“I’m not joining Blake Textiles. I’m not.”
“Then how do you plan to make silk work, boy?”
“Henrietta.” The name was out before he even knew he would say it.
The fork stopped midair, and his father lowered it slowly this time, training a steely gaze on Tobias. “Your sister?”
“Yes.” He hoped, at least.
His father laughed then.
Tobias felt all the blood rush to his face, but he stood his ground. No running. Maggie wouldn’t run. He waited.
His father’s laughter subsided into almost soundless chuckles. “If anyone can make your plan work, it’s her. The girl is tough, smart. Too smart to fall for your plan, though. She has a good mind for business. She will not buy what you are selling.” He chuckled a bit more. “Ask her, though, and let me know how it turns out.”
“I don’t think I will.”
“Oh come, Tobias! Don’t be sore.” He pointed the fork at Tobias and moved it up and down, drawing a line from Tobias’s head to his feet and back again. “I like this side of you, my boy.”
“It would be better if you liked all sides of me.”
His father shrugged and returned his attention to his plate.
“Goodbye, Father.”
“Come for dinner next week!”
“What?” Tobias sputtered. “Why in hell would we?”
“I like your wife.”
“Well, I don’t like you.”
He shrugged. “Not many do, but I didn’t build an empire by making friends, boy. Remember that if you’re truly serious.”
Tobias left. He breathed in the cold air outside, and set his steps to home. He had much to tell Maggie, including the fact that she now knew everything he did about himself, and that he preferred it that way. He wanted to let her know he was done hiding from others, too. If they thought him and his ideas silly, they could laugh, and he’d persevere anyway. From now on, he’d stand naked and proud in front of everyone, like that king in the fairy tale with the invisible clothes. Only he wasn’t a fool like the king. He knew he was naked, metaphorically speaking, and he embraced it.
Chapter 25
Maggie stood outside of Henrietta’s shop for the second time that day and tapped her toes, trying to calm her nerves before entering. She had to go in. If she did not, Tobias would not know she was serious. Maggie took a large breath then opened the door. Henrietta must have opened it up, as several women chatted in the drawing room and some stood on the low pedestals before the mirrors. Seamstresses bustled back and forth between groups of women.
A shopgirl immediately swanned forward. “Mrs. Blake. Lovely to see you back so soon. Lady Rigsby is in the back room. Should I fetch her?”
Maggie looked out the wide window and on to the street. How would she know when or if Tobias would get the note she left? She had no idea when he would be home. “Yes, please.” She didn’t have to tell Henrietta everything right away. She could engage her in casual, harmless conversation until Tobias appeared, giving him a chance to stop her, to ask Henrietta to be his partner before Maggie asked her for him.
Maggie seated herself in the drawing room. The fight with Tobias boiled in her stomach. She flicked a tassel on a ribbon and imagined it the fight itself. With a miniscule jut of her finger, she could send it far, far away.
Henrietta appeared out of the back room and bustled toward her. “Maggie! Back so soon? What a lovely surprise.” Her voice sounded friendly, happy, but forced.
“Did you see and hear everything that happened earlier?”
Henrietta sank into a chair beside Maggie with a relieved whoosh. “I did. I’m so sorry. I could not help it. I cannot believe he proposed marriage to Celia! If he had asked me my opinion on the matter, I would have told him it was not a good match. But …”
“Tobias does not share much of himself with others.”
“No.”
“I thought he had shared all with me. But I knew nothing of Mrs. Piedmont.”
