Jackson frowned. “Then that night, the night you visited after being gone so long?”
“My aunt’s funeral.”
He cursed. All this time. He’d been miserable those months she’d been away. That night she’d shown up outside his window teary-eyed and pale, he’d thought it proof of her feelings. Thatthe months had been agony for them both. And he’d proposed without a thought.
“The beatings... they started almost immediately.” Her jaw clenched as if remembering.
Jackson’s did too. It was to the deceased baronet’s benefit he was no longer breathing, because Jackson would have taken his time exacting revenge.
His jaw was locked so hard, his next question came out garbled. “And your cousin?”
Anna shook her head. “He wasn’t excluded, but my uncle made sure not to raise a hand to his son where my brother and I could see. Uncle would go so far as to critique Alexander’s insults toward us. Saying they were too tame, not pointed enough. To us, Uncle was grooming his son to be just like him. I hated him. Hated them both for how they treated my brother and me. And when William got his commission into the army, I was relieved he would be spared. If my brother was safe, then I could handle my cousin’s abuse. Because one day, I would see justice done. That’s what I told myself.” Lines appeared around her mouth. “Until I witnessed the cruelty my uncle saved for my cousin.”
Her hands came up to cover her face as if to block out the images of memory. “I’d been hiding in one of the house’s closets, doing my best to stay out of sight. I’d heard heavy footsteps, two pairs. Then crying. Sounds of a struggle. And when I rallied my courage to peek through a crack in the door...” A tear fell down her cheek. Her eyes, when they lifted to him, were large, brave, so filled with compassion and forgiveness.
The rest was too awful to say aloud.
“And Elise?” Jackson asked. The unfamiliar name a piece of the puzzle that didn’t fit.
“Elise is my chaperone,” Anna said. “And she is my cousin.”
Jackson startled. “I didn’t know Lady Crews had a daughter.”
“She didn’t.” Anna’s smile was sad. “EliseGreene.”
Alexander’s sister.
“Elise spent many summers with me and William at our aunt’s manor in Widmore,” Anna explained. “One summer, she never arrived. She’d gone missing. We all helped in the search, but Elise had vanished.” Anna’s expression fell again. “It wasn’t until my aunt had passed and William and I were delivered to Greenhill and suffered under my uncle’s hand that I understood Elise wasn’t missing; she’d run away.
“I was overjoyed when Elise showed up on my brother’s doorstep after he’d gained his title, and we’d moved to London. But Elise was worried her father would learn of her presence. So, I kept her identity a secret.”
“And your cousin decided to pose as your chaperone,” Jackson finished.
Anna nodded. “I didn’t mind. Having her in my life was like having my family given back to me.”
A family more complicated than Odysseus. Or was that Oedipus?
Jackson hadn’t imagined the look of despair—and hope—on the new baronet’s face when Elise was mentioned. “Alexander and Elise were close?”
Anna nodded. “Alexander was always a bully, but whenever Elise’s name came up, I saw his worry. His rebellions toward my uncle were small, but I always thought the times Alexander refused to follow his father’s orders were out of anger he’d driven Elise away.”
A brother who loved his sister.
Something Anna would understand.
“You forgave your cousin a long time ago?” Jackson said, humbled all over again at her capacity for love.
A small smile. “It seems the only grudges I hold are against handsome would-be dukes with no familial connection.”
“Thank God for your stubbornness,” he said, pressing a kiss to her temple. She’d never forgotten him. Never compromised in expecting the best of him.
It all made sense now. His arms tightened around her. “You saidnofor my sake, didn’t you? To spare any connection to your uncle’s family?” To stop what would have no doubt turned into multiple attempts at extortion.
A small sob escaped through her lips. “Yes.”
Jackson held her close, allowing himself a moment to simply hold his remarkable wife. Beautiful, strong, wife who’d been protectinghimthis whole time. Another mark against that sniveling dog, another reason to hunt him to extinction.
But Anna wouldn’t want that. His insulting, angry wife had a heart of gold beneath her breast.
