Cast in Ice (28 page)

Nick sat at Winnie’s bedside and kept vigil over her. The doctor had been in a short while ago, and gave them no more hope than he’d offered earlier in the day. Or yesterday. Or the day before.

The wound was deep and she’d lost too much blood. She was weak. The doctor tried to prepare them for her death, but Nick refused to believe that Winnie would die now. She’d survived this long. That had to count for something. As long as she didn’t develop a fever.

Then, on the third night her thrashing woke him. He felt her forehead and she was burning up. Now, he did little else but place cloth after cloth rinsed in cold water on her fevered forehead. Little else but sit at her bedside and hold her hand. Little else but tell her over and over again that he couldn’t live if she wasn’t here with him. That they were meant to be together. That he refused to let her leave him.

Even though he willed himself to be strong for her, he was terrified. He’d never felt so helpless. His heart ached until he didn’t think he could stand the pain any longer. His throat clogged with lumps of terror that made it difficult to swallow. And tears he never thought he’d shed, welled in his eyes and streamed down his cheeks.

He loved her. Loved her more than he’d thought it was possible to love anyone. She was the other half of his heart and soul. The half that made him a whole person.

He reached for her hand again and held it. Her flesh was still overly warm, but he didn’t think she was as hot as she’d been an hour ago. Then, he realized he was probably imagining that she was better. Imagining that she had turned the corner and was recovering.

He rinsed a cloth in the basin of cool water on the table beside her bed, and placed the cloth on her forehead. He’d placed cool cloths on her burning flesh for days, only stopping when Tilly relieved him so he could stretch his legs.

He turned his head when the door opened and the Duke of Townsend entered.

He’d changed since Winnie had revealed that the duchess was still alive. The change was even more drastic when they brought his daughter’s bloody body home. Now his features were drawn, his face lacked color, and his shoulders slumped as if he carried the weight of the world.

“Has she improved any?” he asked, bringing a chair closer to the bed so he could sit near his daughter.

Nick shook his head.

“The doctor doesn’t give her much hope,” His Grace said. His voice was gruff with emotion.

“The doctor’s wrong,” Nick answered. “She’s a fighter. She’ll survive this.”

“If only she would have come to me,” His Grace said. “If only she would have told me about the blackmail demands.”

The duke looked at Nick and Nick saw the wetness in Winnie’s father’s eyes.

“Why didn’t she come to me? Do you know?”

Nick hesitated to answer. He knew why Winnie thought she couldn’t go to her father for help, or to him. But he wished it wouldn’t have been that way. He wished she wouldn’t have chosen to handle this by herself. “She didn’t come to either of us because she knew what our answers would be. She knew we wouldn’t bend the rules. We wouldn’t do what was best for Anne, or for the rest of the family. We’d do what our codes of honor demanded we do. And that it would destroy everyone she loved.”

“You were there,” the Duke of Townsend said. “You were a witness to what Ernesta did. Do you think she felt any remorse? Did she even hesitate before trying to take her daughter’s life?”

Nick didn’t want to have to tell Winnie’s father the truth, but he couldn’t lie to him. Not only did the duchess not hesitate to kill her daughter, but she’d convinced herself that Winnie deserved to die.

Nick shook his head as his answer.

“How could I have lived with such a monster and not known what she was capable of doing? How could I not have once suspected what she’d done?”

“It’s useless to blame yourself. Your wife was a master of deception. She was able to conceal her true nature from everyone. From you. From her children. And from Society. That she was able to hide her monstrous nature for so long is a testament to how demented she truly was.”

His Grace shook his head. “If only I would have…”

Winnie moaned.

Nick reached for her hand and held it. Her flesh seemed cooler. And this time he didn’t think he had imagined it.

“Winnie?” He brushed the damp hair back from her forehead. “Sweetheart?”

Her eyelids fluttered, then her eyes opened. They closed for a moment, then opened again. This time they stayed open.

“Nick?”

“Yes, sweetheart.”

Nick knelt beside her and lifted a glass of water to her lips. She drank one sip, then choked when she tried to drink more. He lifted the glass from her mouth.

“Are you…all right?” she asked.

He couldn’t withhold a startled laugh. “Yes, Winnie. I’m fine.”

“And Mother?”

“She’s dead,” he answered. “The brigadesmen shot her.”

Winnie nodded.

“It’s over, then?”

“Yes, Winnie. It’s over.”

“I’m glad,” she whispered.

She was silent for a few moments, as if she needed to digest the information, before she spoke again. “Where did they take her?”

“We took her to the country,” the Duke of Townsend answered, standing where his daughter could see him. “She’s buried on Townsend Estate. Not near Gideon’s mother. Or where I will eventually be buried. But far away.”

Winnie nodded as if she understood why her father refused to have his second wife anywhere near his first wife.

“Will people…find out?”

Nick gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. Everything she’d done had been motivated by her desire to keep what her mother had done from Society. Every move she’d made had been to protect her family, and the Townsend name. Nick knew she’d be devastated if everything she’d endured had been for nothing.

“No, Winnie. No one will ever know.”

Her eyes closed, and she sighed in relief. “What about Anne? Does she know?”

“Yes, Winnie,” His Grace said. “She knows. It was time she knew everything.”

Winnie looked at her father. “You’re right,” she whispered. “She needed to know.”

