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Jack blinked rapidly. The doctor had confused Katherine with his intended bride. He shook his head and said, wishing the words to hell though he had no choice but to utter the truth, “Katherine is my…friend. I’m to marry Miss Worthington.”
“I…I’m not sure that would be wise.”
He swung round at the sound of the soft, regretful words and found himself staring into the tearful gaze of his real bride.
Struck dumb, he saw the effort it took Odette to draw in a shaking breath. “I have my dignity too, Jack,” she whispered. She looked stricken, and Jack felt the most dishonourable cad that ever lived as she went on, “How can I marry you, Jack, knowing every time you look at me you wish you were looking at Katherine?” She turned her head and gazed at the young woman on the bed. “She obviously feels the same…otherwise, she wouldn’t have taken such risks to be here thinking…” She looked at Lady Quamby and George before adding, “That you were injured.”
“Odette.” Jack took her hand as remorse and dismay and confusion warred within him.
“You can’t help the way you feel, Jack,” she said sadly, gently extricating her hand. “And I admire your loyalty and honour, but I won’t hold you to what you are only doing out of loyalty and honour. It’s not fair to either of us.” She stepped backwards, towards the door. The room was silent; everyone’s attention riveted on Odette while Jack remained rooted to the spot, knowing he should argue with her, take her hands in his and refute everything she’d said.
But he couldn’t.
She offered him a small, sad smile. “I shall, with dignity, withdraw from our intended contract. My father is ill. He needs me more than you do, let us say. Neither of us shall be deemed to have acted dishonourably.” Her lip trembled. “And don’t we all deserve to be happy?” She cast a final glance at Katherine before putting her hand on the doorknob. “I hope Katherine recovers fully but…even if she doesn’t, Jack, I won’t be your substitute love.”
Chapter 31
It was just as she’d dreamed. Katherine was lying in a cloud of comfort, the curtains billowing into the room, a blue sky beyond, the air fragrant with the scent of roses.
And there was Jack, sitting at her bedside, holding her hand and smiling down at her.
She smiled back and squeezed his hand, surprised at the lack of strength in her grip.
“Jack dearest,” she murmured. “I knew one day we’d be together. I didn’t mean for it to be like this, though.” Her thoughts seemed jumbled and hazy, but she was surprisingly undisturbed. Simply being with Jack infused her with happiness, for Jack would only be holding her hand and looking at her with such intense adoration if they’d both died and gone to the hereafter.
“Did you have a happy marriage with Odette? I hope you did. I only ever wanted you to be happy.”
Jack pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes, glancing up at the sound of someone entering the room. Katherine caught a whiff of the peony scent her mother favoured these days and felt another surge of joy. But, of course it couldn’t be her mother. In Heaven with them, too? That was just too much of a coincidence.
She heard the words: “She’s rambling, Jack, but she’s awake. Thank God she’s awake.” And then the muffled sound of weeping.
“Rambling? I’m not rambling. I’m talking to Jack. I want to learn everything he’s been doing since we parted. Do you have children? Oh, Jack, I wanted to tell you so much about Diana, but I couldn’t.” Now she was the one who started to feel like weeping. A tear breached the corner of her eyelid before Jack tenderly wiped it away with his forefinger. He kissed it, then, which made Katherine very happy.
“What did you want to tell me about Diana, dearest?” he whispered, putting his head close to Katherine’s cheek, before kissing her lips ever so softly.
“Why, that she’s yours, of course. You surely must have guessed that, though. And even if you didn’t, it was not something to talk about, was it? Not with you marrying Odette, when you had no choice. You made it very clear, and I understood. You know, about how you couldn’t have lived with yourself if you’d not done what honour demanded of you.”
“Katherine.” He tightened his grip on her hand. She thought he had something in his throat. “Katherine.” He said it again, and she thought he sounded strangled by some strange sentiment like remorse, which was strange, for being in a place like this, none of that mattered anymore. Not now that they could be together.
“I didn’t know. I…never guessed.”
She opened her eyes, and there he was, staring at her, tears welling behind his eyes. He shook his head, real shock in his expression. “I must have been the blindest fool. I was the blindest fool. Diana is…mine?”
Katherine smiled happily. “She’s lovely, isn’t she? I hope she’s happy. As happy as I am right now. I want her to know love as I’ve known love with you, Jack.”
Jack made an odd noise. “I didn’t see so much of what was staring me in the face,” he muttered. “And then George told me what he had done.”
“George?” She heard the derision in her voice as she widened her eyes. “He did badly by me. Very badly.” She ought not to feel such anger when she and Jack were together now, and the past was barely remembered. Then she shivered, remembering the seven years of unhappiness she’d spent with Freddy.
“But he did his best to atone, Katherine. Yes, it’s true he set up the wager, and he encouraged Freddy’s plan to send a carriage after he’d sent the note to you. He never thought you’d actually get into it!”
“I thought it was you sending the carriage for me, Jack!” Katherine jerked forward, and Jack took her in his arms. How warm and comforting the feeling was. She knew the carriage didn’t matter. George, Freddy, the accidental elopement. None of that mattered because she was now where she wanted to be. But she was afraid Jack mightn’t know everything, and it was important that he did.
She put her face close to Jack’s and lovingly traced the contours of his face. “I got into the carriage because I thought that when bad weather prevented you from sailing that day, you’d reconsidered and were asking me to throw my lot in with yours. I thought you had sent the carriage!”
Jack cupped her face and rested his forehead against Katherine’s. “So it’s true, my darling Katherine.” He felt weak with emotion. “I couldn’t believe it. Not even when Diana made so many references to it: the wrong carriage…staring out over the sea. I berated myself each time for having the ego to think that I was the source. Lord, I would have taken you with me across the seas if it could have been managed. If there’d been time. After I realised how much our last two nights together changed everything and I could never love another like I loved you.” He drew back so she could see the sincerity in his eyes. “Yes, I made a success of it all, and I’m a rich man, but I could have done it faster with you by my side.” He swallowed. “And been a great deal happier for many years more.”
Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “I can’t blame anyone other than myself…darling Jack,” she whispered. “I hadn’t read the letter properly when Mama stepped into the room, and I threw it into the fire, my heart threatening to explode with excitement at the thought that this carriage that was in the street just outside my bedroom window would take me in just a few hours to where you were!”
