Page 75 of The Baron Takes a Wife

He dragged her to him, kissed her hard, and then tightly wrapped his arms around her.

She knew, she had always known deep down, that he would always believe and trust in her. That he would never try to control her or seek vengeance. Even if he were angry with her, the man who had laughed at her dolls and listened to her read would never hurt her in that way. Love didn’t have to hurt like that. Love didn’t have to be possessive, like a scourge devouring all in sight. It could be warm and generous, like a golden thread that tethered one’s heart to another, giving and taking light and strength from the other. And suddenly, she realized that between them, that golden thread was there, had woven all along, but she had been too afraid and too weary to see it, to feel it all. It had probably started weaving all those years ago, but she had been so wrapped up in pain and guilt and grief that she hadn’t noticed. But David, bless him, had seen it all along.

“Amorul meu,” she murmured. My love.

“Elena, I have something to tell you.” He released her briefly but still held her hands. “When I contacted the Foreign Office about Anatole’s claims, someone had heard of your family, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up before it was verified. It seems the Foreign Office and the ambassador are not always on the same page.” He reached into his pocket. “I just received a letter. I was about to come find you, but then Irene came in.” Elena felt time stop as if she were on the precipice of either great heartbreak or great joy. She tried to prepare herself as she waited, her heart in her throat. He went on. “Your family, they survived that day. They fled to Constantinople for a few years, but now they’re settled in Bucharest.”

“They-they were there when I was there?” She felt a jolt as if her heart couldn’t contain all this information and everything that had happened in the past hour. And yet, that golden thread felt as if it was patching and fixing that part of her heart that had died that day. It would never be the same, as she had grown and changed, but it was finally whole again. Tears that she had not shed welled up behind her eyes until her vision was blurry. Even so, she could still see David clearly, though he now looked profoundly sad.

“I’d understand if you wanted to go back to them. I will let you go if that is what you want.”

The light of the golden thread flickered for a moment. “Is that what you want?” she asked, searching his eyes, the green fading into brown. “To be rid of your strange, foreign wife?”

“No!” He looked down at her with such intensity that she physically felt it throughout her entire body. “I happen to be madly in love with my beautiful, brave wife.” He took a breath and looked away, some of the intensity receding. “You were quite the hero today. I can’t believe you headed him off like that. Though I’ll likely have nightmares about it for years to come.”

She felt herself flush. “I just held him until Goliath came,” she muttered.

“I knew you were an avenging angel in those first weeks I met you. Avenging but merciful angel, I suppose. It’s something to be proud of.” He smiled, but not with his whole face and eyes. “I just want you to be happy, Elena. I know how much you’ve missed your family and your home. I want to fight for you, to stay with you for the next fifty years, but…I think the best thing I could do is set you free to go back to them. If that is what you wanted.”

Standing before him, she could never have imagined such a future for herself, all these miles away from the only home she had known, looking up at this man. But she saw now that as much as she had fought it, she had started to think of this as home. Knowing her family was alive and she could possibly see them again had helped restore her heart, but this, this was home. This place, London, Goliath, Sophie, Irene, the hospital. David. Especially David. She understood now that her heart was whole again. It irrevocably belonged to him. It had probably always belonged to him. It was as if every time she had called him husband, she had been making a promise, conjuring an infinite future for them together. It had just taken her some time to see that future for what it was. All those years ago, when she lost her home and family in the same day, she had realized how deeply she loved what she had all along only when it was gone. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.

“The thing is, David.” She gathered herself and glanced back up at him, overwhelmed with this sudden and fierce happiness. “I want to stay if you’ll have me.” She swallowed as a tear began to fall down her cheek. “I’ve come to realize that you are my home. And my love.”

He wiped the tear before it reached her dimple gently with the pad of his thumb. “Am I, Elena? Am I your love?”

His sadness seemed to ebb away as he gripped her shoulders and searched her eyes, hopeful. She laughed, and tears began to fall more freely. She pushed gently against his chest.

“I tried on that coat and found that I rather liked it. And that I was rather madly in love with you in return.”

His hopeful expression suddenly turned into the most incandescent grin she had ever seen. It slowly spread across his face like a sunrise, matching hers in joy. When she looked at him, she felt as if she saw a mirror of herself. Beautiful, scars and all. It took her breath away.

“I’m so sorry it took me so long—” she began to say, but he cut her off with a kiss.

“Remember the question?” he murmured as he pulled away. “The answer comes just at the right time.”

Elena swallowed and stared up at him, so grateful that he understood how difficult it had been for her to trust in happiness, how hard-won this moment was for her. Recovering herself slightly, she looked away to wipe her eyes.

“Now we have to think of how we will thank Goliath for saving my life. And you ought to admit I was right in keeping him.”

“You’re always right, Elena.”

She shook her head, the tears still falling, “You’re just lovestruck. You’ll recover.”

“I suppose, on very rare occasions, you could possibly, in very, very seldom cases…be wrong. But Goliath was worth saving. I’ll always trust your instincts. I can promise you that.”

He grabbed both of her hands, entwining them in his, and slowly turned them to kiss her knuckles. Suddenly, their playful mood shifted. Elena felt they were promising something sacred, something more than the rushed vows they had made on the way out of Balaclava or the quick service in England.

“I’ll always trust your patience, David. And your love. I know that now.” She clenched her throat to hold back a sob.

“Elena.” He tried to crush her in his arms, but she pushed him back so she could look up at him.

“But I want more than fifty years. I want forever.”

“Fifty years was just a starting point. I figured I would have to talk you into forever.”

“You are terribly good at talking people your way. It’s one of your most annoying qualities.”

He put his arm around her and began to steer them back home. “I started with a few hours a week, and somehow, I’m talking my way to forever, so I rather like my odds.”