and the years that followed. I don’t need your judgment or your hate because I hate myself enough for both of us.”
Lucien tried to take a step toward her but she pulled away from him. “Darcy.”
“I can’t do this.” She turned and started for her door.
“And you get to decide that it’s over between us? This second chance we’ve been given, you’re just willing to walk away from it?”
Her eyes speared him from over her shoulder. “I’m following your lead.”
The door closed in his face with a decided click.
The following morning Darcy wanted to call in sick, but she had never been a coward. As she pulled open the door of Allegro, she hoped that Lucien had taken the day—hell, the week—off. She wasn’t that lucky; when she passed his office, she saw him behind his desk. His head lifted and he looked right at her, but his expression was completely blank.
She hurried to her office hoping to hide the day away, but she hadn’t even sat down when a soft knock and a movement at the door caught her attention. Lucien stood in her doorway. Her mouth opened to ask that he please just leave it be, but he stopped her with his words:
“Hear what I have to say and then I’ll leave you alone.”
Pain laced through his words, and hearing it broke her heart. She wasn’t the only one hurting and so she nodded her head in reply.
“I’ve only ever loved two people in my life. I lost Sister Anne and right on the heels of that, I lost you. Her loss was painful, but yours was devastating. You’re right I didn’t fight for you back then, because something inside me broke when you left me.
“I know you wouldn’t have given up our child, my reaction was knee-jerk and it was wrong. I’m sorry I hurt you, but I’m not going to make the same mistake again. I want you in my life, Darcy, and I’m not going to let you turn away from me. I’ll give you time because I owe you that, but I plan on fighting like hell for you.”
Darcy watched him walk away before she pulled out her chair and dropped down into it. “Wow.”
“Do you have a minute?” Darcy looked up from her work later that day to see Ember in her doorway.
“Ember, hi.”
“Sorry to just drop by, but . . .”
Darcy leaned back in her chair and studied the other woman. She wasn’t at all hard to read. “You’ve come to see if I’m okay.”
Humor moved across Ember’s expression. “Am I really that expressive?”
“Yep.”
“I’m not trying to pry, but you looked really upset yesterday and I know it’s not my business, but if you need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on or just want to eat your body weight in chocolate and watch sappy movies, I’m here.”
Darcy was surprised, not just by the offer but by the realization that she really wanted someone to talk to. “I’d like that. Are you free tonight?”
“I am. At the risk of meddling, I don’t know what happened between you and Lucien, but I do know the man he is now. He’s complicated and private, but he’s the first to offer a hand when someone needs it.”
“It sounds like he hasn’t changed much at all.”
“The ones we love can hurt us the most, and he does love you. It’s written all over his face.”
“Thanks for that. My place, tonight at seven. I’ll text you the address.”
“I’ll be there.”
Lucien nursed his Scotch and thought about Darcy. The memory slammed into him.
Fifteen years earlier . . .
“Have you thought about where you want to be in ten years?” Lucien asked Darcy as they walked the familiar neighborhood near St. Agnes.
“I have.”
It was more how she answered that piqued his interest. “And?”
“I want a family: children and a husband who loves me to distraction. I want a place where I belong, where I don’t feel like I’m wanting, where I can just be me.”
Lucien stopped walking and turned into Darcy. “Do you feel that way around me?”
Her eyes couldn’t quite meet his. “I do. In my dreams you’re the husband who loves me to distraction.”
He touched her chin to lift her gaze to his. “I’m well on my way to loving you to distraction.” And then he wiggled his eyebrows. “Children . . . yeah, when we’re older I can get behind that, particularly with how dedicated we would have to be in our quest