Page 67 of The Orphan of Cemetery Hill
“Caleb,” she said softly, “I made a home for you in my heart since the first moment I saw you all those years ago. I’ve just been waiting for you to come and take your place in it.”
This seemed to take him by surprise. He took a step back, his lips twitching into a frown. Perhaps he hadn’t actually expected her to return the sentiment and was at a loss for words. But there was no denying the look of smoldering longing in his eyes.
“Well?” she said expectantly. “Is there something you’d like to ask me?”
“I suppose I... That is, I’m asking if you would marry me,” he said, the words seeming to surprise him even as they came out of his own mouth.
Her heart stopped in her chest, and for a brief, terrible moment, she was sure that he was playing some sort of cruel trick on her. But one look at the desperate vulnerability on his face told her that he was in earnest.
“Of course I’ll marry you,” she said, unable to stop the laughter from bubbling up in her throat. If the trials of the past months had taught her anything, it was that happiness was fleeting, and it could be found only within oneself and the love one shared with others.
“Oh, thank goodness.” His shoulders sagged in relief and he closed his eyes. “My mother would never forgive me if I came home without an answer in the affirmative from you.”
At this, Caleb finally broke free of where he had been standing, and before she knew what was happening, he was leaning in to kiss her. Instead of a hungry embrace, he simply brushed his lips reverently against her temples. She closed her eyes, relishing the sweetness, the warmth of him. But no sooner had she opened her eyes than her world threatened to break apart again.
“What is it?” Caleb followed her line of sight to where two figures were picking their way over the ice at the cemetery gate. He frowned. “Do you know them?”
Tabby knew them all too well. “My aunt and uncle.” She could feel Caleb stiffen at her words.
“The nerve of them,” he muttered, moving to put her behind him. But she held her ground.
Her aunt looked thin, drained of color with her dark hair pulled severely back under a moth-eaten fur hat.
“Tabby,” she said with a tight smile. “Dear, dear Tabby. I know we left on less than ideal terms, but I come bearing no ill will.”
Tabby didn’t say anything.
“I understand why you ran away all those years ago, but it can be different now. You’re a grown woman and I’ve seen for myself how you have come into your powers. Come back and join us, and you’ll share equally in the profits. Just look at Cora Hatch and the fame she has achieved.”
“Your aunt is right,” her uncle put in. “Just think of the profits.”
Tabby ignored him. “You must have heard that your good friends from Harvard have been apprehended and charged with all manner of crimes. I wonder what would happen if your role in their despicable scheme was known.”
Her aunt’s face went even whiter. “What...what do you mean?”
“I know that you helped them. I know that you provided information to them, gleaned from your clients about when and where they could find bodies. I know that you helped them apprehend Alice. I have no interest in seeing you jailed, but neither have I interest in ever, ever crossing paths with you again, or hearing that you are cheating money out of the bereaved.”
She hadn’t needed him there, but it felt good to have Caleb’s steady presence behind her as she confronted the monsters of her childhood.
“I see,” her aunt said, her dark eyes shining with hatred. “Well. You always were a wicked, ungrateful child.” She sniffed. “Come along, Harold.”
“Tabby,” her uncle said with a tip of his hat, before her aunt could yank him along by his arm.
When they had gone, Caleb slipped his arm about her waist. “Well done,” he murmured into her ear. She leaned into him, her legs shaking.
Mary-Ruth and Alice were returning. “Was that...” Alice looked back at where the figures of their aunt and uncle were retreating through the gravestones.
“They won’t bother us again,” Tabby told her.
“They should be put on trial, just the same as Mr. Whitby,” Mary-Ruth said.
Now it would be her aunt and uncle forever looking over their shoulders, too afraid to set down roots.
“We’re going to go find some hot chowder and strong ale. Are you two lovebirds coming?” Mary-Ruth asked with a raised brow at Caleb’s arm around Tabby’s waist.
“You go on ahead,” Tabby told them. “There’s something I need to do.”
She watched as Caleb turned to join Mary-Ruth and Alice. “Wait,” she said, reaching out and taking him by the arm. “Come with me. Please.”