that I reunited with them also. Although I am unsure if Daniel has ever really forgiven me.” The words were solemn.
This was one of those moments shared with a person you were unlikely to speak with again. A single stolen moment in time when you felt a connection with a person that would pass, and both parties would move on.
“Have you asked him?”
His laugh was dry. “Getting information out of my brother when he has no wish to give it is like moving a mountain, my lady. He is the Dillinger who holds everything inside him. There is no better man, I assure you, and yet he does not share his emotions freely.”
She didn’t know why he was telling her these things, but Abby was glad of it.
“Will you tell me of your family, Mr. Dillinger?” She could not continue to pry about Daniel, as surely that would raise questions, but she could learn about the rest of his family, and that would have to be enough.
She sat in the shadows beside him and listened to him talk with obvious love about the people in his life. It was perhaps the highlight of the evening, and it wasn’t until she was alone in her bed later that night that she stopped to wonder again why he had been so happy to share these insights with her. As no reason was forthcoming, she closed her eyes and fell asleep with the memory of Daniel once again inside her head.
Chapter 18
His sleep had been disrupted yet again by Abby. Visions of that knife and what it could have done to her had him waking in a cold sweat. He’d risen early, unable to sleep, and worked on the files he’d brought home. It hadn’t helped.
She could never be anything to him… which was a lie, as she was already so much. He’d never wanted anything quite as much as he wanted her.
“And yet you will never have her,” he reminded himself as he walked up the steps to his brother and sister-in-law’s home at midday. He’d had setbacks in his lifetime before; this was just another and in time would pass.
Feeling bolstered by these thoughts, he knocked on the wooden front door.
Large, impressive, and grand on every level, his brother had bought it many years ago as a statement. He’d wanted people to know he was wealthy. That a coal miner’s son could achieve the same as those born into wealth. It was now a home filled with love… but still grand.
“Good day to you, Elliot,” Daniel said to the butler.
“Good day to you also, Mr. Dillinger. The family is at present assembled in the Hollyhock Room.”
“I don’t remember a hollyhock room.”
“Miss Hannah named it, sir. It seems if you stand to the far right of the windows and rise to your toes, you can see the hollyhocks growing in the gardens.”
“That sounds like an excellent reason then.”
“Indeed.”
The butler was tall and stately with sharp blue eyes, and he was sure, looked like a great many butlers serving in stately homes throughout London. He did not by so much as a twitch show any emotion.
“How many of my family members are here, Elliot?”
“Several of them, Mr. Dillinger, and all here to celebrate Miss Hannah’s birthday. As you can imagine, there is a great deal of excitement among the children.”
“And I arrived without any ear protection,” Daniel said. “There will be squealing and shrieking, Elliot.”
“There is, Mr. Dillinger, already a great deal of that, but there is also cake.”
“Well then, much can be coped with if there is cake. Think of me fondly,” Daniel said, passing the butler. “I shall see myself there.”
The house had many touches of grandeur but also many that told Daniel it was a home. He smiled as he saw a small handprint that the staff had yet to remove and a scuff mark on the wall. The sound of voices rose with each step he took closer to his destination.
“Family,” he said, entering the room seconds later. Chaos reigned, which was normal for such a gathering. Children shrieked and ran at him, and siblings raised hands but didn’t move from their seats.
He found Oliver sitting with their parents. Their eyes connected. Daniel knew his brother would want to discuss what had been left unsaid between them in his office that day. He would ensure that did not happen. He gave Thea a kiss on the cheek, as she was closest. She sat with children around her, reading them