“But the King sent an emissary to do his bidding.”
Kellmara laughed. “I have just learned that at one time Cree saved Henry’s life. Who do you think the emissary will favor in his decision?”
“Then why do you stay here? Why not return home?”
Kellmara stood in front of her, concern etched in his blue eyes. “I cannot walk away from you when I have just found you. It would be like leaving your mum all over again, and I cannot suffer such pain again. I would like time to get to know you, time for you to accept me as your da.”
Wintra did not know how to feel toward this man. One moment she was furious at him for the way he tried to dictate to her and the next her heart went out to him for losing the only woman he had ever loved and discovering he had a grown daughter.
“You could have said that when you first arrived here. I may have been more accepting of you, more willing to talk.” He appeared contrite, an expression she doubted he wore often. And it softened her opinion of him—a little.
“My only thought was to see you safe. I had thought that Cree may have placed you in an abbey to be rid of you. And then when I heard that the King had wed you to a stranger, when supposedly Own insisted you loved him—” He shook his head. “My first and only thought was to get to you and protect you.”
Wintra’s brow creased in thought and it was a few moments before she spoke. “Owen was shocked that the King had wed me to Torr when Cree announced it. You never told him this news?”
“I did not want to upset Owen or you, especially if you loved each other. I thought if I could rectify it, then all would be fine. I never got to share a life with your mother, the woman I loved beyond all reason, and I do not want you to suffer the same horrible fate. I want to make certain that you have the choice your mum and I never did. I want you to marry the man of your choosing. The man you love and want to spend the rest of your life with. I want you to have what your mother and I only had a brief taste of—happiness.”
Tears were hard to hold back, but Wintra did her best. She could not stop from thinking how she would feel if Torr left her never to return and never knowing what happened to him. That was what had happened to her mother. The man she loved had promised to return for her and never did. Had she worried something happened to him? Had she believed he never truly loved her? How had she managed to survive all those years without knowing the truth?
“You get lost in thoughts like I do,” Kellmara said, as if it was another sign that confirmed she was his daughter.
She could not stop from saying, “I cannot help but wonder if my mum died thinking that you never truly love her since you never returned for her.” She was surprised to see tears sting his eyes, though he turned his head as he fought to control them.
When he turned back to her, his blue eyes glistened with unshed tears. “It is something I think about every day. I pray that she knew I was forcibly kept from her. I pray that she kept hope in her heart, as I did, that we would one day be together. And I pray that she never stopped loving me, for I never stopped loving her.”
Wintra hurriedly wiped away the single tear that had fallen on her cheek. Now her heart not only broke for her mother, but for her father as well.
“I know I acted poorly when we first met, but I was concerned that things were being forced upon you that you did not want. I never took the time to ask you what you wanted. I would like another chance. Will you let me be your father? Will you let me love you as much as I love your mother?”
Another tear slipped out and she was quick to wipe it away. “I love Torr and I want him as my husband and, to me, Cree is my brother, not half-brother, but my brother. I will let nothing change that and let nothing come between us.”
“I am glad to hear that you love Torr and that you are not stuck in a loveless marriage and as for Cree? I am proud of the man he has become and how he has protected and loved you as a good brother should.”
“I was a handful at times,” she admitted, thinking how she had tempted his patience more often than not.