Chapter Thirty-Eight
After delivering her apology, Leticia turned to leave. Tristan should have known Bradbury was to blame, that Leticia had been innocent. Tristan should have flattened the blackguard in White’s. There would surely be words—or more—between them in the future.
Tristan caught her arm. “Tish.”
Leticia halted, looking at the ground. Tears dropped from her eyes, some falling to the floor, others carving out streaks on her cheeks.
He slid his hand from her arm down to her hand. “I love you. That hasn’t changed.”
Raising her head, she peered at him with tearful eyes.
He touched her cheek. “Forgive me for assuming the worst. I doubted you, not because you are untrustworthy, but because I doubt my own ability to be loveable.”
She stepped closer, disbelief and sorrow in the narrowing of her eyes. “You are lovable.”
“I don’t deserve you. I don’t meet the criteria you outlined when we first made our ridiculous wager. I can only do everything possible to make you happy within my limited ability, and hope it’s enough…hope you will be happy enough to stay.”
She put a hand on his cheek. “Your mother didn’t leave because you disappointed her; she left because she was selfish.”
Memories overwhelmed him and he was transported to when he was a small boy searching for his mother, running through the house calling for her. The head housekeeper had pointed out the window where his mother climbed onto a carriage. He’d raced outside, but the carriage had already begun rolling forward. Though Tristan had run as fast as he could, the carriage continued at a steady pace, more quickly than his legs could keep up. When the carriage with his mother disappeared from view, and he’d come to a crossroads with no way of knowing which direction they’d taken, he’d stopped, fallen to his knees, and sobbed.
Richard had found him then. Silent and grim, he’d picked up Tristan, hoisted him onto the back of the horse he’d ridden, and taken Tristan home.
“Can you ever forgive me?” Leticia pressed her lips together, studying him.
“If you’ll forgive me for believing you could have played me false.”
Leticia put her other hand on his chest and smiled so lovingly into his eyes that it almost undid him. Leticia. She was constant and driven by both duty and honor. No dutiful, honorable woman would leave her family, betray her husband, abandon her children.
Leticia was right. The realization struck him like a thunderbolt. His mother hadn’t left because Tristan had been a bad child; she left for her own reasons. Perhaps she suffered from some form of mental illness. She may not have really loved her husband and had run off to be with another man. Whatever her reasons, she wasn’t committed enough to stay—even for her children.
However, Leticia embodied selflessness and sincerity and honor.
She stood with one hand in his, the other on his chest, and so much love in her eyes that it nearly brought him to his knees.
With a tender smile curving her shapely lips, she said, “You do meet my criteria of an ideal husband.”
With a huff of disbelief, he shook his head. “Hardly.”
She pulled away, humor brightening her eyes. “Let’s see. If I recall correctly, my list for a husband included monogamy, integrity, kindness, a sense of humor and a means of supporting me.”
He managed a smile. “You’re a very demanding wench, you know that?”
She grinned. “I am. But don’t you see? You are that man.”
He paused, working backward through her list. “Well, I do have ten thousand a year so unless you want to buy a castle, that would be adequate. We laugh a lot together. I hope I am kind more often than not.” He stumbled over the remaining two qualities.
She finished. “You are a man of integrity. You always keep your promises and you act within your principles.”
He swallowed, waiting for the final stumbling block, given his history.
“As far as monogamy, I have every faith in you. In your heart, you are a new man—a better man. You haven’t changed much; you’ve always lived by your own code of honor. Recently, you’ve elevated that code. I know you would never betray me.”
The trust and love in her eyes gave him courage. “I vow it. I vow I will always be faithful to you. Only you.” He leaned in and kissed her, full of promise and love.
She molded herself against him and wrapped her arms around him, kissing him with such pure love and passion that it healed him. Its strength and beauty reached through years of pain and isolation to that small boy who thought he’d disappointed his mother and driven her away. If a woman as remarkable as Leticia loved him, he was a worthwhile person—strong and noble and brave—and so very much in love that his heart expanded. The sensation washed over him, bathing him in light and joy.
In his heart, he sailed across an ocean to an island big enough for the two happiest people on earth.