” came her whispered question.

His heart took courage, his spirits taking flight. She had come.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

“The eagerness with which we endeavor to escape from misery, taught him to encourage a remote and romantic hope that {she} yet lived for him.”

A Sicilian Romance, Ann Radcliffe

“I be ’ere,” August whispered at once.

He reached out his fingers, finding Livvy’s in the darkness as warmth surged up his arm. He clasped onto her hand with his, drawing her near.

As they drew closer, she pulled her hand from his and removed the hood of her cloak. The light reflected in the mist finally revealed her features—concerned and beautiful.

“I didn’t think ye’d come,” he whispered.

She looked up at him, vulnerability etched across her features, just as it had done countless times before. But this time, he was the one who had caused that pained look.

“Forgive me for bein’ late,” she whispered. “Father didn’t fall asleep until later this evenin’.” She looked away, as if hiding something, but August set the thought aside. He wasn’t there to ruminate. He was there to speak the truth—to have both of them speak the truth.

His eyes caressed her features, drinking them in as a man lost in the desert. Livvy was his water. His sunshine. His life.

Would his words have any effect? Would they change her mind and convince her to remain?

There was only one way to see.