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Chapter Twenty-Three

L ily practically skipped into the house through the garden doors in the early morning hours. She planned to sneak back in as she had the previous time she had entered late.

But this time, she wasn’t so lucky.

She was halfway across the library when she abruptly stopped at the sight of her father standing in the doorway.

“Lily Evans, where have you been, and what are you doing?”

Together, she and Colin had done their best to reassemble her clothing and hair, but she still did not look as polished as she did when her lady’s maid put her together.

They had laughed, mostly at Colin’s look of disbelief that she wore this to every event, in every type of weather, even if it was to sit at home.

She was no longer laughing.

“Does it matter?” she asked her father, lifting her arms to the sides. “You have already determined my fate. What will you do now, lock me in my room?”

“That might be my only option.”

She prayed he was joking.

“Lily,” he said, the anger fading somewhat, showing her the man he could sometimes be, when he gave her the time.

“I don’t want it to be like this between us.

But you haven’t left me much choice. You cannot sneak out of the house, running around who knows where with God knows whom.

Do you know what you are doing to yourself?

“I do not want to do this either, Father,” she said, her exasperation equal to his. “But you are not allowing me to be who I want to be or be with the person I want to be with.”

“Which is who?”

“I cannot say.”

“Colin Thornton.”

“I did not say that,” she said, but she had never been a proficient liar.

“I told you to stay away from him,” he said, his anger rising again, his face turning from pale to pink to a slightly mottled purple in an alarmingly short amount of time.

“And I told you that he is the man I want to be with,” she said, knowing just what this could mean for Colin, but it seemed that her father was sure of his identity, so anything she said now no longer made much difference. But she had to protect him and his position as best she could.

“Colin does not want to see any estrangement between us, Father,” she said. “I met with him only for him to tell me that I am better to stay with my family.”

“He is right,” her father said gruffly. “But you went to him anyway. By yourself.”

“I did.”

“Lily,” her father said, advancing into the library. “What if you had been seen? You could be ruined!”

Well, she was ruined, but she was actually quite glad of the fact.

“Just leave things be,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound too desperate. “Manchester Central has a match today. You need Colin if you have any hopes of winning.”

Her father swallowed hard, which told her the truth of the matter – that she was right. Colin did play a major role on the team, and playing without him would mean the loss of at least a couple of goals and likely the game.

“Get some sleep,” he said gruffly. “We will speak of this later.”

“What about Mother?”

“She doesn’t know about all of this yet,” he said. “Best to keep it that way, at least for now.”

Lily nodded in relief. Her father wasn’t a bad sort – not usually. He just had a hard time seeing outside of the only life he knew, the same one that he expected of her.

In the meantime, she would change for a visit with Emmaline.

She had much to tell her. Much that she would like to revisit herself.

For one thing was for certain – last night was one she would never forget, for the rest of her life.

“There something you’d like to tell me, Thornton?

” Colin heard the growl coming from his surly captain, but all he could see now were the laces on Rhys’s shoes as he bent to tie his own.

When he finally looked up, he found Rhys staring down at him with a frown and beefy arms crossed over his chest as the rest of the team took to the field behind them for practice.

“About what?” Colin asked, knowing as he said it that it was the wrong response.

“You promised to see the Evans girl home safely last night. Today, I am told that she did not return home until the wee hours of the morning, and Harcourt is hot to remove you from the team.”

Colin’s insides turned at the thought. Somehow, Lord Harcourt had found out that he had been with Lily. He wondered how much the man knew. Of all that he knew could have come from last night, he hadn’t wanted his club to pay the price, but he should have known it was possible.

“I—”

“Save it,” Rhys said, shaking his head. “Lucky for you, an entire committee would have to make that decision, and the rest of them are more concerned with winning the Cup than Harcourt’s daughter’s reputation. But he’s coming for your head, Thornton. I’d be careful if I were you.”

Colin nodded.

“I know it looks bad, Rhys, but her father is trying to marry her off to some nob who I wouldn’t even allow to look at my sister, let alone tie to for life. I’m trying to find the best way forward.”

Rhys’s features softened so slightly that anyone who didn’t know him would have missed it.

“And just what are you going to do about it?” he asked. “Marry her yourself?”

What did it say that suddenly, that didn’t sound like such a bad idea to Colin?

“Don’t worry over it,” he said, trying to dismiss Rhys as he took a few steps forward, but Rhys stuck to him.

