She nodded. “Of course it was. A very desperate thing, indeed. But Asher and John saved me. And now that John is looking over those pages, we will know for certain that this is over once and for all.”
Stenfax’s relief was plain on his face and he caught Felicity’s hand. “Are you going to tell Mama?”
Her lips pursed. “I think the secrets in this family have done enough damage. I will tell her, as long as you don’t object.”
Stenfax looked back over his shoulder at Elise, and she smiled before she stepped up to join him. She slid her hand through the crook of his arm and leaned her cheek against his shoulder.
In that moment, Asher saw the true brightness of their happiness. And he saw his own future in a flash before his eyes. With Felicity. At peace, in love, happy. If Elise and Stenfax could find it, certainly so could they, couldn’t they?
“You are right that secrets created quite the mess in all our lives,” Stenfax said. “If you wish to tell her the truth, that is your right and I wouldn’t dare deny it to you.”
“Good,” Felicity said, leaning up to kiss his cheek and then Elise’s. “Asher and I will go to her now.”
Asher caught his breath. “Me?”
She nodded as she turned back toward him. For the first time since he returned to her, there was a brightness to her face. An expression that put him to mind of the innocent, happy girl he’d loved all those years ago. Some piece of her had been reborn today. And he loved her all the more for it.
“Mama’s secrets had to do with both of us,” she said. “And I would like you to be there when everything is at last in the open.”
He caught his breath, for he understood the full weight of that request.
Stenfax wrinkled his brow. “There is obviously more going on here than I thought. But you and Asher go speak with Mama. I’ll make sure you’re sent for when Dane breaks the code.”
Felicity took Asher’s arm, sending the usual jolt of awareness through him that had never changed in all these years, except to increase in intensity. They turned to leave the room, but Stenfax spoke before they could.
“Asher.”
They turned back and Asher met his old friend’s gaze. Stenfax smiled slightly. “Take care of my sister.”
“He always does,” Felicity answered for him, squeezing his arm gently.
Asher said nothing more and took her from the parlor and toward the music room, where it felt like everything would end and perhaps everything would begin too. He wasn’t certain he was ready for either.
Felicity fought to catch her breath as they entered the music room and found her mother sitting at the pianoforte, playing. As they stepped inside, Lady Stenfax stopped and got to her feet. There was tension over her usual calm face.
“I have waited for you, cut away from the rest of the family, as you wished,” her mother said softly.
Felicity glanced up at Asher, taking strength in his presence before she released his arm and moved toward Lady Stenfax. “I wasn’t trying to cut you away,” she said. “Only keep you from being utterly confused. I’m going to tell you something now and I think everything will make sense.”
Lady Stenfax shifted. “Felicity…”
Her mother sounded afraid and Felicity’s heart softened to her slightly. How often had Lady Stenfax had that same tone to her voice over the years? Felicity remembered it during the years her father had recklessly gambled away their fortune. She recalled it at his death when the damage he’d done had been fully revealed. She’d heard it during ruin and despair. She’d heard it when her mother encouraged her again and again to “marry well”.
In some ways, her mother’s fear had been a constant refrain in her life. Had it colored all Felicity had done? All she’d said? She didn’t know. All she knew in that moment was that she was tired of fear. Her own and everyone else’s.
She drew a deep breath. “I told you a little while ago about how my husband abused me,” she said.
Lady Stenfax dashed her gaze toward Asher. “Should we speak of this in front of…” She trailed off.
Felicity clenched a fist at her side. “In front of who, Mama? My friend? My dearest, closest friend in all the world? The person I trust above all others?”
Lady Stenfax’s eyes fluttered shut a moment, like she was digesting that statement. “Yes, you were always close to Asher. Of course, I’m sorry.”
Felicity tensed at the apology. It felt incomplete, but she wasn’t willing to pursue that issue. Yet.
“My husband tried to kill me,” Felicity said, not dancing around the subject, not trying to soften it. There had been too many years of that. “And I shot him when he attacked me in order to defend myself.”
Her mother staggered and Felicity reached out to steady her. “You—you—”
