She shrugged. “I gave my fortune as an anonymous donation for Drennan so that Montfree’s could be saved. I decided that it should be me since it was originally my gaming hell. And to be able to do something so freeing was worth every shilling.”
Devin looked confused. “But I told Luke to do that with mine. I said I didn’t want it because it wasn’t really mine to begin with.”
“Wasn’t it?” Constance asked, which appeared to puzzle him even further. “Alessandro gifted me that money, but you took a talent, however sordid it might have been, and gained your own fortune.”
He laughed, although it didn’t hold any humor. “Surely you aren’t calling thieving an acceptable trade?”
“No, but neither am I saying you have to continue paying the price for your misdeeds. You already did that when you were sent to the colonies.” She shook her head. “I know you suffered terribly and I won’t ask you to tell me what happened. In truth, I’m not sure either of us could withstand the torment, but neither should you continue punishing yourself.”
“So, I should just turn away from the fact the money we could live off of for the rest of our days isn’t ours?” he scoffed.
“But it’s not ours,” she corrected.
Again, he appeared at sea. “What do you mean?”
“You told Luke to give it to Drennan to pay off his debts and save Montfree’s, but since I already did that, Luke decided to take your advice and dispose of it in another fashion.”
He blinked. “I can’t believe the old codger actually did something worthy for a change.”
“Indeed. He was quite generous.” She laid a hand on his chest, directly over his heart. “He took your funds, but replaced it with his own, into a trust so that we might raise our child properly, that our son or daughter could be taught the mistakes of their parents and ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.” She lifted a brow. “If that isn’t a worthy cause, then I don’t know what is.”
He shoved a hand through his hair. “It still isn’t right. I—” It appeared to take a moment for her words to fully sink in, but when they did, he stopped midsentence, his eyes growing wide with a mixture of disbelief and… hope. “Did you say…?”
He couldn’t even seem to finish the sentence, so she did it for him. “Yes. I’ve had my suspicions for a while now, and while it isn’t fully confirmed, I know that it’s true. We’re going to have a baby.”
Devin wasn’t sure what to do. It was as if his emotions wanted to pull him in several different directions at once. He wanted to shout and cry and laugh, all at the same time. In the end, he did the most appropriate thing and hauled Constance against his chest and kissed her soundly. He released her, but kept her face clenched in his grasp. “Dear God, tell me you aren’t just saying this so I won’t refuse Luke’s offering.”
She laughed. “I promise.” She ran a gentle hand over his hair. “Just accept this blessing we’ve both been offered and hold on to it tightly. We can’t change the past, but we can embrace the future as a true family.”
Devin closed his eyes and dropped to his knees in the middle of the dirty and crowded cobblestone street. He didn’t care who might be watching as he held on to Constance’s waist and laid his head against her lower abdomen—and wept.
A child. He could hardly dare to imagine that after a lifetime of deviltry and coarse beginnings, he would be given such a wondrous gift. With Constance at his side and their child in his arms, his life truly was complete. All the horrors of the past didn’t matter anymore, because he’d finally gained the only thing that he’d ever wanted.
“Devin?”
His angel’s softly spoken voice called out to him and he got back to his feet. “Let’s get out of here and find us a true home. In France. Right on the Seine in Paris, so that every morning when we get out of bed, I can see the sunlight shining off of the water and admire the way it illuminates that red-gold hair, and those expressive, green eyes.”
She nodded. “It sounds perfect.”
Epilogue
Paris, France
One Year Later
* * *
“What is your father up to now, little Patricia?” Constance cooed to her four-month-old daughter.
In reply, she scrunched up her tiny, chubby face and opened her mouth, but the only thing that came out was a bunch of gibberish.
“Oh, surely you can say, Papa? That would make him so proud.”
Again, the baby merely made a few adoring sounds, and Constance could only smile. She had never thought her life would ever be this fulfilling, or this satisfying, but becoming a wife and a mother had made her eager to wake up to the dawn of each new day. Granted, she knew women who were perfectly content to be independent, to not have children, and at one time, Constance imagined herself to be the same. She certainly hadn’t expected to feel this deep, abiding love each and every day toward her husband.
As if he knew she was thinking of him, Devin walked back in from the terrace of their apartments overlooking the Seine, just as he’d promised they would be, and the sight of him nearly took her breath away. So many times, she watched him when he wasn’t looking and imagined the hair around his temples beginning to turn gray and his waistline starting to grow a bit thicker. Her body had certainly changed with the arrival of her daughter, but Devin had never told her she looked anything other than beautiful.
Attired in a pair of simple, black trousers and a white shirt rolled up to the elbows, the summer sun was starting to bronze his skin. If it were possible, he was even more handsome than before, but while some of the ladies on the street passed by and admired him with a lingering glance when they were together, Devin’s focus was wholly on his family.
