I leaned my bicycle against the bushes, steadied myself, and walked to the front door. I wasn’t going to use the key, in case his wife was home. I hoped that I could speak to him on the porch without anyone noticing. I pulled the chain and moments later, Thomas answered. He stood there, blinking at me as if I were some terrible illusion, but then became enraged. He looked around the yard, violently pulled me inside, and shut the door. He wrenched me with such force that I stumbled into the living room. I could see out the dining-room window into the backyard. Mr. Whitlock was standing in the middle of the grass with his hands over his eyes.

Thomas hissed at me to get away from the window and pulled me back so that I was hidden from view. It hurt so much that I gasped and tried to twist away but he held me firm.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

I was so stunned by his actions that I momentarily forgot my entire purpose for coming to the Nightingale House.

“I—I needed to talk to you.”

“We have nothing to discuss.”

“But I thought—”

“You shouldn’t be here! I told you my wife was becoming suspicious. My little shit of a daughter told her that she saw us on the Fourth of July.”

I couldn’t believe he used such foul language about his daughter. I didn’t know this man.

“Is your wife here?” I asked.

“No, she’s still in Boston, caring for her mother. Her health is deteriorating again, and she couldn’t handle the brat while taking care of her.”

This wasn’t the man I thought I cared for. This was a monstrosity.

“And you need to leave, right now.”

“I thought you cared for me.”

“Don’t be stupid, little girl.”

I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

From the backyard, I heard Mr. Whitlock call out, “Ready or not, here I come!”

Thomas threw open the front door. “You are leaving, now.”

He dragged me to the porch, down the path, through the open gate, and into the road. Once we reached the bicycle, he spun me around to face him and gripped my shoulders. “Now, you listen to me; if my wife finds out this time, it’s over. If she leaves me, it will cause a scandal and I’ll lose everything. I will not let that happen. Do you understand me?”

I couldn’t speak.

He shook me and said, “Say you understand me, you little bitch!”

I nodded, horrified.

He relaxed his grip but not his intensity. “Now, get on your bicycle, go away, and never come back.”

He turned, walked back into the house, and closed the door.

I stood there, trembling, and choking back sobs. I leaned down and picked up the bicycle. As I did, I saw his daughter, Katherine, hiding in the bushes.