Page 65 of Hooked

My head snapped in his direction. Though I’d thought it just a moment ago, I hadn’t truly expected my father to be the person he had news of. I’d imagined him languishing in a prison cell for so many years that the thought of him being anywhere else was jarring.

“Your father came to your uncle’s house only two years after you disappeared.”

“He…came back?” He wasn’t in jail or executed?

Falstone nodded. “One of the servants there remembered well the encounter. He’d come back looking for you and your mother. The charges of treason had not been proven, so he’d been released several years before. However, his properties were never returned to him because the duke never believed his innocence. So he had to build his life anew.”

“Alone?” I asked as a betrayal I didn’t know I could feel settled over me.

“He felt it best to leave you in the care of your uncle until he had a home and stability to offer you, but it had taken time.”

“He came back for my mother and me?”

Falstone nodded.

“Did my mother go with him?”

He shook his head. “You were gone. And when he discovered the circumstances of the marriage contract, your disappearance and presumed death…he could not forgive your mother for it. And your mother didn’t seem inclined to trust him either. It had been too long. Too much had changed. They fought. Eventually your father left.”

“Left where?”

He shook his head. “The servant didn’t know. He thought perhaps he went in search of you, or perhaps he just went back to the life he’d built to mourn your death. I asked the magistrate to make inquiries. Perhaps he can be found.”

A tear coursed down my cheek and I could do nothing but force air in and out of my lungs for several long moments. “My father is alive and free?”

“Yes.”

“And he is not a traitor?”

“It seems not.”

“And he came back for me?” The last few words were a lament as my face crumpled and I squeezed my eyes shut, bowing my head as tears streamed down my face.

The horse continued moving without my guidance and Falstone didn’t say anything as the world I thought I knew broke and rearranged itself around me. I’d lived for so many years believing that both of my parents had betrayed me or given me away. Trying to believe that my father had been falsely accused and that he’d stayed away only long enough to build a life that we could return to…that thought broke my heart and healed it all at once. I mourned the life that had been stolen from me and found hope in the idea that somewhere in the world was a father who still cared for me. Whether he was truly innocent or not, he had come back for me.

My weeping subsided, leaving the skin over my cheeks feeling stiff and my throat aching. The emotional turmoil of Falstone’s revelation only added to my exhaustion. I was not used to riding for any extended length of time, so despite our frequent stops, the pain at the backs of my legs was severe by late morning and we still had several hours to go.

“Cecily?”

I looked over to Falstone, trying not to look as though I were in pain.

It was clear from the pity on his face that I hadn’t succeeded. “Do we need to stop for a while?”

I shook my head. “I just want to get there as soon as possible. Then I’ll avoid all horses for at least a week.”

He looked about to argue, but instead he just turned forward, his brow furrowed in concern. “I should have found a carriage,” he murmured.

Love for this caring man swelled up inside me and I did my best to swallow down the tears of pain and frustration. He did not need the extra burden of seeing me in pain.

A few miles later, a carriage approached from the opposite direction, so we moved to the side of the road and waited for it to pass. But instead of rolling by, it pulled to a stop.

The door burst open, and a woman swathed in bright colors jumped down without assistance. The moment I recognized Marilee, I dissolved into tears of relief. I was blinded by my weeping and didn’t realize that Falstone had dismounted until his hands were at my waist, urging me from the horse. I fell eagerly into his arms, letting Marilee’s fretting questions and Falstone’s calm answers float around me as they helped me into the carriage.

The cushioned seat was heaven, the back support sublime.

“Rest,” Falstone advised.

I finally focused on his face. “Aren’t you coming?” I asked.