Asher’s heart swelled as she turned back. It was like she’d grown two inches as she faced her family. It was like she’d shed some of the pain of the past few years in that one simple action.
Dane seemed to sense it, too, for some of the tension left his face as he smiled at her. “It’s over.”
Gray stepped forward and hugged Felicity. “I’m happy for you, my dear. But now we must talk about something else.”
Felicity looked up at him. “Something else?”
Stenfax and Elise also looked confused by that statement, as did Celia and Rosalinde.
“You look grave,” Stenfax said. “Was something else revealed when you broke the code?”
“No,” Dane said. “As I already told Rosalinde and Celia, the pages about their father’s identity were not in the book. But…but Gray and I have a theory. One we’ve been researching, and now…”
He trailed off, and Gray nodded, like he understood that Dane couldn’t continue. “We must bring it out.”
“What is your theory?” Rosalinde asked, her hand straying to her stomach as if she wanted to protect the child that grew inside of her. “Is it about Celia and me?”
“Yes,” Gray said, his tone infinitely gentle as he covered her hand with his own. “You see, when Asher was talking to one of Fitzgilbert’s servants, it came out that his father worked for your grandfather.”
“At around the same time that your mother met and fell in love with your father,” Dane said, reaching for Celia’s hand and squeezing it.
Asher blinked as those two statements sank in. He stared at them, stared at their wives. “Wait, are you saying…”
“You—you think Asher’s father is…” Celia breathed.
“Your father,” Gray finished for her. “We think it is possible that Niall Seyton is the man your mother ran away with.”
Asher could hardly breathe as he stared at Rosalinde and Celia and they stared back at him. In that moment, he knew what Dane and Gray were saying was true. Somehow, he’d known it even before it was spoken out loud. From the first moment he met these women, he’d felt a connection to them. A familiarity.
“Why—why do you believe this?” Rosalinde whispered, breaking the silence that had hung in the room for what felt like forever.
Asher cleared his throat, somehow finding his voice. “Yes, what is your evidence?”
As he asked the question, Felicity moved toward him and took his hand. She didn’t seem to care she was doing it in front of her family, she just held to him and he was grateful for it. She was like a beacon in a storm in that moment.
“We began to suspect it when you found out your father once worked for Fitzgilbert,” Dane said.
“I’d never even known that,” Asher whispered. “I only knew he worked for a man who wouldn’t allow his servants to have families. It was why I was sent to live with my aunt and uncle for several years.”
Felicity shook her head. “I know it was difficult to be away from your father. He never mentioned his employer in his letters to you?”
“No,” Asher said. “Even as a boy, I had the impression he wasn’t happy in his position, but he was doing it for me and he always told me he was looking for a new place where I could join him.”
“And then what happened?” Rosalinde pressed, her eyes wide as she looked at him. He could see both she and Celia searching his face, looking for shared features, just as he did when he looked at them. And he was finding them, just as he was certain they were.
He cleared his throat. “Suddenly he left the position. His letters grew further between, odd. He kept saying we would soon be a family, that he had news to share. I was excited, but when I asked my aunt about it, she seemed grim. She said I couldn’t join my father because he was in danger.”
“Danger,” Celia said softly. “Did she say what kind?”
“No, my uncle admonished her and that was the end of the conversation. I didn’t know anything else and a very long time went by. Suddenly my father resurfaced and he took the position with the last Earl of Stenfax.”
“Did he ever talk about his time away?” Dane asked. Asher flinched. In the weeks he’d become friends with Dane, he’d learned his tone of voice when the man was gathering evidence, creating a timeline in his mind. It was the same tone he had now.
Asher shook his head. “No. In fact, he avoided talking about those years when I asked. He would only tell me that he’d lost a great deal. Lost everything. He was…changed.”
Rosalinde and Celia exchanged a look. “It is…compelling,” Celia said, looking at Dane. “But it could be coincidental.”
“It could,” he conceded. “I did some tracking, though. Once I had a name, it was easier. Seyton left Fitzgilbert’s employ at almost the same time your mother did. He was the only servant I could find who did so. And he returned to Asher at almost the same time that your mother died and you two were taken away by your grandfather.”
