Page 46 of The Fighter who Needed Me
She sat patiently and sipped her tea while she waited.
“My main reason for coming here is to ask if you can get me an appointment with Grant and Bran.”
Penelope’s eyebrow lifted, “An appointment? May I ask why you need one?”
Brooks ran and hand over his face and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need an annulment.”
She let out a tiny gasp and he looked up and saw the shock on her face. The teacup she held in her hands clattered back to the plate and she put it on the table.
“I beg your pardon? Did you just say you needed an annulment?”
He nodded, and she pushed on, “From whom?”
He let out a sigh and gestured to the paper she had placed on the table.
“From Persephone.”
Her jaw dropped open, “I knew you were in love with her, but I had no idea you had married her.”
Brooks nodded again and Penelope sat forward, “Will you tell me the tale?”
He sat back in the chair and gave her a slow nod. Then proceeded to tell her everything. From the ship, to their marriage and everything afterwards.
Penelope listened with a rapt fascination and asked the occasional question here and there but let him say what he came to say.
When he finished after telling her of his fighting and how broken he was, and why he needed the annulment, she blinked away the tears in her eyes and wiped under them with a handkerchief.
“Oh, my dear. I am so sorry for the heartbreak you have suffered. And for all you are suffering still.”
He shrugged, “It’s just my luck. My life that I thought had finally been blessed but has only been cursed. I have not had much in life, aside from Burk. He has been my only family for years. I truly thought I had found one in her, but it wasn’t meant to be. I just want her happiness. It is all I have ever wished for, even if it isn’t with me.”
Penelope shook her head, “I know you don’t wish to hear this now, but Brooks, that girl is just as in love with you as you are with her. There has to be more to this story than meets the eye.”
Brooks nodded, “I know there is. But she does not want me to intervene. Never has. She is terrified of her parents and I do not want to waste my time anymore. I cannot. I am too broken as it is. I have no more left to give and seeing her again, and knowing she is to be wed to that monster will break the remaining goodness I have inside. I am holding on by a thread and it is quickly unraveling.”
Penelope stood, and walked to where he sat, “You mustn’t give up. You have both come too far for that. Brooks, she needs you. More now than ever.”
He looked up at her, “I don’t know how I can help her. Not anymore. When she tried to leave and live with me, she was taken from me and I truly thought I would never see her again. I still think that. She is already lost to me.”
She leaned forward and hugged him, “I don’t believe that. I cannot. What you two have is pure and true. The most beautiful form of true love I have ever seen. And even if no one else saw it, I did. Do not give up. Not yet. Let me see what I can do.”
Brooks shook his head, “She is gone. Lily believes she must be in London somewhere, but I do not. She is still in the country and I do not know where to start. All I want is to give her the annulment quietly so that she can live that life. Without me in it. And then, I am leaving London forever. I am done.”
Penelope gasped, “Brooks, what will Burk do without you?”
Brooks shrugged, “He has Lily now and their child on the way. I cannot look at them any longer without wanting to hit something. I cannot stand it. It hurts. It rips my soul apart with every day that passes, and I have had my happiness fall through my fingers. I need to get away from the misery that is my life. Live on an island somewhere or buy some land in the America’s. I do not know. I just know that being here and knowing she is someone else’s? I won’t survive it.”
Penelope sat down in the chair next to him, “You have made up your mind, haven’t you? And nothing I say will sway you?”
He nodded, and she let out a small breath and shook her head, “I will take you to see Grant and Bran. Are you truly prepared to end this all?”
He gave a small nod and Penelope stood again, and he stood as well.
She walked to the front door and her butler had her coat ready and waiting.
“I have had the carriage readied for you, my lady.”
“Thank you, Burt.” She said and Brooks followed her from the house and rode on his horse to Grant and Bran’s office.
