Page 79 of The Butterfly

Tears filled her eyes, and she turned to find Agatha beside her, her own face wet from crying.

“It was Mr. Gibbs’ idea,” she said. “He fronted the money if we would help him staff the place.”

“With our connections to various charities in London, it was an easy feat,” Viola declared from Olivia’s other side. “As you know, Mr. Cathorn and I welcomed a son into the world not long ago. Through all the months I carried him, I could not stop thinking of you in this wretched place … what you must have gone through, how the other women trapped here must have suffered.”

“It seemed like an act of God for Mr. Gibbs to come to us with his idea,” Mr. Cathorn said, bracing a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “We were pleased to do whatever we could.”

Olivia blinked, a warm deluge of tears wetting her face as more welled up to take their place. She felt as if a dam within her had broken to pieces.

“Everything has been set in motion,” Niall declared, from where he stood behind her. “The rooms have been gutted and refurnished, and the staff will arrive in a fortnight to start recievin’ mothers and their little ones. Ye’ll be happy to know the woman runnin’ the place is a proper matron … an old nanny who’s raised many a bairn, includin’ three of her own.”

“And that’s not all,” Agatha said with a smile. “There will be midwives to birth the babes, nannies to care for the orphans, tutors to teach them!”

“And we’ll ensure the various charities who helped get this place up and running continue to do so,” Lucien offered. “The London Ladies’ Charitable Society has already begun gathering supplies to get us through winter.”

Olivia could no longer contain the sob welling in her chest, her legs going weak. She felt as if she might fall to the ground, sobbing and laughing in relief and gratitude.

Niall was there when she turned around, his arms coming around her, his gaze holding hers.

“Do ye like it, Livvie?” he asked, worry straining his voice.

She could see his uncertainty. He wondered if bringing her here might have been a mistake.

She smiled through her tears and reached up to cup his face. “You did this for me?”

He nodded, reaching up to swipe away the tear racing down one cheek. “Aye,mo gradh. I know we’ve moved on with our lives, and ye’ve been happy. But I look at ye every day and think of the time ye spent here. I couldnae stop thinkin’ of it, dreamin’ about it some nights. I couldnae stand for this place to go on bein’ used as an asylum. It was sheer good luck when I came to find it had been abandoned two years past. I hope ye dinnae mind … it was expensive.”

She laughed. “It is about time you spend our money onsomething.”

“Ididbuild the stables and buy those horses,” he argued.

“Money you’ll make back in no time,” she countered. “This is different, Niall … this … this is the most wonderful use of it I could ever think of. Of course I do not mind. Thank you.”

He lowered his head to kiss her brow, his hands coming against her waist. “Ye dinnae have to thank me. Not when ye know I’d do anything for ye … for you, and Serena, and Gawain … and this little one right here.”

She glanced down to where his hands cradled the soft swell of her belly, newly grown to display her condition. When so much time had passed without her coming up pregnant, Olivia had worried that something might be wrong with her. There had been so much blood when she’d birthed Serena, so much pain. But, four short weeks ago, she had noted the changes that marked the growth of new life within her.

This was why Niall had done what he had … why he’d been unable to stop thinking of the last time she’d been with child. This time would be different. This time, all would be as it should have been all along. She had not realized it until just now, but this had been the last thing she’d needed to look forward, to release that last piece of her past.

Resting her hands on top of Niall’s where they lay against her belly, she gazed up into the eyes of the man she loved.

“You see, Niall? I told you I always believed you were meant for something else … something wonderful and unbelievable.”

Edging close to her and ignoring their present company, he dipped his head, aiming his mouth at hers for a kiss.

“Of course I was,mo gradh. Lovin’ you … that’s what I was meant to do.”

Tilting her head back to surrender to the kiss, she felt like a girl again, swept to that moment by the pond when he’d first touched his lips to hers. It seemed he would never lose the power to make her feel this way.

“And how well you do it, Mr. Gibbs,” she teased when they pulled apart.

His eyes twinkled as he grinned at her. “Forever and always, Lady Gibbs.”