Clara has found romance, adventure and love through the matrimonial columns. I could do the same, could I not?
She was not yet betrothed to Cotter Finlay but Ella knew the time for him to ask her father for his permission was nigh.
But Cotter Finlay cannot engage me if I am promised to another, can he? It was just as Clara said—if I am betrothed to another, breaking off such an engagement would look poorly upon my parents.
It was in that moment that Elle made the decision.
By next year on St. Valentine's Day, she, too, would be heading west to wed a man of adventure.