“Lass, ye will always have a choice with me. Remember that.”
She nodded, she could never show him how much she appreciated his support. She would try, but she feared it would never be enough.
“First thing, I need to call Malcolm back.”
“I thought he had work.”
“He did, but it was at my order.”
Confused, she waited to see if he would expand on his answer.
Sheepishly, he met her eyes. “I sent him to Rochester.”
“Pardon? Why would you have done such a thing?”
“You showed up here, out of the blue, clearly beaten, with hardly any belongings, looking for a place to live and work. Without ye being forthcoming of your circumstances, which I dinna place any blame on ye,” he quickly added. “But with that, I needed to see what your background was.”
She contemplated his words. They made sense. Clearly he would have been suspicious. She would have been the same if the roles were reversed. “That’s understandable, considering how I arrived. You are very kind to offer me assistance.”
“Have ye eaten aught hearty today? Ye mentioned snacks at the modiste. But ye need food. Good, healthy sustenance for the bairn.” He stood, grasped her hand and pulled her up. “Let’s go see what Cook has for ye.”
She worried her lip, unsure if he understood everything he could be getting himself into.
Sensing her hesitation, he turned her to face him. “What is wrong?”
She’d already laid out her life story before him. The good, the bad. The horrible. She might as well be forthright with any questions she had going forward.
“What are we doing?” She pointed her index finger back and forth between them. “What is this?”
“Well,” he drawled, drawing her close with his arms wrapped around her waist. “I guess ye could call it courting. I havena any experience in that, but that is the first step, am I correct?”
“Are you suggesting what I think you are?” she whispered, her heart skipping a beat. But there were so many hurdles for them to jump through to get to any secure future she didn’t dare hope for a relationship between the two of them.
“If ye are thinking marriage, then aye.” He pulled her in for a hug, and she took comfort in his warm embrace, her head resting on his chest. She could feel his warmth. Feel the thumpof his heart. His lips in her hair. She closed her eyes and savored the moment.
“But how? And do you know what that means?” She pushed back so she could meet his eyes. “What you are burdening yourself with?”
“We will figure out the semantics in dealing with Victor. There’s divorce, and whilst no’ common, ’tis possible. Again, I have friends that have a lot of pull when it comes to matters such as these. They hold sway and if we canna get Victor to acquiesce and agree to a divorce, we will force him to.”
She widened her eyes. “I do not want to cause any trouble.”
“Lass,” he chuckled. “When will ye realize ye are worth it?”
Was she? She’d spent years listening to her worth was only in the monetary value she brought to the marriage.
“I can sense that ye are trying to justify that in your mind. Dinna do that to yourself. Dinna let him win when ye’ve finally found your freedom.”
She laid her head on his chest once again. Gunn’s hands gently ran up and down her back, soothing her nerves. “And the babe?” she asked quietly.
“I have always wanted children.”
It was a statement. Said with conviction. No waver in his voice.
“That is a lot to accept. A child that is not yours. You would raise it as your own?”
“’Tis no’ the bairn’s fault how he or she came to be in the world. What matters is they have two loving parents to raise them and shower them with affection.”
“I.” She was at a loss for words. Gunn was almost too good to be true. How had she gotten so lucky? Out of all the pubs she could have entered, she went into the one that would prove to be her future.
