Page 53 of Forbidden Dark Vows

“Harry…” His mouth opens and closes, but no words come out. Then he opens the door and walks away, slamming it shut behind him.

Ruby jumps. She hasn’t looked me in the eye since she came in, and I can’t bear for her to think that I knew about this and kept it a secret from her.

“I mean it, Ruby, we can go anywhere in the world. Say the word, and I’ll make it happen.”

She shakes her head, and the tears finally spill. “I can’t…” her voice breaks.

“You can’t what? Please, Ruby.”

I’m still squeezing her hand, the heart-shaped diamond growing warm against my skin. “I don’t care about any of that. My dad. Your mom.” Deep ragged breath. “Whatever happened with your dad… I’ll get to the bottom of it, and I’ll do whatever it takes to put it right. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it right.”

“You can’t, don’t you understand?” She still can’t look at me. “You can’t make him better.”

“You don’t know that. I’ll…” I shake my head, raking my minimal medical knowledge for a plausible argument. “I don’t know, find a neurologist who specializes in aftercare for stroke patients. I’ll arrange for him to see the best physiotherapists in the country. I’ll?—”

“Harry,” she interrupts my rambling. “You don’t have to make promises you can’t keep.”

“You have to trust me, Ruby. I mean every goddamned word, and I won’t ever stop trying to prove it to you.”

“I believe that you mean it, but don’t you see? Everyone is opposed to us being together. How will it ever work if everyone around us is trying to split us up?”

“Your dad isn’t.” I recall our conversation in their den while Ruby was at work. “He knows who I am, and he didn’t warn me to stay away from you.”

She stares out the window without really seeing the outside world. “I never told him your name. He only knows you as Harry.”

I shake my head. That can’t be true. I’m trying to remember if either of us mentioned my surname, but I can’t.

Before I can speak, raised voices reach us from outside the door, and I’m flooded with the overwhelming sensation of Deja-vu. I’d recognize Celia Jackson’s voice anywhere.

The door bursts open, and Lizzie appears, her face flushed. “Sorry, Harry, I tried to stop her?—”

Celia pushes past Lizzie and walks into my office, her gaze skimming me and settling on Ruby. “We’re leaving, Ruby.”

“Mom, can you just give me a little while to?—”

“It’s your father,” Celia says, cutting her off. “He’s had another stroke.”

The color drains from Ruby’s face, and I instinctively reach out to stop her from collapsing, but she pulls away from me a second time, and it’s like a stab wound straight through my chest.

“I’m coming back to Chicago with you.” I don’t wait for Ruby to respond but turn to Lizzie. “Can you book us on the next flight out of New York?” Fuck the extravagance. I’m making a private jet my priority the instant the dust settles on this shit.

“No, Harry.” Ruby shakes her head. When she speaks, her voice is dull, lifeless. “You should stay. You have a business that needs you.”

Lizzie hesitates in the doorway, and I give her a nod. Discreetly, as ever, she closes the door behind her.

“The business isn’t important.” Ignoring Celia, I move closer to Ruby and this time I don’t allow her to snatch her hand away. “Nothing else matters, Ruby. I want to come with you. Please, don’t shut me out. Not now.”

“I…” She shoots a glance at her mom. “I’m not shutting you out.”

I’d feel better if she wasn’t so distracted, but I understand it’s the best I can hope for with Celia’s presence in the room, and her dad’s stroke looming over her head.

“Thank you.” I don’t know what else to say.

Ruby’s eyes finally meet mine, and I can see the torment behind them. She wants to believe me, but she needs time to process the information, and she can’t do that until she knows that her dad is going to be okay.

Her gaze drops to the diamond ring on her wedding finger. I pray that when she looks at it, she remembers our time in Scotland, the cobbled streets and narrow alleyways of Edinburgh, the fur blanket in Eileen’s B&B and the cave on the stony beach. It’s all part of our story, and I refuse to accept that it ends here. Not like this. And certainly not because of our parents.

Ruby leans closer and kisses my cheek. Then with another glance in her mom’s direction, she turns around and walks away.

---