Page 69 of Hooked

The man’s gaze was intense, searching my features as if looking for something specific. “Cecily?”

My hackles rose. Guests asked me for things often enough, but none knew my name. His scrutiny put me on edge. It was still uncomfortable to have people notice me. And even though I knew I was now safe and free from Huckley, I couldn’t help but fall back a step.

“That’s what you call yourself now? It’s you, isn’t it?” he asked, his eyes haunted, like he was afraid to hope but desperate for respite. “But you grew up. Of course you did. It’s been fifteen years.”

The tray I’d been carrying slipped from my fingers and clattered to the rug beneath my feet. Pottery broke. Tea and pastry spilled. But I ignored it all as my eyes remained wide and glued to the man before me, my breathing quick and shallow as I looked through the grizzled beard that hadn’t been there before and tried to decide if my mind was playing tricks on me or if I truly recognized the face buried beneath years of sun-weathered skin.

It couldn’t be. Could it?

As I gaped like a fish, trying to force this moment into some semblance of sanity and reason, the man’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’m so sorry, my Wendy. For everything.”

My lower lip quivered at his use of my nickname, but I was able to form one word. “Papa?”

He nodded, his lips pressed together in hope.

I spared Falstone a glance, simply to have him confirm the truth I already knew. He gave the barest nod and I fixed my eyes back on my father. I fisted my hands in my skirts, then pressed them to my stomach, not knowing what to do with them. Finally I settled them on my hips as I looked away, fighting the sting in my eyes. “Did you do it?” Maybe it was wrong to make that my first question, to demand that truth before any other, but I had to know. I turned to look at him. “Were you guilty?”

His face was slack, as though the emotion inside him was too great for any one expression to manifest itself. “Does it matter? The result was the same. Falstone told me what you suffered.”

“Yes, it matters!” I burst out, only realizing in that very moment just how much it mattered to me. “You stand before me as either an unfortunate man, an unwitting victim like me, or as the reason for my misery.” Feelings of betrayal and abandonment rose up, hot and searing. “You’re either the one family member I might be able to trust, or you are just one more disappointment. One more parent who put their desires above the needs of their child. So yes, it—”

“I did nothing.” His words rang out, strong and confident. “There was a faction of men. They wanted to replace the duke. They wanted me to take his place, but I refused. At every turn I refused. I tried to talk them out of it—I thought I had.” His frustration and anger leaked into his voice. “I thought their ambitions had been quashed. I had no idea that they’d continued their planning. I had no idea until the magistrate appeared at our home. But please believe me.” He swallowed with difficulty. “I would never have chosen anything that would put you at risk.” With those words he transformed from an unsure gentleman farmer to a fierce protector. “Never. Please believe me.”

And I did. Because the memories I had of this man had always been horribly confusing. Those memories were good. Happiness, love, caring, safety. That’s what memories of my father were wrapped in.

But they had been tainted by the accusations leveled at him. My young mind had melded the accusations and rumors with the real. His arrest had cast doubt and suspicion on every good thought I’d had of my father, and ever since Falstone had told me what he’d discovered in Norsing, I’d been going back over the memories I did have and realized they contained nothing but love and devotion.

He held a hand out, tears running over his cheeks, pleading. “Please believe me. Please.”

I crossed the space between us and threw my arms around him, burrowing my head into his shoulder as I transformed into that little girl from so long ago who just wanted her papa. His arms collapsed around me the moment I reached him and we sobbed into each other’s shoulders, mourning the life together that we had lost.

***

It took time—a great many hours—for my father and I to share the details of our lives over the past fifteen years. Marilee happily gave me the day off and the use of her parlor so that my father and I could visit, talking nonstop about his arrest and fight for justice, my years in my uncle’s home, my foray into service, the farm he had worked to acquire and build, his belief that I had died, and finally the story of a local lawman locating him and sharing my story. He’d left his home immediately to come and find me.

Sir James and Princess Marilee invited him to stay in one of the guest rooms, and he accepted, though he was clearly uncomfortable with being treated as a guest. I was glad he set his pride aside, because it gave me more time to be with him. Only one day though. His life was dependent on work, and so he could not stay for long.

I walked out to the stables with him, ready (but not at all ready) to bid him farewell. I stroked the horse as he settled the bundle that Emeline had prepared for him into his saddle bag.

“You’re sure you won’t join me?” he asked, sliding his eyes over to me. “I can’t claim that it would be any grander an existence than you have here. And it would be work, no doubt. But I’d dearly love to have you.” His eyes were warm and entreating but without expectation. We’d already discussed the idea.

I wrapped an arm around his elbow and laid my head against his shoulder. “Oh, Papa,” I sighed. “There is a large part of me that would like nothing more.”

“But you’ve built a life here.”

I nodded, sure of my decision but sad nonetheless. “And now that I have you back, we might find time to visit one another. And we’ll certainly write, won’t we?” I raised my head, letting him see in my expression that I meant it.

“Of course.” He smiled, the lines of his face creasing and deepening. His hair was more than half-grayed, so different from the dark mop I remembered from my youth. “It’s Falstone, isn’t it?” he suddenly asked with a wink. “He’s the one you can’t bring yourself to leave.”

I opened my mouth to respond but shut it and dropped my eyes instead as heat climbed my cheeks. “Nothing has been decided.”

He chuckled. “I’m sure that won’t be long in coming. He’s a good man.”

“Yes, he is.”

He looked to the house. “All of these people are…tremendous. I’m relieved to find you surrounded by such people.”