Chapter Twenty
Boston, 12 March 1871
When Eliza Adams had originally invited Louisa for Claire’s bridal tea, Louisa had imagined a polite affair of old friends meeting. Claire would tell the others about her beau, and they would ooh and ahh at the appropriate places, pretending they were interested but in truth paying their social dues to a woman who held power in Boston’s social circles, although Louisa could never figure out why. Then Louisa would go home and be thankful no one had tried to embroil her in any romantic scheme because she enjoyed what she thought had been her partnership with Parnaby Cobb.
Had she really been so naive as to think he would allow her to go on forever unmarried? No, she hadn’t been naive—she’d waited at the beginning of each year starting when she turned s
