‘Let’s forget the past, Rufus,’ she urged, ‘and move on. We love each other. We have Holly. We’re going to have a baby of our own. Let’s just concentrate on those things, hmm?’
She was very forgiving, this woman he loved—and Rufus intended making sure he never gave her reason for regretting her emotional generosity…!
‘There are just a couple of things I need to tell you—’
‘We’re moving on, remember, Gabriella,’ he chided lovingly.
She shook her head, knowing these things needed to be said before they could do that. ‘I need to explain about my own loan from James. And—and my mother’s—’
‘I told you I don’t need to know,’ Rufus said firmly.
‘But I need to tell you,’ she insisted, telling him of her own problems a year ago, the reason James had lent her the money. ‘But there is a legal contract to say I owe the money. A contract I insisted had to be drawn up,’ she assured him. ‘But a contract I couldn’t allow Toby, of all people, to get his hands on,’ she added frowningly.
‘Even marrying me was preferable to that, hmm?’ Rufus muttered self-disgustedly, knowing now exactly why Gabriella had married him.
‘Yes,’ she smiled ruefully. ‘But David Brewster also has another contract in his possession,’ she told him softly, her expression wary. ‘An agreement I had him draw up after Toby came to Gabriella’s that afternoon and you suspected us of some sort of collusion. The afternoon I disappeared and you wanted to know where I had been,’ she reminded him as Rufus frowned.
‘I have a feeling I’m not going to like this,’ he said slowly.
Probably not, Gabriella acknowledged. But at the time it had been something that had to be done. To be revealed to Rufus when she considered the time was right. And here, and now, was that time.
‘I’ve signed everything but my lease for Gabriella’s, and that contract saying I owe thirty thousand pounds to James, back to you at the end of our six months of marriage,’ she explained huskily.
Rufus’s expression darkened. ‘I really am the bastard you’ve always thought me, aren’t I?’ he muttered disgustedly. ‘Well, that agreement can be consigned to the bin, Gabriella. Burned,’ he added with feeling. ‘From now on, my darling, we’re going to be partners in everything, including the Gresham money and properties!’
Gabriella gave him a dazzling smile. ‘I love you, Rufus!’
‘I love you, too. More than life itself,’ he assured her forcefully.
She believed him, and could already visualize the next ‘fifty or sixty years’ of their marriage, of being with Rufus, of having a family together, and knew that it was going to be magical.
‘There’s just my mother’s loan to explain—’
‘But I told you, that was between my father and Heather, is none of my damn business,’ Rufus dismissed self-disgustedly.
Gabriella kissed him lingeringly on the lips before continuing. ‘Some of this I didn’t know myself until you told me about the loan and I spoke to my mother,’ she began huskily. ‘I knew my parents weren’t exactly happily married, that my father was often out of work, that he was always out in the evenings, but I had no idea of the extent of his—irresponsibility. When I was a child I only saw that he was fun. It was only as I got older that I heard the arguments, saw how worried my mother sometimes was, that there was no money for bills that needed to be paid, for essentials, sometimes even for food—’
‘Gabriella, please don’t go on!’ Rufus groaned.
‘It’s all right, Rufus,’ she assured him softly. ‘I want to tell you. My mother did what she could to keep her worries from me, but the truth is my father was a compulsive gambler. And after he died, my mother learnt that, not only had he remort-gaged our home to supplement his addiction, begged, stolen or borrowed money that should have paid our bills—tricking her into signing loan agreements and running up debts that amounted to over a hundred thousand pounds!—but that she wasn’t even his real wife. He already had a wife in Italy that he had left behind years ago, never bothering to divorce her, but marrying my mother anyway. Marrying her and having me.’ Gabriella blinked back the tears. ‘My name isn’t even really Benito!’ she revealed huskily.
‘No—because it’s Gresham!’ Rufus told her fiercely, holding her tightly in his arms. ‘Dear God, Gabriella, how stupid I’ve been!’ he muttered disgustedly.
‘You couldn’t have known, Rufus.’ Gabriella shook her head. ‘I didn’t know myself until my mother told me the truth. I—it’s unbelievable, isn’t it?’
‘Forgettable. Totally, and utterly forgettable. Because it isn’t important. Only you, and here and now, are important,’ he insisted determinedly, looking down at her lovingly. ‘Now can we move on?’ he prompted teasingly.
