How could I have been so ignorant, so blindly trusting all these years? Would I know if he kept other secrets from me? Now that his memory is back, will he revert to the way he was before?
Her anxiety was fed by Adam’s absence from her bed. Since their fresh start at the hunting lodge, he’d slept with her every night. Not only that, he’d kept her close, their bodies in constant contact. She’d become used to waking up entangled with him, sometimes even with him inside her, her favorite way to start a morning. These last weeks, she’d had the most restful sleep of her entire life.
But sometime in the early hours of this morning, she’d felt him leave. Exhausted from their tempestuous lovemaking, she’d dozed on fitfully. Now, looking at the empty place where her husband ought to have been, she felt uncertainty slither through her belly.
Don’t be silly, she chided herself.Now that he’s recovered from his amnesia, he must have plenty to attend to at work. Knowing Adam, he’ll want to catch up on everything immediately.
She told herself it wasn’t a reflection of his regard for her. This was simply who her husband was: a driven and ambitious man. Tonight, when he returned from the office, they would have time to converse further. She decided to plan a cozy supper with his favorite dishes. She’d have it served in her sitting room, a setting that encouraged intimate conversation. And she’d wear one of the risqué negligees that Adam had commissioned from Mrs. Yarwood.
Feeling better, she rolled over and buried her face in her husband’s pillow. The familiar scent of his spice and musk reassured her. Sitting up, she was reaching to ring the bed when a knock sounded on her door. It was Mrs. Page, her grave expression making Gabby’s fingers clutch the coverlet.
Pulse skipping, Gabby asked, “What is it?”
“Your papa’s physician sent word. I’m sorry, ma’am, but he says your father has taken another turn for the worse.”
“Gabriella, you’re here at last,” her father said from the bed. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
Despite the tightness in her chest, Gabby managed a smile. The physician had informed her that her father’s wasting disease was entering its final stages. Nonetheless, Papa still managed to give her his customary peremptory wave, his tone brisk and businesslike.
“How…are you feeling, Papa?” As she bent to kiss his cheek, she couldn’t help a tear from escaping, a trace of wetness clinging to his papery skin.
“What’s this? Are you crying?” Despite his words, tender awareness glimmered in her father’s eyes. “We’ll have none of that, Gabriella. Death comes for everyone, and there’s no use wasting tears over the inevitable. Besides, we have urgent business to discuss.”
The physician had told her that, in these final days, the patient’s mind could become surprisingly clear. This was the case for her father, who sounded so much like his old self that she couldn’t suppress the irrational hope that somehow the doctor was wrong. That despite Curtis Billings’s frail state, he could somehow beat this disease…the way he’d conquered everything in his life, through sheer will and determination.
She picked up the bowl of beef tea from the bedside table. “Why don’t you have some of this, Papa?”
“I don’t have time for sickroom mush,” he said impatiently. “I’m dying, so what’s the point? And you’re not listening: we have a pressing matter to settle.”
Sighing, she set down the bowl. “What is it, Papa?”
“I was right about Isnard.”
A cool feather brushed over her nape. “Right about what?”
“He’s being paid off. By your husband.”
Panic warred with denial.It has to be the illness talking. Papa isn’t in his right mind. Adam would never do such a thing. He told me he didn’t marry me for money—he’s never lied to me…
Last night’s revelations wound through her like an icy river. While her husband might not have told her lies, he hadn’t been fully honest either. In some ways, his sins of omission had been as impactful as outright deceit. Nevertheless, he’d had his reasons, and she felt compelled to defend him.
“I know you’ve never liked Adam, Papa, but—”
“It’s true that I regret agreeing to Garrity’s offer for you. The persuasive bastard has always had a way of getting what he wants. At this point, however, my feelings are inconsequential. I have proof, Gabriella.”
The chill inside her spread. “Proof of what?”
Her father reached over to the bedside table. Opening the drawer, he removed a stack of paper.
“It’s all here.” He slapped the papers onto the bed. “My investigator discovered that Isnard is up to his ears in debt to Fratelli & Sons Bank. It took some digging, for there were obvious efforts made to hide the true ownership of the bank through legal maneuverings, but do you know who ultimately holds the deed to Fratelli & Sons?”
Gabby didn’t want to believe it. After all they’d been through, if Adam was lying to her…if he’d been manipulating her this entire time, their marriage based on deception from the start…
“Your husband.” Papa’s index finger stabbed the papers like a nail into a coffin.
“That…that might mean nothing…” She hated herself for her own stupidity, for holding onto hope when there was none to hold onto.
But that was her. Stupid Gabriella and her stupidBin of Blissful Ignorance.
