“It’s not going to work,” he said as gently as he could.

Her look of disappointment was hard to bear, but there was no bitterness in her voice, just a hint of resignation. “Sometimes the greatest strength a man can have is not letting his pride stand in the way of moving in the right direction.”

The barb landed exactly where she intended, but he didn’t flinch. The boat arrived, and he stood motionless as she boarded without looking at him again. He watched Gwen sail away, taking a piece of his heart with her.

37

Gwen returned to her house on its quiet, shady street bordering campus a little battered and a lot sadder than when she left, but she would survive. Her life went back to normal as she worked in her garden, hosted the Friday evening soirees, and gave the good news to President Matthews about the restored funding for the college.

As the days went by, her thoughts constantly strayed to Patrick. He would fit in perfectly at Blackstone College. She could get him a job as an attorney for the college, except he wouldn’t take it. His pride wouldn’t let him accept help from her, and maybe that was for the best.

Did he think about her? Did he hurt even a little over what they had lost?

One thing she didn’t need to wonder about was what Liam was doing, for her brother kept her informed through daily messages about his progress consulting with labor union leaders and learning the finer points of the steel industry. Patrick was by his side the entire time, and soon they would approach Uncle Oscar with their plan to put Liam on the board of directors for the new company in exchange for Liam’s promise to deliver union support for the merger.

As promised, Gwen had hired an attorney to transfer half of what she inherited from her father into Liam’s name. It didn’t take long. Within two weeks, the necessary accounts had been set up and funded. Liam’s world would never be the same, but Gwen’s life continued as it always had. She was proud of Liam but didn’t participate in his journey. Her life would always be here at the college.

As June turned into July, her days were spent preparing for fall classes and managing the greenhouse. This morning she was showing Mimi how to propagate goldenseal. Behind her thick glasses, Mimi had rich brown eyes the same shade as Jasper’s, and she watched the process in fascination. They were at the worktable out in the garden, with the roots of the goldenseal plant laid out before them.

“These are the rhizomes,” Gwen said, pointing out the little nodes. “These are what we will use to propagate new growth. I think we can get four or five new plants from this one.”