Page 73 of An Orphan for the Broken Duke

“I assure you that Lucy is exactly who she was thinking of.”

“That does not make any sense!”

Rose exhaled and continued to look sad. “Violet does not know I am here, Your Grace, so what I am going to tell you now is not what she wants me to say. In fact, if she knew that I was here and telling you this…” A shake of the head. “I have no doubt that she would be rather furious.”

“I do not understand.”

“Violet still cares for you,” she explained sadly. “She might not say as much to me, but I know it to be true. Unfortunately, she believes that you no longer care for her. Or that you never did.”

Rhys opened his mouth to tell Rose that was not the case. He was so close… the words were right there… but he shoved them back.

Rose raised an eyebrow expectantly, and Rhys simply scowled at her to continue with what she was saying. He would not beg, and he would certainly not be the one to break.

“And it is because you no longer care for her…” She paused again, just for long enough to make sure that Rhys was not going to argue with her. “Violet believes that her being here will come between you and Lucy. She wants the two of you to have a relationship, and she is sure that her leaving is the only way that can happen.”

“That is not… did she stop to think… Lucy is distraught!”

“Which pains her,” Rose said sadly. “But that is the thing about Violet. So often she will suffer and hurt gladly if she thinks that it might help those whom she cares about. She always puts others first, and always to her own detriment.”

“I never wanted this,” Rhys said, dropping the façade of anger. “Whatever Violet might think of me or… or how she might think that I view her, I wanted us to live together as a family. I wanted it for Lucy.”

“And what of you?” Rose pushed.

“What about me?”

“Do you want Violet to return? Not for Lucy, but for you?”

“I…” Again, the words were right there. All he had to do was say them. And Rhys knew that if he did, Rose would return to Violet and tell her exactly what he said.

Tell her the truth! Tell her that you are sorry, that you were wrong, that you want her back! And not for Lucy, but for yourself…

“I want her to return because I do not want Lucy to suffer.” He brought himself up, and his expression was straight and fixed. “It was the reason I married her in the first place. That is the only reason.”

Rose said nothing at first.

She looked at him probingly, seeming to see straight through his lies. Rhys had no doubt that she could, too. That whatever he might say, she could still see the sadness in his eyes, and the loss he felt in his heart that hurt more than anything.

“I will tell her you said as much,” Rose said simply. “Again, Your Grace, know that Violet did not leave because she hates you. And know too that it is not too late to fix this.”

“If anything is to be fixed, it is on Violet to do it herself.” He maintained his composure. “She is the one who left, not me.”

Rhys hated himself at that moment. He hated his lies. He hated that he was a coward. And he hated that no matter what he said or what he did, those he cared for were bound to suffer. It always seemed to be the way with him.

“Rose!” a voice screeched from the top of the staircase.

Rose’s eyes grew wide and a smile swept across her face. “Oh, there she is.”

Rose laughed as she hurried towards the stairs, stepping around Rhys and charging up them. Lucy flew down them, and they met in the middle where they hugged one another as if they had not seen the other in years. Rose laughed, Lucy cried, and Rhys watched on with a building sense of dread and jealousy that brought unbelievable amounts of shame to him.

“Why did you leave?” Lucy demanded as she held Rose. “Did I do…. Was it me?”

“Of course not,” Rose said to her. “This has nothing to do with you.”

“I want Violet,” Lucy sniffed. “Why is she not here?”

It broke Rhys’ heart.

And while he might have liked to have lain the blame at Violet’s feet, even he could not justify such a thing. As far as he was concerned, this was his fault, and it was up to him to fix it.