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The muscle beneath my fingers twitches before he says in a raw voice, “I’ve tried not to break them. I’ve tried so hard.”
“I know you have,” I say, the backs of my eyes beginning to sting. “But you don’t have to try anymore. Because you’re wrong. You do deserve love. You deserve my love and Darcy’s love and the love of all the other people who care about you.”
He shakes his head and stiffens against me.
“You do,” I say, refusing to let him pull away. I take a bracing breath and add, “Even if you were responsible for what happened to your wife and children, you would deserve love. But you weren’t, Baron. The men who wanted your land and property so much they were willing to kill for it are the ones who should be serving this life sentence of misery you’ve imposed on yourself, not you. They’re the ones who—”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He reaches back, grabbing my wrists and forcing them away from his waist.
“But I do.” I prop my hands on my hips. Heart racing, I nod toward my nightstand. “I read the entire story. Every word.”
He turns, his face draining of color as he sees the book. “You… When?”
“A few days ago,” I say. “And it didn’t change the way I feel. If anything, it made me love you more because you loved them so much.”
He shakes his head faster than before. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I should have given the bastards what they wanted. I should have put my family first.”
“You never should have been forced to choose between your land and your family. That’s what law enforcement is for. Someone should have stepped in to—”
“But no one did, and I knew no one would. The leader of the men who took everything from me had the constable in his pocket. I knew that. I knew I was playing with fire when I ignored their threats, and I did it anyway.” He drags a clawed hand through his hair. “But it was my family that paid the price. My family that burned. I could smell them from miles away, Annie. The scent of my children’s roasting flesh.”
I press a hand to my stomach and swallow hard, fighting the urge to be sick.
Seeing my response, Baron turns to me with wild eyes. “Yes. They burned my children, but not before they tortured them and tore them limb from limb, butchering them like so much meat while their mother was forced to watch.” His throat works for an agonizing moment before he adds, “When I found her head, there were tears streaking her cheeks. They killed her last on purpose”
“I know.” Tears slide down my cheeks. “And I can’t imagine that kind of horror or pain, but it still wasn’t—”
“If you say it wasn’t my fault again, I’m leaving,” he snaps.
“All right,” I say, acid burning up my throat as I realize this is my moment, maybe the last one I’ll have alone with him. He doesn’t make idle threats, and I sense that when he talks about “leaving” he doesn’t just mean my house or this side of town. He means leaving Nightfall for good. “But if you leave, you might never get to meet her and that would be such a shame.”
His brows pinch together so tightly they almost touch. “Meet who?”
“Your daughter,” I say, my shaking hand coming to hover between my hips. “I’m pregnant. And as far as I know Wonderfully women always have girls, so…”
Heart slamming against my ribs, I search Baron’s expression for a sign of how he’s taking the news. But he just looks…stunned. Immobilized. Like a robot that ran out of battery power and will remain fixed in place until someone plugs him back in.
As the silence stretches on for what feels like eons, I pull in a wobbly breath. “I thought Aurora would be a good name.”
“Named for the dawn her father will never see again,” he mutters, his lips moving, but the rest of his face still frozen in shock.
I step closer, reaching for his hand, but he takes a matching, much faster, step away. “Please.” My fingers curl and uncurl as my palms begin to sweat. “Don’t make this a dark thing, Baron. It’s a miracle. A blessing. And I’m so happy. I want this baby so much, and not just because I’ve always wanted to be a mother. I want her because she’s yours, a piece of the man I love.”
His face crumples into a mask of grief so heartbreaking I decide then and there that I simply must hold him, even if he puts up a fight. I have to hold him and kiss his forehead and promise him over and over that I’m strong enough to carry hope for both of us until he’s ready to lay his burden down.
Jaw set and determination swelling in my chest, I’m about to tackle him with my love if I have to when Blaire shouts from downstairs, “Annie, where are you? I’ve already marked ten pages with the word demon on them and I’m on my second cup of tea.”
Breath rushing out, I crane my head and call over my shoulder, “I’ll be down soon. I’m in the middle of something important.”
“In the middle of what?” she asks, but this time I don’t answer.
I’m too busy searching the room for Baron, even dropping down onto my knees to peer under the bed and ripping open the closet door to look inside.
But he’s gone.
Vanished with a trace.
Chapter 16
