Wicked Deception (58 page)

Giles, Devlin, Brionne and a toddling
Aidan gave pursuit as Nicholas ran down the surf. She couldn’t
believe how happy she was and pinched herself often. They remarried
when they arrived. Their new surname was Pierce. It was the name
Nicholas had before Oran Van Ryker adopted him.

He went by his middle name now. It was
sometimes difficult to call him Alexander in the presence of
strangers, or Alex, as he was known to those here. She knew when
Giles returned to London with tales of his new stepfather,
Alexander Pierce that Gabriel would question how quickly she
remarried. She prayed he wasn’t hurt by it.

Her son Giles was too young to know his
former stepfather and the new one were the same man, being barely
four when Nicholas died. They didn’t worry he would alert his
father with descriptions either. Her husband finally consented to
allow her to cut his long, unruly hair and removed his signature
gold hoop from his ear.

Martha and Tulley proved indispensible
now with agreeing to accompany her son to and from England each
year. They didn’t mind splitting their time between the islands and
their home in England. Martha was adamant they explain to
Catherine’s family about Nicholas’s new identity.

Her Uncle Devlin refused to do the deed
and tell her siblings Nicholas was alive. He and the boys would be
visiting soon. Jaime and Cullen decided to stay with their uncle at
Dunleavy Hall now. Nicholas and Catherine decided to tell them the
truth when they arrived. Catherine couldn’t bear to lose her
siblings and needed them in her life. They had to be made to
understand why keeping Nicholas’s secret was so
important.

A letter from her Uncle Devlin recently
informed her that his younger brother Aidan arrived back at
Dunleavy Hall. He was so vague in his explanation, she was dying to
see them when they arrived in several months. The boys were still
in school until then. It was the one stipulation Gabriel insisted
upon in order to relinquish his guardianship. The boy’s education
wasn’t negotiable and Devlin abided by it.

The Van Ryker’s were promising a visit
soon as well. The brothers and their wives all wrote often and they
were kept abreast of each of their lives. The relief her husband
felt to know they still had them in their lives was felt every time
they received letters from his family. His obvious pleasure to hold
onto something of his former life was pronounced.

Tieghan and Elise married on the same
bluff she and Nicholas had only the week before. Her former maid
confided to her she expected their first child. Tieghan was making
his last trip aboard The Orion when he took the Tulleys and Giles
back to London in the spring. He was taking his wife and going back
home to Norway to take up his birthright.

Nicholas tried without success to get
him to stay on and join him in running the Van Ryker’s new shipping
office here. Tieghan was determined to go back and become the
nobleman he avoided being most of his life. His wife would follow
him anywhere, she affirmed, with adoration in her hazel
eyes.

Catherine heard nothing from Gabriel
and thought it better that way. She didn’t write and he didn’t
either. The way they said goodbye was enough for the both of them
after so many tumultuous years of fighting the inevitable end of
their attachment.

Nicholas brooded over the decision to
continue to allow Gabriel think him dead. She knew out of all his
regret; that was what bothered him most. Gabriel’s safety was still
a question because of his part in bringing down Lord Rudd. Because
of the remaining names on the infamous list, he didn’t dare tell
him the truth.

Catherine hoped Gabriel and his
countess found some measure of happiness. She laughed until her
sides hurt when Nicholas told her of how he followed Gillian on one
of her famous shopping trips to antagonize her husband after they
married.

She silently applauded the woman and
hoped she had the strength to keep running ahead of Gabriel in the
future. The advice she gave the woman months ago was priceless
should she seek to win her husband’s heart instead of his
spite.

Catherine watched her husband and
children with a fond smile as she rubbed her growing abdomen. They
were expecting another child with this new start of their lives.
She deferred to his wisdom that this one would be their
last.

The future was uncertain enough in the
best of circumstances. They avoided talking about the past anymore.
She was glad they had this second chance. He still had his secrets.
Hers were played each night upon the pianoforte he bought her as a
wedding gift.

Nicholas never asked why
Caspian gifted them with a castle and assumed it was a wedding
gift, unaware of Roth’s death when he sought out Ty. Caspian’s
haunting music often filled the parlor, reminding her of his
words.
Moments aren’t always measured in
years, but savored in minutes.
She
understood what that meant now when she woke to her husband each
day, fortified by his love, determined to appreciate what she was
given.

Catherine knew when Nicholas and
Tieghan stood upon the bluff overlooking their home in deep
discussions that he kept things from her, even now. When she felt
the anger to know it, she reminded herself of all he sacrificed to
come back to her. No, he could keep such secrets. He earned that
right. When he had to, he would tell her what troubled him
now.

Catherine refused to ask. She didn’t want to know more than
what she saw in his eyes each day. After she opened the door to
their cabin and found him there alive and waiting for her, she
realized the only thing worth knowing was the most obvious. Her
husband loved her more than his own life.