Memories returned, dark and horrible. Of her aunt’s terrible confessions. Of the pain as she was struck. Of waking to the room in flame. She couldn’t hold back a sob as all those things mobbed her.
Graham opened his eyes at the sound and reached for her, pulling her tight against his chest as he pressed a kiss to her uninjured temple. “I know,” he whispered. “It’s all right. I’m here.”
She cried into his shoulder for a while, and he never spoke. He never demanded. He never did anything but gently rock her, offering her comfort where there was none. It was only when he lifted a hand to touch her face that she noticed the bandages on his arms, his hands.
She gasped out a sound of horror and tried to sit up, but was met with another explosion of pain through her skull.
“It’s all right,” he soothed. “The burns aren’t very bad. And you are well. You’re safe. I would have lit myself entirely on fire without hesitation to ensure that.”
She felt hot tears running down her cheeks and buried her face back into his shoulder. She smelled smoke on his clothing and it jerked her back, once again, to the horrible, bleary moments in the house when she’d known that she would die.
And why.
“Tell me what happened,” he whispered, his lips soft against her ear.
She let out a shuddering sigh and told him everything. He said nothing, just allowed her to pause when she needed to catch her breath, let her weep when the tears came. When it was all over, he just held her, trembling just as she did.
“Do you think it’s true?” Adelaide asked, sinking back against the pillows with a shuddering sigh.
He rolled to his side and traced her cheek with his fingertip. “I don’t know. There are a lot of details to the story for it to be a lie. And it would explain her strong reactions to me, to Charlie, to you.”
She stared up at the ceiling. “Iknowit’s true.”
He was quiet a long time and she appreciated his silence. He was allowing her to process what she’d been through. Allowing her to feel whatever came into her heart rather than trying to push it away and offer false comfort before she was ready.
But at last her mind stilled a little. She glanced at him. “Why were you there?”
He smiled, just a tiny lift of his lips. “I came with Simon, to try to make your aunt see reason.”
“With Simon?” she repeated. “Does that mean—”
He nodded, and in that moment she saw what a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “I went to see him. I talked to Meg and to him for a long time. And though there is likely still time left for all of us to fully heal, we’re on the road to it. He gave me the tools to save your life. Thank God he was there.” She touched his sooty face and he smiled again. “I apologize for the mess. They couldn’t make me leave your side.”
“I don’t care about the ash. I’m so glad you’re here with me. But what about my aunt’s servants?”
He sighed and her heart lurched. “She had sent them all away the moment you returned. Your butler, Finley, thought it odd and had rushed to find someone to help. We were lucky that the Home Office was already on its way and the fire brigade soon followed. They couldn’t save your aunt’s home, but they kept the blaze from spreading to the surrounding buildings.”
“Thank God for that,” Adelaide said with a shake of her head. “My aunt could have taken out the entire neighborhood. Half the city. For what? To stop me from being…me?” She hesitated and met his eyes. “What of her?”
He frowned deeply. “I’m so sorry, Adelaide, but…but they found her in the parlor. She didn’t survive.”
She shut her eyes, tears stinging yet again. “We had such a complicated relationship. Indifference, cruelty, occasional bursts of loving affection when I was a little girl…but she was all I had left in this world. I suppose I should take some solace that she’s at peace now. Whatever troubles plagued her, whatever truth was within her lies and delusions, she’s not in pain anymore.”
“You are better than I am,” Graham said. “I could offer her no such peace after what she did to you.”
“But I’m here. And you’re here. And in the end, she only harmed herself in any way that will stick.” She traced his lips gently, loving how close he was. Loving him with all her heart. And since she had almost lost him, she knew what she had to do. “I must tell you something.”
He nodded slowly. “Anything, you should know that by now.”
She cleared her throat and felt heat in her cheeks. This moment was so abjectly terrifying. But she needed to take it. Right now she knew better than most that there might not be another. Life could be taken so unexpectedly. She didn’t want regrets, not ever again.
“I have fallen in love with you, Graham,” she said. She held up a hand to keep him from speaking. “I don’t expect you to feel the same. I don’t want you to say anything you don’t mean—we both know how damaging that can be. But there was a moment today when I realized I would not live. And the idea that I would die without telling you my heart was as painful as anything else I endured. I vowed that if I survived, I wouldn’t be afraid of your rejection. That I’d tell you the truth.”
“Are you finished?” he asked.
She shifted. “I-I suppose so, yes.”
“I almost lost you, as well,” he said. “But that didn’t inspire me to tell you I loved you.”
