That explains the need for a palanquin.
“Monsale grumbled about you being a dolt for bringing Gus here. I did protest on your behalf. Explained that I had experience in handling hunting wounds, but he wasn’t having any of it. Said you and I had more important things to concern ourselves with,” she added.
Monsale was right. At least with Gus gone from the house, he and Bridget would be free to talk—to share the evening without the worry of constantly checking on their patient.
Bridget approached, then stopped. Stephen hated himself for having made her feel she couldn’t come to him without hesitation.
I want to see the open arms of my wife when I come home.
He took a slow, measured step toward her. And then another. When he finally stood before his wife, Stephen sucked in a shaky breath. He glanced at the box. “I expect you are wondering what this is and what I have to say.”
Tears shone in her eyes as she silently nodded.
“Come and look.”
Bridget followed as Stephen carried the box over to a nearby table and set it down. After pulling a key out of his pocket, he unlocked the box and lifted the lid. Inside were various bundles of banknotes, gold coins, and precious jewels. “This is my flee box. Each of the five of us has kept one over the years. It contains what we would need if we ever had to make a run from the law.”
“And that is why it is called a flee box?” replied Bridget.
“Exactly. We built a strongroom under the stables at Gracechurch Street, and the remaining boxes are still stored there. Since Harry and George have both married and given up the criminal life, they have withdrawn their boxes.”
Bridget slipped her hand into his. “And so, have you.”
Not a question, a simple statement. It gave Stephen hope.
“I also brought my travel trunk here tonight. I want you to know that everything I own and hold dear is now under this roof. Our home.”
With his retirement from illicit work, Stephen no longer had the need for secret funds to escape from England.
“You said home?” she replied.
“Yes, home.” He reached into the box and took out a small black bag. It had sat unopened and forgotten for many years. “The rattle that Toby’s mother gave him is the only memento he has of her. This is all I have of my mine.”
He handed her the bag, but instead of opening it, Bridget scowled. “Why are you giving me this? I don’t understand what is happening. Please, Stephen, you have to explain.”
“My mother left me and returned to her family in Scotland when I was barely six months old. I never saw her again. She died some ten years later; and I only discovered she had passed away by mere chance. Not one letter. She couldn’t even grace me with a simple missive in all those years. It was as if I had never existed.”
Bridget untied the bag and opened it. Inside was a small silver pin of a fox.
“I wore it for a time when I was younger. It was my talisman, the faint hope that she might come and take me home with her. My father used to mock me, so I took to wearing it on the inside of my jacket.”
Raking his fingers through his hair, he took a deep sigh.
“I want more than just a trinket to be the sum total of our family. Bridget, I am here tonight to beg you to accept me as I am, faults and all. I want us to be a real family. You. Me. Toby. And our baby.”
I want to come home.
Chapter Forty-Three
Bridget stared at the tiny silver fox. It was more than likely part of the crest from his mother’s family. A family Stephen had never known.
He was a grown man, but the pain of a lifetime of rejection hung heavy in his words. Stephen had finally, hopefully, seen sense and decided that a life with her was worth living.
But she wasn’t going to yield that easily. He was not the only one who had suffered from having their love thrown back at them—from being rejected.
“And you think because you suddenly decide that you want a family that I should just accept your decision? Because it takes more than just saying ‘that’s mine’ for it to become true.”
She could blame her emotions on the baby growing inside her. On the sudden and quite overwhelming mood swings she had been experiencing. But this was more than just a pregnancy thing. A shy, tentative smile appeared on his face.
