Hugo blinked and looked truly confused. “Hated? No. Angry with him, certainly. Our mother wanted him to love her so desperately.”
Bitterness filled Ripley’s mouth. “It seems to be a habit of the women he bounced along on a string.”
“Your mother, too?” Hugo said.
They stared at each other for a moment, understanding blooming between them. And while Ripley was still wary of this man, he also felt the tenuous beginnings of a connection.
“Well, when you started boxing, the three of us got very interested. I think Archie even attended a couple of your fights before our grandfather found out and banned him from doing it again. But we would read about them in the papers. I recall all three of us huddled around the paper, reading out the descriptions of your fights with bated breath. I wanted to crow to my friends when you won your first championship, but I knew Father would be livid if I revealed the relationship.”
“You…you were happy to know about my life?” Ripley said.
Hugo nodded. “Yes. All three of us. When you started the boxing club and everyone in our acquaintance was joining, all three of us longed to do the same. Father said no once again.”
“Well, bollocks to him,” Ripley said with a shake of his head. “If you want to learn, you’re welcome, all three of you. Membership fees waived. We don’t have to acknowledge our shared blood.”
Hugo blinked. “You’d do that?”
“It’s not your fault, is it? What happened.” Ripley shrugged. He acted like it didn’t matter. Like he didn’t want to see his other two brothers. To know all three of them a little.
“I’ll tell them,” Hugo said softly.
“But now I must ask you a more pointed question, don’t I?” Ripley said. “You know what I must ask.”
“You want to know about me and Nora,” Hugo said. “You want to make sure that she’s taken care of so that Miss Kendall isn’t hurt.”
Ripley nodded, spearing him with a long stare. Hugo straightened beneath it and cleared his throat. “I love her. I’ve loved her since the first moment I saw her through the fence of that school. Honora is everything I’ve ever wanted in my life, and I will love and protect her for the rest of my days.”
There was an honesty there. A truth to those words. And even though Ripley didn’t entirely trust that a man like this, raised with every advantage and privilege, would retain that powerful emotion he felt now, at least in the moment he meant it. Since they were married, that was good enough.
“I even defied Father for her,” Hugo added with a sigh. “I know there will be consequences, but we’ll face them together.”
“I think you may find him easier now,” Ripley said.
Hugo’s eyes went wide. “What?”
“How do you think I found you?” Ripley said with a little smile as he sipped his whisky at last. “In exchange for my promising not to tear you apart limb by limb, he said he’d support you in your choices if it turned out you had married Nora.”
“Was—was tearing me apart an option?” Hugo asked with a little gulp.
Ripley chuckled. “I suppose it would have depended upon the condition we found Nora in.”
Hugo smiled, but it was weak and slightly terrified. Good. That was what Ripley intended. If he someday decided to betray Nora, at least he’d think twice about the consequences.
There was a light knock on the door and then it opened. Nora stepped in first, smiling at Hugo as both men came to their feet. Jane was behind her and Ripley frowned. She appeared drained, as if the weight of everything she’d gone through had finally come to bear.
“May we join you?” Nora asked.
Hugo held out a hand. “Of course, love.” As Jane stepped up next to Ripley, he smiled at them. “Why don’t you join us for supper and then spend the night here?”
Jane glanced at her sister. “Oh, that’s so kind, but we’ve descended upon you uninvited to begin with and I wouldn’t want to impose on you any further.”
“It’s far too late to return to London, Jane,” Nora said softly. “It’s no imposition. Please. I’ll have Colepepper get rooms ready for you and add two places to the table for supper.”
She gave a little bow of her head and then slipped away. Hugo smiled at Jane. “Would you like a drink, Miss Kendall?”
She nodded. When Hugo had stepped away, Ripley stared down into her face. “Did it go well?”
She shrugged rather than answered and when Hugo handed over her drink, she took half of it in a gulp. Ripley wanted to comfort her, but Nora returned then. Her smile was tight, but not as filled with tension and anger as it had been before she and Jane talked.
