“We paid off the lease,” Bastien explained.
“We could save up more money, but…” Lucien’s hand made a gesture like brushing away flies. “Why wait?”
Jack looked like he’d swallowed a toad.
“I petitioned the government,” Lucien continued with pride. “A few others have been successful at reclaiming some lands, so there is precedence for our request. However, we’ll have to present ourselves in person for our case to be heard.”
“Pack your valise,” Bastien said, his eyes shining. “Can you believe we could have our old home back by Christmas? It’ll be a dream come true.”
Désirée touched her shaking chest as though she could keep her flailing heart inside. The thing was… itwouldbe a dream come true.
She and her brothers had literally been dreaming of their return since the very day they left.
Her stomach twisted. Shewantedher family’s land to be restored to them. She wanted to sleep in her old bed, run barefoot through the old fields, smell flowers she hadn’t even seen in eighteen long years.
She also wanted Jack. And Frederick. And Annie. If she could be in two places at once, she would do so in a heartbeat.
But her brothers needed her. They had taken care of her ever since she was too small to take care of herself, and now that she was grown, she could not abandon them or their dream.
If living all the way across town for five weeks had been hard, surviving in separate countries would be untenable. After all they’d been through together, she could not lose them now.
“Well?” Lucien prompted, eyes sparkling. “Are you ready to finally go home?”
Her throat hurt too much to allow words through, so she nodded stiffly instead.
The expression on Jack’s face was neither hurt nor surprised, but doggedly stoic, as if he had never expected the two of them to ever truly live happily ever after.
She tried to meet his eyes, but he would not look her way. Her heart felt ripped asunder. At least it was better he have his answer without asking the question, to save him the awkwardness of direct refusal.
He met her eyes at last.
“Family first,” he said without inflection.
She nodded. He understood, even if he hated her for it.Family firstwas his creed, too.