“Speaking of Anne,” the duke said. “I need to tell her that you’re better. She’ll never forgive me if I don’t tell her that you are awake. She’s been terribly worried over you.”

The duke leaned over to kiss his daughter on the forehead, then turned to leave. “Rest for a moment,” he said. “Anne will be here shortly.”

Winnie’s father left and they were alone.

“Do you know how frightened I was?” Nick whispered. “I thought I might lose you.” He leaned forward and kissed her. “I couldn’t have survived, Winnie.”

He lifted her hand and brought it to his chest. “Do you feel that?” he asked pressing her palm against his chest. “Every time I thought I might lose you, my heart stopped beating. That was when I knew that I didn’t want to go on if you weren’t here with me.”

He kissed her again. “I love you, Winnie. And if you’ll have me, I want us to be together for the rest of our lives.”

Tears welled in Winnie’s eyes, and for a moment, Nick wasn’t sure if they were tears of joy, or tears of regret because she didn’t love him the same as he loved her.

“Are you saying…that you want…to marry…me?”

“Yes, Winnie. I want to marry you. I want us to spend every moment of the rest of our lives together.”

A tear spilled from her eyes and ran to the pillow beneath her. “There’s nothing I want…more than that. To spend…the rest of my life…at your side.”

Nick kissed her again, then separated from her when the door opened and her sister rushed into the room.

More than anything, he wanted to hold her, and kiss her, and take care of her.

And he’d have the rest of his life to do just that. While he showed her just how much he loved her.

It was a perfect day for a wedding.

Winnie looked at the guests seated around the table enjoying the wedding breakfast and smiled. The laughter and gaiety were contagious. This was indeed a cause for celebration.

“Are you happy?” Nick asked. He placed his hand over hers and squeezed her fingers

Winnie looked at her husband with all the love she felt for him. “I’ve never been happier,” she said.

“Never?”

“Well, perhaps I was a little happier on
our
wedding day.”

The gleam in her husband’s eyes caused her heart to swell in her breast. “And perhaps I was a little happier when I realized I was carrying your son.”

Winnie moved her husband’s hand from her lap to her growing stomach.

Nick’s eyes glistened with emotion, then he leaned closer to her. “I love you, Winnie.”

“Not as much as I love you,” she answered softly.

Winnie held her husband’s gaze for several moments, then looked down the table to where her sister Anne sat with her husband. She made a beautiful bride. Lord Montroy made a very handsome, and happy, groom. It was obvious the two loved each other.

Winnie had worried when Anne had decided she couldn’t keep what their mother had done a secret from the man she was going to marry. Winnie was afraid that once Lord Montroy knew that their mother was a murderer, he’d break their engagement. But Annie said she didn’t want there to be any secrets between them. She said that if he loved her enough, what her mother had done wouldn’t matter to him or his family.

And it hadn’t.

Anne had set her wedding day for six months after Winnie and Nick had married. Anne was the last one to find her happily ever after.

Winnie looked around the table to where Gideon and Eve sat. Their twin boys and infant daughter were in the nursery with their nurse.

Gideon had suffered most at the duchess’s hands. Even though he never thought he would be blessed with a wife and children, he had been. That made his family the light of his life.

Ben and Rachael sat across the table from them. Their daughter Claire was in the nursery, along with a baby brother who’d been born just months after their Aunt Winnie and Uncle Nick’s wedding. And if Winnie were any judge, Rachael would present Ben with another son or daughter before the year was out.

Then there was her father.

His hair was grayer than it had been before he’d discovered what his wife had done. But he was still a handsome man. Still impressive enough to catch the eyes of more than one admiring female. And he was still young enough to be able to watch and enjoy his grandchildren.

Winnie smiled as she watched her father deep in conversation with his new son-in-law’s widowed aunt. Nick noticed her father the same time she did.

“Who is that woman seated next to your father?” Nick asked.

“That is the Countess of Bainsbrook. She’s Lord Montroy’s widowed aunt on his mother’s side.”

“They seem to be enjoying each other’s company.”

Winnie smiled. “Yes, they do, don’t they?”

“And they make a striking couple, don’t you think?” he added.

“Yes, they do, don’t they?”

Winnie shifted her gaze to her husband and saw a teasing glint in his eyes. “What?” she asked.

“You’re as easy to read as an open book, my lady.”

Winnie reached for her glass of water and took a sip. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. But I’ll let you enjoy your little matchmaking scheme.”

Nick glanced at the people sitting around the table, and Winnie let her gaze follow his.

“Your entire family has found their heart’s desire, my love. It’s perfectly all right for you to want the same for your father.”

“Do you think it’s possible?” she asked. Her father had already found his one true love when he married his first wife. And been betrayed by his second wife. Winnie wasn’t sure he would take the risk a third time.

“Of course it’s possible,” Nick answered. “Who wouldn’t want your father to be as happy as you and I are?”

“Then let’s hope Father’s brave enough to take the risk.”

Winnie reached for Nick’s hand and held it. “I love you, husband,” she whispered.

“Not as much as I love you, wife,” he said, then leaned over to kiss her. “My
Ice Lady
didn’t stand a chance, did she?” he whispered as his mouth hovered inches from her own.

Winnie grinned at her husband’s leering wink as she cradled his warm hand between both of hers. “Her heart is well and truly melted, my dearest husband. Well and truly melted…forever, and always.”