Page 63 of The Rake's Bride
The drizzle became more persistent, further dampening her husband’s spirits. His every step was agitated. Though his voice was beginning to grow hoarse from shouting, he refused to give up.
Finally, they came beneath the cover of an enormous oak sprouting between the stones of the ancient stone wall. Weathered rocks had been displaced and tumbled to the earth, while the tree had grown undeterred by the difficulties. The drizzle turned into rain, pattering through the canopy of leaves above their head and quickly soaking Rafe’s shirt to transparency.
Fists clenched, Rafe growled, “Fuck!” to no one in particular. Victoria did not flinch and, in fact, could sympathize with the sentiment. Rafe’s outburst seemed to deflate him some and, cradling his head in his hands, he leaned back against the lowwall. “What if the rain worsens? What if we still haven’t found him by nightfall?”
Both of those prospects were unnerving—the chances of Dominic being injured or falling ill were growing.
“I feel like I have failed him,” Rafe croaked and lifted his head. He was so lost it made Victoria’s heart ache. “I have failed Alice. All I had to do was keep her children safe.”
Victoria opened her mouth to reassure him once again, but a bit of movement behind Rafe’s shoulder caught her attention.
A gnarled tree stood in the center of the field. Its base was littered with stones too large and inconvenient to remove for tilling, so it had been left to exist alone. The tree, however, was not what had caught her eye.
What looked to be a lumpy pile of dark clothing sat atop one of the rocks against the tree’s trunk. From that distance, it was impossible to tell for certain what it was, but her heart already suspected.
When the pile shifted positions, her heart knew.
“Rafe,” she squeaked after two tries to make the word come out.
“This is my fault,” Rafe continued to fret, not hearing her.
Victoria tried several times to make him take notice, but nothing worked until she finally grasped his cheeks in her hands and turned his head to make him stop speaking and look out into the field.
“There.” Victoria pointed.
His eyes squinted and then widened. “Could it be?” he rasped. “Dominic?” he called and then repeated himself more loudly.
The pile sprouted a dark head.
Without another momentof hesitation, Rafe vaulted over the stone wall. His heart was in his throat as he sprinted up thegentle grassy slope leading to the tree Victoria had pointed out, bellowing his nephew’s name all the while.
“Dom! Dominic!”
Rafe’s boots slipped and skidded along the earth. The skies had opened up, and the ground was running with rivulets of rainwater, but he would not be deterred. He slid on his knees the last few feet and scooped his nephew into his arms and held him so tightly he was probably crushing him. He didn’t care. Never in Rafe’s life had he been so relieved—not since Faith’s health had improved from the brink of disaster.
“How could you run away?” he demanded. “Whydid you run away? What were you thinking?” The words were a mixture of admonishment and blinding relief. “Tell me now what possessed you to do such a thing,” he ordered and held Dominic at arm’s length. His eyes scanned him from head to toe. Other than being wet, chilled, and suffering from a snotty nose—which Dominic wiped on his sleeve—he seemed unharmed.
“I—I didn’t want Victoria to leave,” Dominic responded in between sobs and hiccups. “Why does everyone have to leave?” he wailed.
Rafe did his best to console the lad, brushing his sodden locks from his face and patiently waiting for him to continue.
“I wanted to leave before you left, too,” Dominic finally said to him, looking him in the eye.
Rafe was struck dumb.
There was a loud sniff beside them, and Rafe realized Victoria, too, had ascended the hill. He felt guilty about not helping her over the wall and waiting for her, but he knew she understood his need to see for himself that Dominic had been alright.
Rafe kept his eyes on his nephew and said, “I will never leave you. I swear it. You and your sisters are some of the most important things in the world to me. Most days, you make mewant to throttle you, but I love you like my own, and I would not have it any other way. You are stuck with me.”
At that, all the fight seemed to leave Dominic. The boy collapsed against him and sank into a fresh bout of tears. He buried his face in Rafe’s shoulder, hugging him as tightly as his child’s arms could. They stayed like that for several minutes, just existing, until Dominic lifted his head and held out a hand to Victoria.
“Are you still going to leave us?” the boy asked in a small voice.
Rafe looked up to see tears streaming down her face, mixing with the tracks of rain cascading down her head and deepening the color of her sodden gown. He found he was anticipating her response as much as Dominic was. The seconds before her response were nearly unbearable.
Finally, she shook her head.
“How can I leave the family I love?”
