Ronan came closer still, standing now at the end of the pianoforte. “This child, it is…” He did not say it, but he did not need to.
“She died during childbirth,” Thalia explained. As she spoke, she felt her throat constricting, tears threatening to burst from her eyes. “But before she died, I made a promise. A promise I was happy to make and keep.” Eyes on Ronan, her stare was unblinking. “That I would raise her daughter as my own and that I would do everything I could to ensure that she had the life she deserved.” She bowed her head. “Which I feel like I have finally achieved.”
Ronan said nothing at first, but she could feel him watching her. And she could sense the compassion in his eyes.
“You did what you had to do,” he said finally as he took a further step down the pianoforte toward her. “No one should begrudge you for that.”
She scoffed. “Which they have done.”
“Only because nobody knows the truth,” he said. “If they found out…”
“It would only make things worse.” She shook her head. “Olivia might not be of my blood, but that matters not to me. She is my daughter as far as I am concerned, and nothing will change that.”
Ronan reached the end of the pianoforte, a mere foot from where she was sitting. She glanced up, saw him watching her with the same sense of compassion, and she bowed her head again.
“I should have told you,” she said softly.
“You did,” he said. “You told me already that she was not your daughter.”
“But not the whole truth,” she said. “If you had known… I worried you might have turned her away. Born as she was, I worried you might have thought it beneath you.” She sighed deeply, sniffing back tears. “I know this marriage was not something you wanted, and I know you have already done so much. I am sorry…” She forced herself to look at him then, letting the tears well in her eyes. “I am so sorry to have brought you into this.”
“Don’t ever be sorry,” he said, his voice hardening. “Maybe you are right. Maybe this marriage isn’t… I did not want this, I did not ask for it. But I do not regret it either. And I certainly do not regret you bringing Olivia into my life.”
“And… and me?” she pressed.
He leaned back slightly. “What… what do you mean?”
“It is one thing to look after an innocent like Olivia, to feel it is the right thing. But I am not nearly so innocent. Sometimes, often, I feel that I am a burden.”
“Thalia…” his voice was a shocked whisper. “You are not… you have done nothing wrong. As I promised to look after your daughter, I made the same promise to you. This changes nothing.”
She felt a pang of guilt stab her in the chest, forcing her to wince.
If only he knew the whole truth…
Thalia was not ready to share that with him. To tell him that she had tricked him into this marriage was still a bridge too far. And she hated that it was.
For all the wrong she had done to Ronan, that he was so willing to forgive and look after her and Olivia meant the world to her. He was not what he said. He was certainly not what others thought. He was kind and caring and deep down, she knew that he wanted the companionship and love that he spurned so rightly.
But that would surely change if she confessed the truth. As he was so slow to trust, he would surely be quick to reject her if she told him. And all that would do would confirm his worst fears.
So, rather than saying any of that, Thalia chose to simply look at the duke and smile. A smile of thanks and gratitude. A smile that she hoped told him how she felt.
And as for Ronan? He returned the smile, sensing the moment, for once not running from it. The light shone upon his scared face and reached his eyes, a warmth spreading from its flames and wrapping them both in its protection.
“Olivia is your family,” Ronan said gently. “No matter what people say. And now…” He hesitated, licking his lips. “And now, she is my family too. I want you to know that.”
“You have been good to us,” Thalia said. “Far too good.”
“No,” he said. “As good as you both deserve.”
She laughed softly. “I think I know one thing to be true. With how Olivia looks at you, I doubt you need to worry about her leaving you any time soon.”
Ronan’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Not everyone is doomed to be abandoned, Ronan. Some relationships do last, even those that come from nowhere. I see how Olivia looks at you, and I know you see it too.”
“You… you do?” he sounded unsure, and hopeful.
