“Very,” she clipped.
“Then that leaves me with no option then. I’ll change my will. After my father, your Grandfather, passes everything to me, I will pass everything to Freddie, and he will run Copper Island.”
“And what will happen to me?”
“You will always have a roof over your head, a full stomach and clothes to wear. But you will never work a day in your life to earn money. You will be a Turner. But mark my words, if you do not marry Sullivan, you will inherit nothing.”
Astonished by her father’s words and old-fashioned values, she ran from the room and Turner Hall. She hurried as fast as she could, wishing she had a push bike to get to the quay to meet Jonathan to see what they would do next.
She turned the corner and saw Jonathan waiting for her, checking his watch every few seconds. When she ran to him, she saw a small brown suitcase at his feet. Jonathan had on his hat and his overcoat. She skidded to a stop a few feet away.
“Jonathan?” she said, her bottom lip wobbling knowing deep down what was about to happen.
He took two steps towards her and cupped her cheeks. Then he planted a soft kiss on her lips.
“I’ve been booked on the next ferry off Copper Island. Your father’s men visited me early this morning to tell me I no longer have a job and, therefore, no longer allowed to stay on Copper Island. They forced Pete somehow to tell me the room was no longer available to rent.”
“I’ll come with you,” she said, tears streaming down her face.
“I have no money, nowhere to live. So they’ve arranged for me to work at a school with a live-in bed and board at an all-boys school for wayward children. No women allowed. It’s in the middle of nowhere.”
“Oh, Jonathan, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been banned from making any contact with you. If I do, they will also evict you from the Island, with no job or anywhere to live.”
“I don’t care. I’ll find a job and live near the school. Then, we can save for a house.”
“Your father’s men have made it very clear if I have any more contact with you, they will find out. Furthermore, I was promised that I would be permanently watched. They threatened to harm you, Cyn. I am not going to put you in danger.”
Cynthia looked left and then right, searching for an answer. She didn’t doubt the extent to what her father would do to get his way.
Then she had a brainwave. “Then we’ll runway overseas,” she said.
“I have no money, and neither do you,” he replied.
It was true. Neither of them had enough money to get as far as London.
“This can’t be goodbye,” she sobbed.
“I’m afraid it is. I’m just glad I got to say goodbye. I love you, Cynthia Turner,” he said with a watery smile, sliding his hand to her neck and smoothing his thumb along her jaw.
Cynthia’s heart was breaking in two. There had to be a way.
“I love you too, Jonathan. I will never take this ring off. And I will never give up finding a way for us to be together.”
“Marry Sullivan,” Jonathan whispered.
Cynthia took a sharp breath in like he’d slapped her. “I will never marry Sullivan or anyone else.”
Jonathan kissed her so deeply that she thought she would feel his embrace forever. He wrenched himself away, picked up his case and walked away from her.
She wailed when he walked up the gangplank to the boat and disappeared.
“I will never marry,” she whispered. “No matter what.”
She crumpled to the floor in her perfect white dress and sobbed into her hands until the boat pulled out of the dock, carrying the one thing she had ever loved. The one thing that was hers and hers alone.
