“I don’t know if I can,” Stenfax whispered, though Gray’s words were like a beacon through a fog.
Gray moved forward and clapped a hand on Lucien’s shoulder. “Not many people get a second chance like this. Think about it, will you?”
Stenfax sighed as his brother changed the subject, back to how they would protect Felicity. Gray’s words meant a great deal to him.
And he knew he would think about them, only about them, for a good while to come.
Chapter Seventeen
Elise had learned a great deal in the short moments she’d had alone with Rosalinde and Felicity. Mostly, she realized just how kind and good a person Rosalinde was. While some women would have turned up their nose at her, especially after all the shocking things that had come out about her past, Rosalinde was gentle and welcoming. She had even tried to ease the awkward reconnection between Felicity and Elise.
But at last she rose. “You know, I’d like to speak to Xavier about something. Why don’t the two of you keep talking? I’ll be back shortly.”
She waved at then to keep their seats as she left and closed the door behind her. Elise smiled at Felicity. “She’s lovely.”
Felicity nodded instantly. “She truly is. Gray adores her almost to distraction.”
Elise’s eyes went wide as she thought of the stern, quiet Gray she’d known as a girl. “I wouldn’t have thought he’d ever allow himself that kind of connection.”
“No, we all worried he would block himself off from it, but Rosalinde is everything to him.” Felicity smiled broadly. “We’re lucky to have her in our family. And her sister, Celia, is just as delightful.”
Elise froze. “Celia, the one Stenfax was to marry,” she said slowly.
Felicity leaned in and caught Elise’s hands. “Henevercared for her. Nor she for him. It was entirely a match of convenience and I think both were relieved when the engagement ultimately ended.”
Elise shook her head in utter disbelief. “I don’t know how she couldn’t have loved Lucien if she spent any length of time with him.”
Felicity expression softened at that observation. “Perhaps she simply sensed that he wasn’t truly free. After all, he was still connected to you.”
“By his hate,” Elise said.
“No,” Felicity said, squeezing her fingers gently before she released her. “Not his hate, even if he would have labeled it as that for a long time. Either way, Celia recently married and seems very happy where she is. It all worked out for the best, for now you will marry my brother.”
Elise caught her breath at that matter-of-fact statement. It sounded so very shocking to her ears, even though it had been decided almost an hour before. She was not in any way accustomed to it.
“Are youtrulyhappy about that fact?” Elise asked at last, shooting her friend a side glance.
Felicity bent her head. “If you had asked me that question this morning, I admit I would have said no. I would have been horrified by the very notion that Lucien would tie himself to you again and in such a permanent way. But now that the truth has come out, I feel differently. In fact, I feel joyful. You sacrificed your future with him once to save me. Now this fixes that bitter action. It resets the world, in a way.”
Elise pressed her lips together hard before she said, “I’m not sure about that. It certainly doesn’t fix or change what I did to Lucien.”
“You don’t think he forgives you, even after you told him why you did what you did?”
Elise considered the question, rolling it around in her mind to see if it fit her sense of discomfort. Her mind was such a jumble, it was hard to determine the truth in it all.
“It isn’t that he hasn’t forgiven me,” she said at last. “I think he is beginning to do that. More that he is resigned to this marriage as a way to somehow repay me for my sacrifice all those years ago.”
Felicity’s expression grew concerned. “You know Lucien.”
“I did once, yes.”
“He hasn’t changed that much,” her friend reassured her. “He’s…guardedwhen he isn’t certain. Everything just came out today, Elise. His entire world, his entire system of belief, has been turned on its head. You must let him settle into it, think on it, find a way to accept what happened all those years ago. His heart will soften in time.”
Elise got up and paced away, hands shaking at her sides. “Only I don’t know if it can. He tells me over and over that our lack of trust is what keeps us apart and I cannot argue that point. Trust cannot just be magically obtained.”
Felicity jumped up. “I can help. After all, it’s just aboutearninghis trust, isn’t it? I’ll help you find a way to do that.”
Elise sighed. “That isn’t the issue at present. Lucien believes I don’t trusthim. And I have no idea how to prove that I do.”
