“Better?”
“Yes. I’m simply shocked, that’s all. I suppose the Town Talk is rife with gossip on the matter.” She nodded her head, and didn’t try to keep the bitterness out of her voice as she mentioned the newspaper. She remembered how vicious the Society paper could be when it came to private matters. “Is that how you learned of it or did Vincent inform you of it?”
“No, your father notified me of the situation.”
“Why on earth would my father feel the need to—” She sent Garrick an appalled look and tried to pull free of his touch, but failed.
“He’s asked to see you,” Garrick said in a quiet voice.
“No.” She shook her head vehemently. “I don’t want to see him. The day my mother took me to see him was the last day she was truly alive. She gave up living after that.”
“Ruth, don’t you think the two of you have suffered enough? Don’t you think your mother would want you to forgive him?”
“Forgive.” She jerked free of Garrick’s arms and sent him an appalled look. “I’m to forgive what he reduced me to? A woman who had to sell herself to survive. I’m to forgive him for abandoning my mother? Me.”
“Yes,” he said in a firm tone. The look on his face was a familiar one. It meant he intended to get his way. Well, this was one time she refused to give in.
“Well, I won’t,” she snapped. “This is none of your affair, Garrick. The Marquess of Halethorpe made his bed years ago, and I hope he rots in it.”
“Anything that affects my wife is my affair.” The sharp words made Ruth wince, and she quickly reached up to touch his cheek.
“I’m sorry, my love.” She sighed. “But I can’t. I can’t forgive him for what he did.”
“The man wants to make amends, Ruth.”
“Amends? How does one make amends for abandoning one’s wife and child?” She narrowed her gaze on him. “Would you be so eager to welcome your mother back if she suddenly reappeared in your life?”
“Eager?” He grimaced, and his expression made her realize it wasn’t the first time he’d considered the possibility of his mother’s return. “No, but I would not reject her outright. You gave me the world the day you married me, sweetheart. With so much happiness in my life, I could afford to be charitable if she returned.”
“I’m not sure I can be that charitable.”
“We have so much, Ruth, and your father has so little.” Garrick bent toward her and cupped her face with his hands. “We have what your father lost long ago. Happiness. With all that we have, can you not find it in your heart to at least give him the chance to speak with you?”
At his question, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself into his warm, solid frame. Did she really want to see the man who was responsible for so much misery in her life? She closed her eyes as the memories washed over her. Images of her parents arguing so horribly that one last time.
The memory of her father ordering her mother and her out of his house. Then the day she’d steeled herself to go plead with the man to come visit her mother on the woman’s deathbed. The way he’d cruelly rejected her mother’s request. Could she forgive the man all that? It was a lot for Garrick to ask of her.
“Mama! Mama!”
Jack’s excited cry pierced her thoughts, and she turned toward the sound of her three-year-old son’s voice. The sight of him bounding out of the house and running toward them made Ruth’s heart expand with joy. He was the image of his father and had a mischievous streak in him that mimicked Garrick’s.
As Jack raced toward her, it was impossible not to wonder what it would have been like for her to race toward her parents on a warm sunny day such as this. The image created a bittersweet sensation inside her as she contemplated what it would have been like to grow up in a home where her parents had been together.
She would most likely have grown up like any other young woman. Married someone her parents had deemed suitable. She might never have met Garrick, or worse, they might have fallen in love and been unable to be together. She drew in a sharp breath. The thought of being married to someone else other than Garrick made her tremble with dismay. Beside her, Garrick brushed his fingertips across her cheek.
“Are you all right, sweetheart?”
The sound of his voice made her catch his hand in hers so she could kiss his palm. The what-ifs of the past would never be answered, and it was pointless to dwell on the possibilities of what might have been.
“I’m wonderful,” she whispered. “You’re right, I have everything I could ever want right here. I can afford to be charitable.”
An instant later, Jack was wrapping his small arms around her legs as Garrick entwined his fingers with hers. Just as quickly as he’d arrived, Jack was dashing off to where Clara and Thad were playing near the fountain. Slowly, she and Garrick followed him, and as the sound of laughter reached her ears, Ruth released a sigh of happiness. The future was bright with possibilities and all the love she’d ever longed for in her life. All of it was more than enough to forgive the past.
Berkley Sensation titles by Monica Burns
KISMET
PLEASURE ME
Order of the Sicari Novels
ASSASSIN’S HONOR
ASSASSIN’S HEART
Pleasure Me Page 36