Page 86 of An Orphan for the Broken Duke

“I did it for Lucy!” she pleaded. “And for you. I needed to know that you wanted to care for her, not that you would do so because you thought you must.”

“That was not your decision to make!”

She winced. “But I made it anyway. And… and I do not regret it.”

The anger was still in his eyes, as was the betrayal. But as he looked upon her fully, Violet felt something else. It was a look that suggested he did not know her, that she was a stranger to him, and that look hurt the most.

“I know you do not.” His voice was soft. “But that is the problem, Violet. You are so happy to look down on everyone else as if… as if you know what is best. It is so easy for you to act as if all you do is for everyone else, but that is not true.”

“It is!”

“No,” he said. “You did this not for Lucy, and not for me, but for yourself. You must control everything… to always be apart from the rest. Not because you want to do good, but because you fear what it might mean to finally let go.” He shook his head. “You want me to thank you, to praise you for what you did.”

“No, that is not it at all!”

“I am glad for this, Violet,” he said, his voice almost a whisper that was lost in the wind. “And I do thank you. But now, I realize, that I can no longer trust you.”

“Rhys…” She had no idea what else to say.

He was right to be upset. He was right to be angry. And he was right not to trust her.

Is it true? Did I do this for me? Have I been so wrong all this time…?

Rhys looked at her with pity and sadness. The love she had felt just moments ago was gone. The warmth and comfort had vanished. He had changed so much, but that did not matter. Violet was the one who needed to change, to let others in, and that she had failed to do that… it left a divide between them that was gaping.

“I should go.” Rain started to fall as Rhys took a step back. “I thank you for what you have told me, Violet.”

“Rhys… please…” She reached for him, but she did not move a step.

“And please, do not come to the estate without asking first. I do not know if Lucy could bear seeing you, only for you to leave again. The first time was hard enough.” A final look of pity was all he spared, then Rhys turned and walked back across the garden.

Violet did not go after him. She did not try to make excuses or plead her case. As the rain fell and the storm came, she watched Rhys vanish inside the house, and she knew without question that she had been wrong.

Rhys had changed so much, and for that she was grateful. But until Violet learned to trust, and until she learned to give over control, she would always be alone. Once, she had been fine with that, willing to accept that it was her lot in life.

Now… Violet had seen what it meant to have another in her life, she had felt that trust and that safety, and the appeal of being alone was as wretched as the storm that drowned her.

Worse still, it was a storm that might never break because that’s just who she was.

Thirty-One

Rhys returned to his home with a mood that matched the storm which raged overhead. Lightning cracked the sky, thunder shook the earth, and he swept inside as if he meant to lay waste to all that sat before him.

He knew that he should have felt joyous for the news that he had been given. To think that all this time, the child that he had searched for all those years was already living with him. That he had found her, saved her, and done as he promised.

Better still, that he had done so not because he thought he must, but because he wanted to do so.

How proud of me my sister would be…

Yes, he should have been happy, but he could not escape the feeling of betrayal that left such a bitter taste in his mouth that he thought he might be sick. All this time, Violet had judged him, acting as if he needed to change who he was, when she was the one who had betrayed their trust.

He stormed through the house, unable to dispel that anger he felt towards Violet.

How could she have kept this from him? How could she have believed that she was doing the right thing? And to think that he had come so close to asking her to return home, believing that they might be able to reconnect and try at being a family…

How can I ever forgive her?

It was a good thing that Lucy found him at that moment. She appeared at the top of the staircase and beamed when she saw him in the foyer.