“Stay. I like you here.” He arranged us until my head rested beneath his chin. His sunshine warmth seeped through my clothing. “I missed you.”
I blinked and tried to decipher his words. My thoughts had grown sluggish as I drifted in the unusual coziness of our positions.
“You did?”
He tightened his grip before releasing me so he could look me in the eyes. “I know you don’t believe me, Marbrey, and I can’t blame you. I went about things all wrong. You were right to doubt our relationship when I never gave it the attention it deserved. I treated you like a pretty toy to take out at my whim and put away when I had no further use for you. When in fact, you are the air I need to breath and the sunshine I crave in the darkest nights. I will leave if you truly wish it, but know I will abandon my heart to your hands and spend the rest of my life an empty shell.”
I opened my mouth twice before I could get any words out. I blinked back tears. “I missed you too.” I worship the written word, but I wasn’t a writer, and my thoughts were too tangled to place them in a coherent, romantic order.
Justin squeezed me tight as if he knew of my limitations and accepted me anyway. “Does this mean you forgive me?” He slid a hand down my back, pulling me impossibly closer.
“I thought last night would’ve answered that question. I don’t usually believe in second chances. Don’t ruin this.”
“I won’t.” He pressed a kiss onto the top of my head.
“Maybe if we check who the restaurant’s key is registered under, we can get a better idea of who’s in charge of that particular property. If it is someone who has multiple keys, it might indicate they are using mechanical people for labor.” Slave labor most likely. “If they took your baby to use him as a worker in the future, then he should be safe for a while.”
“Why wouldn’t they wait until he is older before they did anything? Taking care of him until he was of age wouldn’t be financially sound.”
I took a moment before responding, trying to break down the various reasons in my head. “I’m not sure. We don’t even know that’s what they are doing at this point.” Too many details were unknown.
“Now that I think about it, the magistrate didn’t believe me at first about the baby’s mechanics,” Justin said. “I had to describe him in detail.”
“There were too many witnesses if they killed him in your home.” A cold chill ran through me.
Justin’s body stiffened beneath my cheek. “We need to find him as soon as possible. If they haven’t killed him by now.”
“I doubt it. There is no profit in that. They could still try to ransom him.”
“True.” He relaxed minutely.
“I’ll ask Oss about the key registration. He has ways to find that information without alerting anyone.” Oss had quit his job as a Key Keeper but kept his old contacts.
“The sooner the better.”
I groaned and stepped away from Justin’s comforting hold. “I can take a hint.” I went to my secretary and pulled out a sheet of vellum, then snatched my fountain pen from its stand. I had to carefully word this to make sure Oss knew what I needed without being obvious to anyone else who might get hold of the missive. After ten minutes of focused writing, I sealed the envelope with a blob of wax. A quick step outside the door, a shiny coin waved at the right person and the message along with the money vanished into a ragged pocket. The kid offered a cheery wave as he ran off. I shook my head and returned to my companion.
“Hopefully, Oss will get back to us soon.”
“He will if he can,” I assured Justin. Oss always came through when needed. “Affie asked me what you named your son, and I had no answer. What were you thinking about?”
Justin sighed. “I had a few names picked out, but I wasn’t going to choose one until I saw him. His deformity distracted me; then he was gone before I had a chance to give him a name.”
“I’m tired. Do you want to go upstairs?”
“Yes.”
“Then come on.” Exhaustion dragged my steps. Last night’s sleep did little against today’s woes. Physically and emotionally wrung out, I needed to find my bed and stay there until morning. I trudged up the stairs, each time barely scraping the top of each platform. When had the stairs become so tall?
A hand grabbing my ass had me stumbling. “Stop that!” I grumbled. I hated being caught off guard even if the touch was welcome. Bad memories.
“I was just helping,” Justin teased.
“I feel so much better then,” I teased. “Do you want a bath?”
“You have a bath?”
“At the end of the hall.” I didn’t tell him the many rules and regulations I broke to get the plumbing put in and the tub pulled through the window. I had bribed the installers to overlook most city ordinances.
