The Handmaiden's Necklace Read Online Free PDF Page B

never brought up the subject again. Caro was happy to earn her way and Dani was happy for their friendship.
    “Well, then, if all of us are ready,” Aunt Flora said, “I willsend down for the carriage.” Which would take them to the dock, then head back to Wycombe Park. Lady Wycombe would eventually be returning to England, but Dani and Caro would be staying in America, making their home with Dani’s future husband, Richard Clemens.
    “Oh, this is all so exciting!” Flora bustled off to make the final arrangements and Dani looked over at Caro, who also looked excited.
    “Well, I guess we’re on our way,” Dani said.
    Caro grinned. “Just think—soon you will be a married woman.”
    Danielle just nodded. She couldn’t help thinking of the last man she was supposed to wed and his terrible betrayal.
    Richard is different, she told herself.
    And Dani prayed that she was right.
     
    The ship prepared to set sail with the tide the following morning, a big, square-rigged passenger ship, the Wyndham, with the most modern accommodations available. The captain had personally greeted the women and promised he would look out for their well-being during the journey, since they were traveling without the protection of a man.
    Dani tried to imagine a man who had ever protected her from anything. Certainly not her father, who had died when she was so young. Not her cousin, Nathaniel, who had made lecherous advances when she was only twelve years old.
    Definitely not Rafael, the man who was to be her husband, the man she had loved with all her heart.
    She wondered about Richard Clemens, but thought that it really didn’t matter. She had learned to take care of herself and she would continue to do so, even after they were wed.
    Danielle stood between Aunt Flora and Caro at the rail, looking out over the water as the ship prepared to sail. A late May wind chilled the air and whipped Dani’s pelisse around her shoulders.
    “I can scarcely believe it,” Caro said as they watched the London dock disappear in the distance. “We are truly on our way to America!”
    “What an adventure we are going to have!” Aunt Flora said brightly.
    Though Dani was nearly as excited as they, she wished she could be more certain she was doing the right thing. She barely knew Richard Clemens. And after Rafael, she was far more wary of men. Still, Richard was giving her the chance at happiness she had given up ever having.
    She leaned over and hugged each of the women, her dearest friends in all the world. “I am just so glad the two of you are coming with me.”
    But she knew the women wouldn’t have it any other way. They were family. The only real family she’d ever had.
    Now a new family awaited her in America. Richard and his son and daughter, children she wouldn’t have if she had never met him. She tried to remember his face, got an image of a man with thick blond hair and brown eyes. An attractive man, intelligent and generous.
    They had met at Wycombe Park. Richard was in the textile manufacturing business and had come to England hoping to increase his accounts. He was a guest of Squire Donner, one of Aunt Flora’s friends who lived nearby. Thesquire and his wife, Prudence, along with their houseguest, Mr. Clemens, had been invited to dinner at Wycombe Park.
    That night, after an evening of cards and pleasant conversation, along with an hour of Dani and Prudence entertaining on the pianoforte, Richard had asked if he might call on her again. Dani had surprised herself by saying yes.
    In the days that followed, they hadn’t spent a great deal of time together, yet they seemed to get on very well. And even after she had told him about The Scandal, Richard had wanted to marry her.
    Unlike Rafael, he had actually believed her when she told him she was innocent of any wrongdoing in the affair.
    Standing on the deck of the Wyndham, Dani felt the wind in her face as her gaze moved farther out to sea. She was lucky. So very lucky. God had