Georgina brushed the loose curl behind her ear. “There are too many lies. You’d never truly be able to forgive me for being your captor’s daughter and I would always be waiting for you to realize you couldn’t truly be happy with me.” She turned her palms up. “It is easier this way.”
This was easier? Than what? Having his heart pulled from his living, breathing body? A muscle ticked at the corner of his mouth. “You’re wrong. It doesn’t matter to me who your father is. I thought it mattered, but it doesn’t.” And it didn’t. He’d only just fully realized that now.
Tears filled her eyes. A fat, lone tear trailed down her cheek. It was followed by another, and another. She swatted at them as though embarrassed of the show of emotion. “Please go,” she begged.
Adam’s jaw flexed. She thought he would leave and never look back. But then, he’d never given her much reason to believe in his constancy. He gave a curt nod and walked stiffly to the doorway.
*
Georgina watched him go and wanted to plead with him to forget every foolish word she’d just uttered.
He looked at her once more before he left. “This is not over, Georgina Markham.”
Her legs gave out beneath her and she wilted to the floor like a dying flower. A spark of gold caught her eye and she reached for the signet Adam had left behind.
She knew Adam leaving was for the best, but she could not keep herself from wanting him. She would always love him.
Georgina buried her face in her hands and wept.
Chapter 32
Georgina went through her morning ablutions. The sun glared into her small chambers, bright and unforgiving. She stole a glance at her reflection in the bevel mirror. She barely recognized the wan creature with dark circles under her eyes in an uncharacteristically pale face. Following Adam’s swift exit the previous afternoon, she’d been unable to sleep or think. He occupied her every thought.
In the dead of night, she’d lain awake staring up at the small crack across the ceiling. Fool, fool, fool. She’d sent him away. How many hours of how many days had she dreamed of Adam loving her, loving her even with knowing about her connection to Fox and Hunter? Her pride, her fear of being hurt again by Adam, had driven her motives.
She pinched her cheeks hard, trying to send some blood flowing through her white skin. Her efforts proved futile.
Georgina opened the door and stopped.
A simple sketch hung on the wall. She walked up to it, studying—she squinted—what appeared to be a meal of roast chicken and potatoes.
Georgina walked down the hall until she came upon another drawing. This one of Bristol Hospital’s front fa?ade.
She continued and found sketch after sketch: a woman’s hands, a songbird…a woman. Her breath caught. Georgina drew to a halt, her gaze riveted to her own image. It was a rendering of Adam’s cell, with her kneeling beside his chair, rubbing his wrists. She yanked it from the wall. Her heart raced as she studied the picture.
Nurse Catherine appeared. She looked at the page clutched in Georgina’s fingers. “It is very odd, you know. There are these sketches throughout the hospital. Perhaps you should follow them and see where they lead.”
Georgina angled her head.
The kindly, older woman gestured down the long hall and Georgina continued walking. The sketches were everywhere. There was the moment Adam had twirled her around his prison cell, forever memorialized in charcoal. That scene gave way to his ballroom when he’d danced her around, with Tony laughing on the sidelines.
The images led her all the way to the foyer.
She stumbled to a halt. A vibrant rainbow had been painted on the white wall above the hospital’s entrance. Periwinkles, daisies, and pale peach and pink roses lay scattered on the floor, beneath the painting. Standing amidst the blooms, peppermint in hand, stood Adam.
Her throat worked. “What are you—?”
“I thought long and hard about what you said. I thought about when I fell in love with you and realized it was a collection of moments. From the moment I first met you, you began to work your way into my heart. Your place there grew and grew, and now…” He held his hands up. “Now you fill all of me. Heart, mind, and soul. I am nothing without you. A time long ago, Georgina, you went chasing rainbows. All these years, I was the one waiting at the other end. I know I’m not much of a treasure, but I love you. I know I’ve wronged you, but—”
“Be quiet,” Georgina rasped. She buried her fist against her mouth, attempting to stifle a sob.
Adam’s hand fell quivering to his side, the children’s treats tumbled to the floor.
“I love you,” she choked out. She ran the remaining distance between them and launched herself into his arms. Adam wrapped his arms around her.
He pressed his lips hard against her temple. “Marry me. I will spend the rest of my life making amends, Georgina.”
Tears fell unchecked down her cheeks. She drew back slightly and, leaning up on tiptoe, passed her gaze over his face. “I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life making amends. I want you to spend it simply loving me.”
A glimmer lit his moss-green eyes. Adam smiled; that gentle expression filled with hope, peace, and the happiness she’d searched for. “Forever, Georgina. I promise you, forever.”
Epilogue
Georgina caressed her swollen belly and reached for another peppermint.
Adam glanced up from his sketchpad. A golden curl fell across his eye, lending him a boyish look, so very different from the dark, tortured man she’d first met. He grinned at her. “Are you well?”
Georgina arched her back and continued to stroke the place beneath her heart, where her and Adam’s child rested. She smiled back at her husband. “Indeed.”
Adam returned his attention to the drawing in front of him.
Georgina leaned her head against the chair. Most of her life had been spent dreaming of a different life—a husband, a family. Of simple happiness.
She closed her eyes. A smile played about her lips as she realized that this moment was what dreams were made of.
The End
Biography
Christi Caldwell is the USA Today Bestselling author of historical romance novels set in the Regency era. Christi blames Judith McNaught’s “Whitney, My Love,” for luring her into the world of historical romance. While sitting in her graduate school apartment at the University of Connecticut, Christi decided to set aside her notes and try her hand at writing romance. She believes the most perfect heroes and heroines have imperfections and rather enjoys tormenting them before crafting a well-deserved happily ever after!
When Christi isn’t writing the stories of flawed heroes and heroines, she can be found in her Southern Connecticut home chasing around her feisty six-year-old son, and caring for twin princesses-in-training!
Visit www.christicaldwellauthor.com to learn more about what Christi is working on, or join her on Facebook at Christi Caldwell Author (for frequent updates, excerpts, and posts about her fun as a fulltime mom and writer) and Twitter @ChristiCaldwell (which she is still quite dreadful with).
Other Books by Christi Caldwell
“Winning a Lady’s Heart”