“When everything settled—when the truth could no longer be ignored—I could not remain under my parents’ roof. After Yuletide, I wrote to Her Majesty and requested a diplomatic post. I left for Vienna a few months later, just after my father’s passing. I have been abroad these past four years—trying and failing to outrun the memory of what I did to you.”
He paused, then added quietly, “I only returned because… Victoria died.”
Violet blinked. “Victoria?”
He cleared his throat. “My wife.”
“Died?”
He nodded once, tightly.
“She had loved another before our marriage—the third son of a duke. Her family forbade the match, insisting she marry me instead. And she obeyed. He… Edward… did not survive the heartbreak. Shortly after our wedding, grief drove him to take his own life. And when she learned of his death…”
He closed his eyes.
“I was not the only one trapped by duty.”
Violet stared at him, stunned. The truth settled slowly, painfully.
“All this misery,” she whispered, “because it was the expected price of maintaining class and position.”
“Yes,” he said softly.
A long silence followed—heavy, suffocating.
“Why come here?” she asked at last. “Why drag all of this back into the light?”
“Because when I returned home, my mother suffered a fit of conscience. She gave me our letters and revealed that you had been pregnant, as well as the location of this cottage. And because I could not breathe another day knowing what I’d done without trying to set something right.”
He stepped closer, not touching her, but close enough she caught the faint scent of sandalwood she had always, against her will, associated with him.
“I came because I have loved you for most of my life. And if you’ll allow it, Violet… I want to make amends. I would marry you now as I should have then. I would spend the rest of my days repairing what I broke—if you gave me even the smallest chance.”
Her world tilted, a dizzying shift she fought desperately to contain.
She opened her mouth, yet no words came.
“Can you truly tell me,” he whispered, “that you have not missed me? That you have not thought of me in all these years?”
Her throat tightened, stealing any answer before she could form it.
“I know I am to blame for all of it,” he said. “If I had been stronger, none of this would have happened. I have been half-alive since that afternoon in the rose garden. But finding out about Lily…”
He closed his eyes briefly, a shuddering breath escaping him.
“I did not come to take her. I did not come to disturb the life you’ve built. I came because I wronged you—terribly—and I could not live another day without telling you the truth. I want only to be near you and Lily… but only if that is something you would permit.”
Violet stepped back, needing distance. One step. Then another.
“This changes nothing,” she whispered.
“I know,” he said quietly. “But you deserved to hear it.”
“And now?” Her voice quivered despite her best efforts.
“Now…”
His voice was steady.