‘Oh, yes.’ She sighed her willingness to do that. ‘All I want, all I’ve ever wanted, is to be with you, loving you, having you love me in return!’
‘For the rest of our lives,’ Rufus promised emotionally. ‘We are going to be so happy together, Gabriella.’
Epilogue
‘What do you think it says?’ Gabriella prompted eagerly as she looked down at the letter in her husband’s hand.
‘Let’s open it and see,’ Rufus murmured indulgently.
Six months of marriage, five of them absolutely blissful, had brought about changes in both of them, Gabriella noted with satisfaction.
They had had their blessing in church, with family and friends around them, and Holly as bridesmaid, which was something she had taken great pride in. And their blessing gift to Holly had been that pony she had wanted, and now treasured, so much.
Rufus assured Gabriella often that at six months pregnant she looked absolutely beautiful to him, and from loving Rufus, and being loved by him, she felt beautiful, too.
Rufus had changed the most, no longer in the least cynical, but a relaxed and loving husband and father. A very loving husband, Gabriella remembered, smiling her satisfaction as she thought of their time in bed together this morning.
Before they had had to go to their appointment with David Brewster…
The six months were over, and the lawyer had asked that they come in to his office and see him on that day.
He had handed them a letter, addressed to ‘Gabriella and Rufus’, with the apology, ‘I know you asked initially if there was anything further in Mr Gresham’s will that you needed to know about, but this letter wasn’t actually in the will.’ David Brewster smiled ruefully. ‘And it was only to be given to the two of you if you had decided to remain married at the end of the six months. I take it that you have decided to do so…?’ he prompted with an indulgent look at Gabriella’s obvious pregnancy.
Rufus’s hand had tightened on Gabriella’s. ‘She wouldn’t even get as far as the door if she tried to escape me now!’ he assured with some of his old arrogance.
‘Lucky I don’t want to, then, isn’t it?’ Gabriella came back teasingly.
‘I’m really so very pleased for you both,’ the lawyer told them warmly as he shook both their hands as they left. ‘I’m sure this is exactly what Mr Gresham wished to happen.’
Rufus looked down at the unopened letter now as the two of them sat in his parked car outside David Brewster’s office. ‘Knowing my father, I think this is exactly what he wanted to happen, too.’ He smiled affectionately.
‘Open it,’ Gabriella encouraged, leaning against Rufus’s shoulder as he did so.
My dear Gabriella and Rufus,
As the two of you are reading this, I know that my congratulations are in order, that the two of you have decided to stay married, and that David has destroyed the divorce papers I asked him to prepare in case I had made a terrible mistake, after all.
Those papers, along with Gabriella’s contract stating she owed James thirty thousand pounds, had been destroyed five months ago, consigned, as Rufus had said they would be, to the incinerator.
But the fact that you are reading this tells me that I didn’t make a mi
stake at all, that the two of you have realized, as I did long ago, that you are absolutely perfect for each other. Please forgive an old man for his interference, but I do love both of you so, and only ever wanted your happiness.
Rufus, Gabriella is the child of my heart, and I sincerely hope she is now the love of your heart, that you will protect and love her all your long lives together.
Gabriella, Rufus is a son that any man would be proud to call such, and I hope that he is now the man you are proud to call your husband, that you will cherish and love him for ever.
My dears, I couldn’t have wished or hoped for anything more wonderful than the two of you at last finding each other. I hope that you love each other, that you will have a family together, and that you will grow old together. Do so with all my love.
Be assured that I am now with my Heather, and that the two of us will always be with you, too. Our pride and love for you both will never change.
James.
‘Dear God…!’ Rufus groaned emotionally, tears in his own eyes as he turned to look at Gabriella.
‘Oh, James…!’ Gabriella choked, the tears running unchecked down her cheeks.
Rufus reached out to gather her in his arms. ‘You are the love of my heart, of my life, and I swear to you I will never let anyone or anything ever harm you again!’ he vowed fiercely.
‘And you’re the love of my life, too, the man I’m proud to call my husband, and I will cherish and love you all my life,’ Gabriella assured him as she clung to him. Their son, James Heath Gresham, born three months later, was a very welcome addition to their already loving family.
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