Page 91 of The Lady's Last Mistake
She shook her head. “What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know when it happened. It might have been when you helped me with Amir at the clinic, or maybe when you confided in me about the baby. But it could have been even earlier when I saw you for that first time at Hope House. If that is the case, and I’m beginning to think it is, then the charade ended before it ever began.”
She stared at him through hot welling tears as he pressed two more kisses to her fingertips.
“Whatis the blackguard saying?” Michael hissed to someone, but Cassie ignored him. She found it simple to do while locked in Grant’s unyielding gaze.
“The blackguard is saying that he’s been a bloody fool.” Grant lowered her hand but didn’t relinquish it. He only held on tighter. “When I bullied you into that courtship, I had every intention of getting what I wanted. But because of you, what I wanted changed. By the time I’d come to my senses, I’d done everything wrong.”
She sipped shallow breaths, the rest of the room andeveryone within it disappearing. Only Grant mattered. Though she could barely see him through the haze of tears.
“All of London is right. Iama blackguard. I’m a scoundrel of the worst ilk. I’ve treated you wretchedly, and I will beg your forgiveness every day for the rest of my life if I must because whether you want me to be or not, I am in love with you.”
A sob lodged in her throat, and with a blink, the welling tears spilled over. “You can’t be. I’m ruined, Grant. I’m broken.”
“We’ve both been broken,” he said. “But we don’t have to stay that way.”
Her heart threatened to burst as she clung to Grant’s hands. They were the only things keeping her upright as he sank to one knee. “I want you as my wife, Cassie. And there is nothing false or pretend about that.”
She trembled, her mind reeling, her heart thrashing. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
“I want to believe you.” Her voice shook. “I want to trust you. I’ve never wanted anything more.”
He frowned. “But?”
“But you said you’d never marry again, and I can’t ask you to. I can’t ask you to stop loving her.”
“I never will.” It was resolute. Unemotional. Just bare fact. Surprisingly, the twist of envy she’d felt the few times he’d spoken of his lost wife did not come. Grant was not fickle. He was steady and tenacious, and she admired him for it.
“My love for Sarah is entirely different from my love for you.” He got up from one knee and pulled her closer, holding her hands to his chest. “She was the woman I neededthen. You are the woman I need now. Cassie, you’re the woman Iwant. Say you want me too. Tell me you love me, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying like hell to make you smile, even if I have to make a bloody fool of myself to do it.”
Cassie laughed through her tears. “Yes, you idiot. Yes, I love you.” She sucked in a breath. “I love you, and I’ll marry you. Genuinely, this time.”
A boyish grin cut those dimples into his cheeks, and she could no longer resist him. She grabbed Grant by the collar and dragged his lips to hers. He held her to him, squeezing her so tightly she could scarcely draw breath. She didn’t care in the least. She didn’t need something as trivial as air when his lips were on hers.
“Thornton!” Michael’s bellow severed their locked mouths, but Grant didn’t let her go. He kept a supportive arm around her as they faced the room and everyone watching. Belatedly, her cheeks fumed at their display, but from Hugh’s wide grin, the tears sparkling in the corners of Audrey’s eyes, Genie’s steepled hands pressed against her radiant smile, and even Tobias’s slightly bashful smirk, Cassie realized they had nothing to be embarrassed about.
“Come to my study,” Michael said after his own flustered moment. “It looks as though we have important matters to discuss after all.”
Cassie linked her arm around Grant’s, unwilling to let him go. She wasn’t certain she’d ever want to be anywhere again without a part of him touching her. “I will come too,” she said. “If the pair of you will be discussing my marriage, I will be there as well.”
Michael only shook his head. “Of course you will. Come along then.”
Epilogue
The pains had been coming sporadically for the last hour. The twinges had been easy to ignore at first, but while Cassie had been sitting in the library at Hope Clinic with some of the women who’d expressed an interest in learning to read and write, something had changed. One of the young women, Janice, had touched her hand when Cassie’s fingers froze on the primer they were reading together.
“Is it the little one, milady?”
The tightening around Cassie’s middle had lessened, and she’d laughed. “It is. Struggling for room to move, I’m sure.”
Although, she knew this wasn’t the familiar jabbing of elbows, knees, or feet.
“Maybe we should stop for today,” Petra, another resident at the clinic suggested.
Cassie was reluctant to end so early. She enjoyed the lessons in the library whenever she and Grant were at the clinic. They made the drive from Thornton House to Stepney Fields three days a week, and each time Cassiemarveled at how far the place had come. So much had changed in the two years since Hope House and Grant’s free clinic had merged at Madame Archambeau’s Stepney property. The former church with its courtyard and rectory had been the perfect location for a new lying-in home and free clinic. With its main gate and a team of security, it was a secure place for women looking to escape a bad situation. Being so close to Whitechapel, it was also easily reached by Grant’s regular patients. He was no longer Dr. Brown, and she was no longer Miss Jane Banks. They had decided together that the time for hiding was over.
Cassie took Janice and Petra’s advice and concluded the day’s lesson. She hefted herself from the chair, needing to brace a palm on the table to do so. She’d grown so round and heavy during the last month she could no longer see her feet. As she slowly made her way from the residential wing to the clinic, she evened her breathing. She didn’t want to appear panicked when she met with Grant in the clinic wing. It had taken a full year after their wedding to convince him to try for a baby. His initial disinterest had developed into outright refusal, but she hadn’t taken it to heart. She’d trusted that in time, he would overcome his fear. And he had.
