Then Dries dropped the wood he’d brought in on the hearth and shook Theo’s hand briefly before he embraced me. “I do wish you all the happiness in the world, Jo.”

Annie ducked back into the kitchen, calling over her shoulder, “We must leave if we are not to be late for church.”

No time for a celebration.

Not even a toast.

I chose not to mind. I was engaged to a good man. My future had been decided at last, all the uncertainty over. Now all my questions about the meaning of life would be answered.

A thrill propelled me forward. I could not stand still. I nearly ran to the foyer for my hat.

Dries followed me. “Are you certain?” he asked in a hushed tone. “Or is it that you are desperate for a new city where everything doesn’t remind you of Eduard?”

I shot him a forbidding look. “If you ruin this for me, I shall be most cross with you. I have left the past behind. Eduard was the infatuation of a witless young girl. He was a daydream. Theo is real.”

While my fiancé stepped to the dining table and finished his wine, Dries quirked an eyebrow. “I know Theo is in love with you, but do you truly love him, Jo? Do you believe that you can make each other happy? It’s not as easy as we naively think. I want you to be joyful in your marriage.”

“I will be. I promise.” I dropped my voice to a whisper, because Theo was coming over. “I wish you would believe me.”

Dries walked away, granting us privacy.

“My dearest Jo.” Theo’s smile outshone the gaslights, as if all his worries about life had lifted like the morning mist from the Seine. “You have made me the happiest of men. How soon can we marry? I refuse to be engaged for two endless years like Dries. The sooner the better.”

“What would people think?” Common sense broke into the dream where I floated. “Heavens, the gossip that follows quick marriages.”

“I knew that I loved you three years ago when we first met. Must I wait for you longer still?”

“You will have to ask my parents for my hand first. Then, if they agree, we must have an official engagement, with a party at my parents’ house. Mama would never forgive me otherwise.”

“Next month?”

Could that be possible? A daring thrill ran through me. “If it can be arranged that quickly.”

“And the wedding?”

His impatience infected me completely. “Once the weather turns warmer. April? And we move to Paris immediately after?”

“As soon as we’ve said our wedding wows, we shall be on the train,” he promised.