Page 76 of Devil of the High Seas
She wiped away tears and smiled at him. “You’re free.”
“Free?” he asked.
She nodded. “Josephine and your brother wish to marry. That means you are free.”
Wonders would not cease today, he thought, and a flood of joy surged like a wave through his chest.
“How long have I been... here?” he asked.
“It’s been two weeks,” she said. “We couldn’t bring you ashore, not in your condition. I’ve been feeding you soup and water.”
She had? He hadn’t even been aware of that.
A knock at the door interrupted them, and Gavin stepped through the open doorway.
“I thought I heard voices,” his brother said, his face etched with lines of worry.
“I will let you talk.” Vesper stood, pressed a kiss to Griffin’s lips, and slipped from the room.
Gavin sat down beside the bed after she left, and for a long moment the two of them were silent. Finally, his brother spoke.
“Yousavedher.”
There was only one “her” Gavin could mean. The ship, the sea, they no longer held Gavin’s heart the same way. It was a woman he loved most now.
“Of course I did,” Griffin replied. He ached for a glass of water, but there were things that needed to be said between them first.
“When we arrived on that island and saw your home burning and Josephine gone, I knew there was only one way I could help you. I would doanythingfor you, Gavin. We’rebrothers.” He said this with such pride and joy that it felt like it had been before Charity had come into their lives. Before he had broken his brother’s heart by loving the same woman.
“When Beauchamp raised that pistol, I knew there was really only one choice I could make. Josephine is the very heart beating inside you. I couldn’t let you be robbed of love a second time.”
Gavin’s eyes grew bright and he blinked rapidly. “She’s my every dream.”
Griffin smiled. Despite the pain in his body, he feltgloriouslyalive.
“You renounce your claim on her, then?” Gavin asked. “And you’ll tear up that bloody marriage contract?”
Griffin wished he had the strength to laugh. “I had already decided to break off the engagement, so long as Josephine didn’t wish to marry me. I spoke to Camden about it before we found your island. He agreed, on one condition.”
Gavin frowned at the word. “Whatcondition?”
“Haven’t a clue. All he said was that he would need to talk to you about it.”
Gavin settled back against his chair, but Griffin could tell his brother was thinking deeply.
“Will you be here... for the wedding? Will you stand up with me?” Gavin asked, his voice soft and almost shy.
Griffin lifted his hand from the bed and Gavin clasped it in his own.
“There’s no place I’d rather be than at your side.”
Gavin opened his mouth, then closed it again and smiled instead. After a long moment, he stood and called for Vesper. She came back in and rushed to Griffin’s side. She gave no extra look toward Gavin as they passed each other. That was when Griffin knew with certainty that whatever had gone wrong before when the stars guided their fate seven years ago had now been repaired.
Vesper was his and his alone while Josephine had always been meant for his brother. Griffin sighed and closed his eyes. For a brief moment, he swore he saw a woman in a silvery gown standing in the doorway, smiling sadly at him before she vanished into a stray beam of sunlight. That couldn’t have been Charity... she was gone. He was simply imagining things. Vesper closed her hand around his, kissing the backs of his knuckles, and he smiled at her.
“We are free,” he said.
Her lips warmed him with a promise of a lifetime of joy. “Yes, we are.”
