They went to the nursery, where Gabriel was once again playing with his army men. While Adrian greeted his adoptive son, Luke devoured the boy with his gaze, a feeling of both wonder and doom settling over him as he took in the child’s inky black hair and bright blue eyes.
My son?
Yes. To his very soul, he felt it. Somehow, despite all odds, his brother had managed to rescue the child Roger had taken from them. But now Gabriel was being raised in a happy and loving home. Gabriel loved Adrian and Vanessa. He finally had a family of his own. How could he take the boy away from his own brother?
Adrian glanced up at him and suddenly stilled. He looked between Luke and Gabriel, his face growing pale.
With a muttered curse, Adrian suddenly stood and pulled Luke from the room, shutting the door sharply behind him. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner,” he said, shaking his head. “Because of the resemblance, everyone assumed he wasmylove child, that Vanessa and I had been together for years. But he looks so much like me because he’s yours, isn’t he?”
Luke sighed. “I don’t know. But when I went and spoke to Miss Hawley, she said that the baby Roger brought her was a boy. That it was Gabriel.”
“This is going to kill Vanessa,” Adrian muttered. “She loves the boy. As do I.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Luke told him, pain at his own loss twisting with guilt at the thought of hurting his brother and Vanessa. “I don’t know who is telling the truth. I don’t know what’s real. I can’t take Gabriel from you, especially if I don’t know if he’s even mine. What if he’s not? What if Miss Hawley is lying, and my daughter is still out there? Gabriel is so happy here.”
“We need to find out more,” Adrian agreed, seeming relieved that Luke was not going to take the boy from him at this very moment. “Who would know the truth?”
“Roger,” Luke said grimly. “It all comes back to Roger. I need to check with the inspector and see if he’s had any luck. We need to get Allison back, and then we can make him tell us the truth.”
“Every time I think we’ve managed to rid ourselves of him, he comes back, destroying any happiness we manage to find,” Adrian said, and for a moment, he wasn’t the happy family man he’d recently become. Instead, he was the angry, haunted man who’d terrorized the city, saving those who were suffering as he had.
Luke clasped his brother’s arm. “It will be all right. We will figure out the right thing to do. We will do the right thing for Gabriel.”
“It will hurt one of them,” Adrian said with a sigh. “No matter what we do, either Serenity or Vanessa will be destroyed.”
* * *
“YOU’RE GOING TO LOVEFiona,” Vanessa said, her lovely face alight with pleasure. “She is so wonderful with the children.” Her smile dimmed slightly, a shadow passing across her eyes. “And I want so badly to see baby Felicity.”
Serenity knew only the basics of what had happened to Morgan’s wife. But what she couldn’t comprehend was how his grief could have possibly kept him from his baby girl. Serenity would have done anything in the world to hold her child just one more time. Had she known where her child was, nothing could have stopped her from going to her. One look at Vanessa and Serenity knew that she felt the same.
“Mama, why are you sad?” Gabriel asked, scooting closer to Vanessa on the coach seat, squeezing her gloved hand and peering up at her anxiously. “I can’t wait to see Mrs. Bohannan again.”
Serenity shared an amused look with Vanessa. The little boy was so precious. This was the first time she’d met Adrian and Vanessa’s son, and she’d immediately been enchanted.
“I can’t wait to see her either,” Vanessa told the boy lovingly. “And you’ll meet your new baby cousin as well.”
Gabriel seemed a little less excited about the thought of the baby and returned to playing with the army men he’d brought along.
“Is Brookhaven where you found him?” Serenity asked quietly.
Vanessa grinned a bit wickedly, obviously reliving a very special memory. “Well, not exactly. Perhaps I’ll tell you that story sometime.”
Serenity blinked and stared out the window at the large white house they were approaching, not wanting Vanessa to see how much the thought of being part of Luke’s life for long enough to get to hear that story appealed to her. She still didn’t know what they would do when they found their child. But he was still an earl, and she was still an upstairs maid. She sincerely doubted that it would work out for them now any more than it had the first time.
The best she could hope for was that he’d let her and their child return to the cottage and that maybe he’d come and see them sometimes.
“We’re here,” Vanessa announced brightly as the coach came to a stop.
Moments later, they were entering the lovely orphanage that Adrian had established. Serenity was pleasantly surprised by the clean and homey atmosphere. They were ushered into a dark-paneled office, and a lovely redhead, who was much younger than Serenity had expected, rose from the desk. “Vanessa,” she cried, coming around to embrace Vanessa in a hug. “How are you?”
The genuine kindness and concern in her gaze when Fiona drew back to look at her friend made Serenity a little jealous. This world Luke had introduced her to, of loving and caring family and friends, was something she had always wanted. She wished she could somehow be a part of it, that these women would someday be as glad to see her as they were to see each other.
At last the two women pulled apart, and Fiona resumed her place behind her desk. “Who’s this then?” she asked with a smile, turning in Serenity’s direction.
Serenity cringed a bit, wondering how Vanessa could possibly explain her relationship to Luke without making her sound like his mistress. Which she supposed she was, she realized, remembering their passionate lovemaking this morning.
“This is Serenity Pratt, the love of Hawkesmere’s life,” Vanessa said with a smile, endearing herself to Serenity forever. “They’ve recently been reunited, and she’s come to visit you and baby Felicity with me.”