“Do not do anything that would cause me to lose my top forward.”

“Aw, Rhys, I didn’t know you thought so highly of me,” he said with a grin, causing Rhys to roll his eyes and slap Colin on the back to get him moving.

“Get out there,” he said from between gritted teeth. “And prove your worth so that you’re not sacked by this time tomorrow.”

“I always knew you loved me, Rhys!” he called over his shoulder as he ran out onto the field, the captain’s snort following him.

The crowd's roar filled Colin’s ears as he jogged onto the pitch at their home ground in Manchester. The cold bit through the wool of his uniform, but the weather was perfect for a football match, although perhaps not for those in the crowd, which he peered into, trying to find Lily.

But he had to put her out of his head for the next ninety minutes. His job was to score goals, and score goals he would, or some of his dreams could be over before they even began.

"Let's go, lads!" shouted Rhys, as he walked to centre field for the coin toss. "No mercy today!"

Tommy and Felix nodded their heads vigorously from the wings. When Rhys won the coin toss, he passed the ball over to Tommy, but the Old Estonians proved their mettle when they came out on the attack. Their forwards were quick and nimble, dancing around the defenders.

When Rhys took control of the ball, Colin sprinted up the pitch, calling for it.

Rhys sent a beautiful long pass in his direction.

Colin leapt, catching the ball with his head in midair and directing it toward the goal, but their keeper made a brilliant diving save.

The Estonians counter-attacked quickly, catching the rest of the team on their heels as they had likely been anticipating Colin scoring as he usually did.

Instead, the Estonians’ striker came up with the ball and ripped a low shot that just missed the corner post — far too close for comfort.

As the half progressed, Manchester finally began to find their rhythm. Colin made some threatening runs into their box, narrowly missing a cross from Tommy.

Their defense was suffering. Mickey was slow getting back on defense and made a couple of sloppy passes. The Estonians capitalized on one of his mistakes, their midfielder intercepting his pass and having a go from long range. Hardy, the keeper, was just able to tip it over the crossbar.

Manchester regrouped around the bench at halftime, the score tied with no points a side.

"Come on Mickey, get your head in the game," Rhys said, patting him on the back. "We need you out there."

"I can’t get my feet on the ball,” he said in frustration as they nodded in sympathy. They’d all had those days.

When the second half began, the intensity ratcheted up even higher. Both sides flew around the field, desperate for the go-ahead goal. Colin stomped the turf in frustration as the Estonian defender blocked another one of his shots. They were knocking on the door but couldn't break through.

With twenty minutes to play, disaster struck.

Mickey tried to dribble through two defenders near their own box.

The Estonians picked his pocket, and their striker pounced on the loose ball.

With only Hardy to beat, he coolly slotted it home.

The few away fans cheered as Manchester was now down a goal with time running out.

“Keep it away from our goal, Mick,” Colin called out as they jogged back to midfield. He didn’t want to make Mickey feel any worse, but on an off-day, he should have kept himself as far away from putting the game at risk as he could.

Manchester poured on the pressure, Rhys spraying passes all over the pitch, Colin trying to spring free, but the Estonians surrounded their goal with defenders.

With one minute remaining, Tommy whipped one across the field in a last desperate cross.

Colin lunged with every ounce of his being, his cleats leaving the ground as he stretched toward the ball.

His head connected and the ball rocketed through the posts just as the final whistle blew.

Manchester had tied the game. The home crowd exploded as Colin looked around, searching out Lily to share the moment with her, but was unable to find her.

In the ensuing huddle, the players were all grins and back slaps, but there was still work to be done. Extra time loomed.

"Alright, lads, we've got them on the ropes now," Rhys rallied. "Let's finish this!"

Manchester came out firing, Colin and Tommy both narrowly missing chances. But the Estonians weren't going quietly. Hardy had to make a spectacular leaping save to keep the score level.

Finally, Rhys played a beautiful through ball to Colin.

He was in alone on the keeper. Colin took a touch to steady himself and then, as the goalie charged out, coolly chipped it over his head and through the unattended goalposts.

As cheers sounded around them, Colin sprinted to the corner, his teammates in hot pursuit.

The team nearly couldn’t overcome their excitement as they filed into the bathhouse.

Securing a spot in the next round of the FA Cup was a huge accomplishment.

But it had been too close. Far too close.

Colin couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. He just wasn’t sure what it was today.

But like most things, he was sure he would find out soon.