Jilly looked hesitantly at Ellena. “So, not a letter, after all.”
“It’s better this way,” answered her friend with a gentle smile. “You can see his face when you give him the news.”
“I don’t know.” Jillian was no longer so sure of herself. “If he has come, it is because of what your father has written. Perhaps he has believed it all.”
Ellena took a firm hold of Jillian’s arm. “I will come with you. We will put all suspicions to rest. Be strong. Lewis will not want to doubt you. Let us release him at once from all fears.”
With Christopher and his nurse in tow, Jillian and Ellena walked the rest of the distance to her family’s home. They did so in relative silence, with only the innocent babble of Christopher ringing in the air.
It was enough to draw Lewis from the house. He appeared in the doorway, gray-cheeked and exhausted, a worry-line foldinginto his brow. He stared at the approaching party, wrapped as it was in an atmosphere of tranquil togetherness. The worry-line dissolved, but the fatigue caused him to stumble as he stepped toward them.
At once, Jilly was three strides in front of Ellena and gaining speed. She pushed herself into her husband’s embrace, both holding him up and held by him.
“Hullo, Wild Thing,” he murmured into her hair. “We need to talk.”
