I shook my head. “Maybe about a thousand dollars?”
“Alright.” I heard typing, followed by a sharp exhale. She was at her computer. “Shit.”
My chest tightened. “What?”
“Nothing… let me try to figure this out. Flights are not cheap. For anything without a sketchy layover, there is only business class.” There was more typing.
“What are you finding?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
“Economy is completely sold out, and I’m not sending you through Russia. Okay. Here it is. But you’re not gonna like it.”
“Does it get me out of here?” I turned to my suitcase and zipped it closed.
“It looks like the best way to get you home is a flight leaving Dublin next week. It is the only thing that we can afford, even combined.”
“Next week?” I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts straight. “Go ahead and book the seat.” Keys clicked through the phone. I nearly choked, looking around the room that had once felt so luxurious. Now the walls were closing in on me, his scent clinging to everything around me. I refused to look at the bench at the end of the bed. “God, I should have listened when you said this would end badly.”
“Well, you aren’t dead.” Her smirk came through the phone, and I couldn’t help but chuckle as she continued. “Remember the gift I gave you just in case you weren’t back by your birthday? Time for you to open it.”
“Is this really the time?”
“Don’t argue with me. Just get it.”
I sniffled and removed the gift from my backpack, where it had sat for the past few days, turning it over in my hands before ripping off the paper and opening the box. My mouth dropped open as I wrapped my head around the stack of twenty-pound notes in my hand. “Amy! How much is this? Why? How?” I could barely form all the questions.
“Because you were being impulsive and stupid, and you wouldn’t have taken it from me. There are two thousand five hundred pounds there.”
The thumping in my chest softened, and my stomach knotted. “Where did this come from?”
Amy’s words were soft. “Hugh agreed to let me empty the wedding fund. I know it isn’t much, but we only want something small and—”
I pulled in a sharp breath. “No. Amy…” My eyes stung again.
“I needed to know you would be safe, and now you will.”
“I’ll pay you back. Every cent. And you will have the wedding of your dreams.” My throat was tight.
“Only with you there.”
I wrapped an arm around my stomach as my gaze fell to the portfolio. “So I have about a week?” I ran my fingers over the supple leather before opening it. Names of places stared back at me—locations I might never get the chance to see again, that my mother would have adored visiting.
“Yes. What are you thinking?”
“I’m going to follow in Lady Isobel’s footsteps and explore the spots important to her, just like my mother would have.”
Amy chuckled. “What do you mean?”
“I’m here, right? And this—this is everything my mother ever wanted me to learn. I may as well take the chance. It’ll give me something to do.”
Amy was silent for a moment, as if she was considering chastising me and telling me to go to Ireland. Finally, I heard her inhale. “Where are you headed first?”
I bit my lip, glancing at the clock—seven thirty. Everyone would be in the drawing room for dinner soon. “It is probably too late to get started now, so I’ll find a room somewhere in London tonight. Hold on.” Just as I was about to lower the phone from my ear to search, I realized I would need to leave itbehind. It wasn’t right for me to steal it from Cormac, no matter how much money they had. I didn’t want any ties to them at all. “Can you see if you can find a place with a room tonight for me?”
“Yeah sure.” I heard the keys again. “What about near the train station?”
“Perfect.”
“Ready for the address?”
