The Defiant Wife (The Three Mrs #2) - Jess Michaels Page 0,80
nodded slowly, though it was frightening to do so. Right, but terrifying. He drew in a long breath and then offered Kenley back to his mother.
“Say goodbye?” he said softly.
Rosie’s expression collapsed, and she nodded as tears began to stream down her face. She held out her arms, and this time Kenley glanced at Rhys and Pippa. Since both of them were smiling, trying to be as ease with this as possible, he seemed to accept it better. He allowed himself to be taken, though he kept looking back at Pippa over his mother’s shoulder.
Rosie paced away from them, to the corner of the room. She spoke softly to her son, words that weren’t for Pippa and Rhys. Pippa turned into Rhys’s side as they watched the heartbreaking scene, the hopeful scene. An ending, yes, but a beginning all at once. This woman Pippa had once hated, then feared, she found herself admiring and loving because she had decided to do what was best for her child.
After a little time passed, Rosie came back. She handed Kenley over to Pippa, then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m at Garrison House on the west end of Whitechapel. I’ll wait there for whoever you send to arrange the particulars.”
“You’re putting your faith in me, in us,” Rhys said. “And I will not let you down.”
Rosie shrugged and the harder exterior returned. She glanced at Kenley one last time and then moved to the window. “I’ll go the way I came.” Her voice wavered. “Goodbye.”
She disappeared, and Pippa gasped in a breath and hugged Kenley tight as Rhys rushed over to close and lock the window securely. When he turned back, his face was drawn and pale. He said nothing as he crossed the room and embraced Pippa and Kenley, the three of them clinging to each other for what felt like a lifetime, but still not enough. And it would never be enough.
Perhaps what she wanted wasn’t something she could have, but Pippa still held tightly to this man she loved and celebrated the fact that Kenley was safe, they were both uninjured, and the future was looking brighter, at least for the boy squirming in her arms between them.
Chapter 23
Phillipa’s hands hadn’t stopped shaking since Rosie made her great escape. They still did so as she tucked the blanket around Kenley’s little form. For a moment, she and Rhys stood together over him, watching as he drifted back into the sleep his grieving mother had interrupted.
Rhys wrapped an arm around Phillipa’s waist, and she rested her head against his shoulder. This was how he wanted life to be forever. Well, minus the threats, the terror of coming into the nursery to find her at the whims of a woman who had already killed once.
He shivered just to recall it.
“She loves him,” Phillipa said softly.
He glanced down at her. Despite everything his brother had done to this woman, everything her parents had done, everything Rosie Stanton had done…she had not become bitter or cold or hard. She was still warm and wonderful, willing to see the best in others, in him. Dear God, but he loved her.
“She does,” he said. “Enough to let him go, even though it was difficult.”
She flinched. “Loving someone enough to let them go is very difficult. I know.”
He stared at her. “Are you talking about me?”
She didn’t answer, but kept staring at Kenley. He was asleep now, his little fist opening and closing as he dreamed.
“I know I violated what you wished from me by coming here tonight,” he said.
She glanced at him. “I might have asked you to stay away, but I was so relieved when you came into the room. All I wanted was you, to see you. Just in case.”
He swallowed hard. “In case she harmed you in order to take him, you mean.”
She nodded.
He pursed his lips at the thought. “Come with me. Let’s let him sleep.”
“Oh, but—”
He caught her hands and squeezed. “He is sleeping now. Us standing over him having what is surely to be a very important and drawn-out conversation is not best for him. We’ll have Nan come in with him, yes?”
She hesitated, because it was clear she feared leaving the boy’s side. But he thought there was more to it, as well. But finally she nodded and let him guide her from the room.
Outside Mrs. Barton was coming up the hall, and she smiled. “You found her then, my lord?” she asked.