She looked up, her chignon sliding to one side of her head at an unnatural angle from the impact. “Mikhail?”
“Where are you going?”
“Home.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and tucked her head into the crook of his shoulder. “Where I was hoping to find you.”
Had she just called his family house “home”? Warmth unfurled in his chest. “That’s funny, because I was coming to find you. Inessa suspected you might have gone to give your father a letter.”
Tears clouded her eyes. “He didn’t take it.”
The lout! The horrible, narcissistic, egotistical lout. If the feeling of Bryony in his arms wasn’t so satisfying, he’d be tempted to barge into the Caldwells’ fancy mansion and give the man a piece of his mind—or maybe his fist.
Instead he stroked an errant strand of hair back from Bryony’s face and gave her an extra squeeze. “I’m sorry, angel.” He turned her toward the house and extended his arm. “Now come, let’s go back home where it’s warm and you can tell me about it.”
She tucked her hand into the crook of his arm. “There’s nothing to tell. Father didn’t want my letter. That’s all.”
“What does it say?”
“Lots of things, but mainly that I’m staying in Alaska.”
He grinned. “Are you now?”
She gave him a little shove. “Don’t pretend like you didn’t know. Alexei said he told you when he visited the jail.”
“He did, but maybe I wanted to hear the words from you.”
The smile she sent him was so soft and warm, he wouldn’t be surprised if the snow melted clean off the mountains they’d hiked over all those weeks ago. “I’m staying in Alaska.”
His throat felt suddenly thick. “That just might be the best news I’ve ever heard in my entire life.”
“Really?” She slid her palm down his arm until it reached his hand, then twined her gloved fingers with his bare ones. Never mind that they were walking down one of the busiest roads of Sitka, where anyone might see them. “I assumed the best news you’ve ever heard would have been about an hour ago, when the judge dismissed your case.”
“That too.” He slanted her a glance. “I’m told I have you to thank for that.”
She blinked, seemingly confused. “Really? Me?”
“Yes. I heard that the interview you had with Evelina gave her enough information to get the case dismissed.”
She sunk her teeth into her bottom lip, tears filling her large hazel eyes. “It was the least I could do after how my family treated you. I want to say I don’t know what they were thinking or why they would do such a thing, but I understand it far too well.”
“Understand it, but you clearly want nothing to do with it.” He shifted closer to her as they walked, causing their shoulders to bump.
“No. I want nothing to do with what they did.” Her fingers tightened around his. “Which is just as well, because they want nothing to do with me. At least not my father.”
“And that’s why you went to the Caldwells? To try and make some kind of peace with them?”
She nodded. “I suspected they might be in a hurry to get out of Sitka after the Caldwells lost the case, and sure enough, there’s a ship leaving this afternoon at three. I wanted to at least try to...” She shook her head. “Oh, I don’t know what I was trying to do. In my mind, it was supposed to be an important, helpful conversation. I would explain to Father and Heath why I was staying, and they would understand and wish me well, maybe even offer to ship some of my belongings here so I don’t have to return to Washington, DC, for them. But none of it went how I hoped.”
“I’m sorry, Bryony.”
“It’s all right. I think deep down, I knew how the conversation was going to go, even though I was hoping for something better. Here.” She pulled the envelope from her pocket, tore it open, and handed him the letter.
They were nearly home, with less than a block to go, but he paused to look at it.
The words swam in front of him, just like they always did, and he handed the letter back to her after only a few seconds. “If you want me to know what it says, you’re going to have to read it to me.”
“You won’t read it for yourself?” She looked up at him, her brow furrowed in such a way that he wanted to take his thumb and smooth the wrinkles from it. “I know it’s long, but it helped to get all my thoughts on paper and sort through everything, even if Father wanted nothing to do with it.”
His shoulders rose and fell on a sigh. “That’s not why you need to read it to me.”
