Page 89 of An Innocent Maid for the Duke

‘Thank you,’ she whispered.

He rolled on his side and drew her closer to his naked body. She sighed at how well they fit together.

‘All I want is your happiness,’ he said.

A gentle thrill wandered its way along her spine. ‘And I yours.’

A vision of the gin-raddled women of St Giles appeared before her eyes. She yawned. ‘Jake, what would you have done if she had been absolutely awful?’

‘Exactly what I did. No matter what, she is your mother. I despaired of finding her, to be honest. Then my man of business suggested asking the Hospital to open their records and we saw that two girl children were admitted on the same day, Rose Nightingale and Rosalyn Fairclough. After looking at both records, we interviewed one of the older wardens. She admitted the clerk at the time had been a drunkard and had messed up several entries, but that she thought they had caught all of his errors.

‘But the more we looked into it, the clearer it became there might have been one mistake they had not seen. The Nightingale child was brown-eyed, for example.’

A heavy weight lifted from her heart and finally, finally she dared to believe. ‘All this time I thought they didn’t want me.’

‘When I found her yesterday, she was so shocked, I honestly wasn’t sure she believed me. I have never seen a woman so confused. She didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.’

Rose felt like laughing and crying, too. She kissed her husband’s shoulder and hoped he would know how much he had eased her pain. She forced lightness into her voice, for after all, this was her honeymoon. ‘It will be interesting getting to know my family when we return.’

‘The other half of your family,’ he corrected, kissing the tip of her nose. ‘You are part of my family now, too.’

She snuggled closer to his warmth and strength. ‘I really am the luckiest woman alive.’

‘And I the happiest man because of you, my love.’

‘I do love you, Jake.’

‘I know. I love you more, though.’

She laughed.

They kissed and... Well, anyone could guess what happened next...

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