“ Would you?” he questioned and some of the somberness lifted from his face. “Then, there’s something you can do for me, Scarlett, something that will make my mind easier when I’m away.”
“ What is it?” she asked joyfully, ready to promise prodigies.
“ Scarlett, will you look after Melanie for me?”
“ Look after Melly?”
Her heart sank with bitter disappointment. So this was something beautiful, something spectacular! And then anger flared. This moment was her moment with Ashley, hers alone. And yet, though Melanie was absent, her pale shadow lay between them. How could he bring up her name in their moment of farewell? How could he ask such a thing of her?
He did not notice the disappointment on her face. As of old, his eyes were looking through her and beyond her, at something else,
