Edmond felt as though the ground shifted around him, and everything that had been wrong settled back in its right place. She still loved him, and he would endeavor never to lose that love. “Losing your love would destroy me. Never stop loving me, Adeline.”
“Never,” she vowed, tipping to kiss the corner of his lips.
For the first time since Edmond could remember, he felt whole.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Adeline’s shoulders shook with mirth, and with a gasp she wiped tears from her eyes. Edmond was playing a game of charade on the lawn with the girls, and Adel reclined on a chaise longue which the footmen had carried outside for her pleasure, watching them. She was unable to join the game, so she could only make herself comfortable on the chaise, which had been padded especially for her. Today was a rare sunny day, which she had been determined to take advantage of.
Edmond did another hop on his foot and scratched the underside of his arms. Her love looked ridiculous. He was trying to pantomime a monkey, and Sarah should be the one guessing. So far she had put forth several suggestions, the entire time giggling.
Adel reached for the pitcher of water placed on the table to her left, and a sharp pain tore through her back. She drew back her arms, and waited for the sensation to reappear. There was nothing. She had three of the best doctors in England attending her and two local midwives who had come with fulsome references from a number of the ladies who lived close to Rosette Park. It was a concession she had been prepared to give Edmond, for she had no notions of what to expect from the birthing bed.
She had woken in the dark of the night several times to find him seated in an armchair in their chambers watching her, a silent protective force. But her duke had yet to understand that he could not control everything.
He had moved her into his chambers, and on more than one night the torment of nightmares had woken him, but it had been her name he called.
Then he would reach for her, hold her into his arms, rub her stomach as their baby kicked within her.
She slowly struggled to sit and slipped her feet over the edge of the couch. Her back was sore, and she felt she had been in the same position for far too long.
She gingerly stood and stretched.
“Adeline,” Edmond said walking over. “Are you well?”
She smiled in reassurance. “I am quite fine, but I do think it might be prudent to stretch my legs a bit across the lawns.” Then she stepped towards him.
Horror chased his features, and he lunged for her. It was as her body made the impact on the hard ground, she realized he had been trying to break her fall. She tried to tell him not to worry, but darkness took her mind under.
…
He had failed to keep her safe. The terror winding itself through Edmond’s soul was so cold his teeth chattered. When Adeline had fainted, she had hit the ground with an impact that had shriveled his soul. He had only been a fingertip away from reaching her. Why had he allowed her to be out? She was more than
eight months pregnant, and had been indoors for days. He’d seen her restlessness and acted, trying to brighten her day. Now he could lose her.
“Papa.” A small hand gripped his. He glanced down into Rosa’s scared face.
He stooped to her level and drew her close. “Yes, pumpkin?”
“Is A-Adeline going to heaven like Mamma?”
Cold sweat slicked down his back beneath his jacket, and for precious seconds Edmond could not utter a single word. “No.”
His daughter searched his eyes frantically and whatever she saw reassured her, for she wilted against him and hugged his neck tightly.
After a moment she spoke, “Do you promise, Papa? Do you promise to save her?”
His damn heart was ripping from his chest. Then he realized what a truly selfish fool he had been. It was not only he who feared loving and losing again. His daughters had fallen in love with Adeline, as surely and deeply as he had. For them it would be just as painful or even more, losing the love, the gentle and the unending support of two mothers.
“Papa, you’re squeezing me too tight.”
Hell. He’d not even realized.
“I promise you, pumpkin, I will not let him take her.”
She rustled in his arms.
“Who, Papa?”