He was struck with a profound wave of amazement.
Of pride.
Love.
Here was his daughter. The daughter he had only known existed for the sum of an hour. And yet, she was his whole world. Already.
“Hullo, Lady Emily,” he told her seriously.
“Bub,” she announced with great pride, clapping her hands once more.
“Yes, bub indeed.” Awkwardly, he patted her, holding her close. Terrified to hold her too tightly. Afraid he would drop her.My God, she was such a delicate being. Perfect. And he was an oaf. A stupid, blundering, unworthy clod. “Bub indeed, little darling. You are a beauty, aren’t you?”
She beamed and cooed. “Pa!”
Her delight lit something inside him. And now he was burning in a different way. Not destructive. Just good. Good and right.
He felt, for the first time in as long as he could recall… He searched for the word, struggled to find it deep within himself.
And then, suddenly, there it was.
Whole.
He feltwhole.
“Yes,” he told his daughter softly. “That’s right, my darling. I am your papa. Pleased to meet you.”
Emily smiled again and then released a half giggle that had enough brightness for a thousand suns. “Pa!”
* * *
Sweet God,her heart.
The pain in it was staggering.
Julianna blinked furiously at the tears studding her lashes. Unexpected tears. Tears she had never thought she would shed. Because this meeting between her daughter—theirdaughter, she amended grudgingly—and Shelbourne had never been meant to happen.
She had not supposed he would react as he had. That he would want to meet Emily. Or that he would bond with her so instantly and beautifully. Right before her. It was undeniable. As much as she resented Shelbourne for everything that had passed between them—for the lies he had told her and the manner in which she had spent the last two years, hiding the truth—she could not deny the way she felt as she watched him meeting Emily for the first time.
He held their daughter as if she were fashioned of glass.
He looked upon her as if she were the entire world laid before him.
The reverence in his deep voice, a sharp contrast to the bitterness and anger lacing his tone in his every interaction with Julianna thus far, could not be ignored.
Nor could the resemblance between father and daughter. She had always known Emily favored him. After all, she had his hair, eyes, and chin. But seeing them together, her inquisitive baby girl and Shelbourne face-to-face, Julianna could acknowledge quite plainly just how much Emily was the image of her father.
She could also acknowledge how much the sight of him holding Emily in his arms affected her. More than she could have ever imagined.
“She is wonderful,” he said, tearing his awestruck gaze from their daughter and glancing toward Julianna. “But we need to speak.”
Yes, they did. Trepidation rose within her, mingling with the turbulent emotions already churning.
“Shall I return Emily to her nurse?” she asked, unsure of what he wanted.
Of where she stood with him.
“Not yet.”
