Page 69 of An Orphan for the Broken Duke

She would leave, was what. Taking the initiative, making the decision for him, she would pack her things and go. Why wait to be discarded? Why give him the chance to hurt her again?

No. He does not want me here, so I will do him the favor.

As for Lucy? While Violet took no pleasure in leaving her behind, she reasoned that it was the right thing to do. So long as Violet was there, she would always come between Rhys and Lucy, and the relationship that they might one day see grow between them could never be.

Lucy needed a father. She needed love and protection. She needed… no, Rhys needed a chance to give her that. Hopefully, once Violet was gone, their relationship would turn into something beautiful. That, at the very least, was something to pray for.

Maybe he can change? Another reason I need to do this…

“What of…” Rose hesitated. “What of what you learned? About Lucy?”

Violet’s stomach clenched. Was that guilt? Was it shame? Or was it a warning of what she knew she should do but could not bring herself to…

“I will tell him in time,” she said eventually. “But first… I do not want Rhys to think that he must watch over Lucy because of who she is. I want him to want to do it, for her.”

It was weak reasoning, and Violet knew that. But the thought of going to Rhys and telling him the truth was a scene that she could not bear to imagine. And what if he did not believe her? What if he thought that she was trying to manipulate him? Or what if… what if he uses that to convince me to stay?

She was a coward, in that way.

One day, she would tell Rhys everything. But that time was not now.

“You do not have to come with me, Rose,” Violet said. “You can stay here. I am sure that Rhys will not mind.”

Rose scoffed. “Of course I am coming with you. And do not dare try and change my mind.”

Violet turned and smiled her thanks. While Violet liked to believe that she was the type who was better off acting alone, she knew too how much she needed her sister in that moment. If for nothing else than to remind her why she did as she had done.

“Although, I would like to know where we are going,” Rose asked. “If you have any notion?”

“We will stay at our home, is where,” Violet said. “It sits empty, there to be lived in, and as we no longer owe the bank anything…” She sighed and shook her head. “I have money, enough for a time. At least this way we will be near so I can check on Lucy.”

Rose rested a hand on her shoulder. “Will you wake her and say goodbye?”

“No…” Violet’s throat tightened, and she pushed back the tears that brimmed in her eyes. “But wait here, won’t you? I will only be a moment.”

She crept into the nursery until she stood over the cot. There, she watched Lucy sleeping. The little girl wore a smile on her face, and no doubt her dreams were those to match the world as she now saw it. Love… protection… a full life ahead of her.

And nobody deserves it more.

“Forgive me.” Violet leaned down and gently stroked Lucy’s face. The little girl’s smile grew as if she knew that Violet was with her. “One day, I know you will understand. And just know that I will always be watching you.”

That was when the tears started to fall. And that time, Violet let them.

As her cheeks grew moist with tears, she gazed upon Lucy a final time before turning and walking from the nursery. By that point, Rose had started to cry too, and she did not ask as she pulled Violet into a tight hug.

They held one another for a few moments, no words said, because what else could they say? Their time at Ashmere Hall had come to an end, and all that was left to do was leave.

They did, holding hands, their tears falling. There was a sense that this was not the beginning of a new path forward, but the end of one. As to where the next path might lead them, what it might hold? Violet had no idea.

Rhys woke to the sound of crying.

It took him a moment to realize what he was listening to. He thought it was echoes of his nightmare… his own tears that had fallen when he found out what had happened to his sister.

Desperate for that crying to end, he snapped his eyes open. The morning sun blinded him, he gasped and threw up a hand to shield from its brightness, and still that crying persisted.

Lucy!

Rhys threw himself from the bed and charged from the room. The little girl’s tears were like a storm and they swept down the hallway so that the walls seemed to shake and the floor vibrated. Rhys had never heard such a noise before, one so filled with pain, one so helpless and hopeless.