Chapter 29
Rome, Italy, 1821…
"You're nervous."
Jason lifted his eyes to the man's for just a moment, before dropping them back to his lap, not sure how he felt. He was relieved when the man didn't press him any further, and he knew it was because Jeffrey Webber was nervous enough on his own.
The last six months had been long and grueling, exhausting in ways that were maddening, mostly difficult because they were estranged from the one person they both longed to be with. It had been difficult to hide his feelings about Elizabeth from Jeffrey, and the man didn't seem surprised that Jason cared so deeply for his daughter.
If anything, he appeared relieved.
"It won't be long now," the driver called out, his voice carrying in thegently in the gentle wind that surrounded the bumpy carriage.
Sighing, Jason closed his eyes and rested his head against the window of the carriage, his heart tightening in his chest. He had waited months and months for this moment, and now he was absolutely terrified because he'd done something he promised not to.
He'd left Elizabeth alone.
Forced her out of London.
Sent her away with a stranger.
That night played continuously in his mind; her soft lips and desperate sobs, how sincere and true I love you had sounded coming from her mouth. There were days when it was all that kept him going and many where it made him want to end. He'd hurt her in ways he never intended, and he hated that his confessions had been too late, coming only when he was pushing her away.
Spinelli had been told ahead of time to take her to Italy, unless she was opposed and wanted to go elsewhere, but Jason doubted she would, and no word had been sent otherwise.
He only hoped that Elizabeth would understand why she had to leave London that night; that he was protecting her from Lansing and any punishment for the crime she committed. And he also hoped that after all this time she still hung onto his promises, believed he would come, and most importantly, loved him.
loved him, hung onto his promises, and believed he would come.
He really had done his damnedest.
The night had turned ugly after Elizabeth rode away, and all Jason could think about was whether or not Elizabeth made it safely out of the city. Police arrived before Jason or Johnny had much time to act, and he was hauled off to jail without hesitation by either officer, both of whom he remembered from that night at the pub. He spent two long months in prison. The beds were hard, the cell freezing, and his injuries became so infected, he was sure they'd kill him.
Lansing constantly baited him, tormenting him about Elizabeth, threatening to be on her trail, and bragging about what he would do when she was caught. How Jeffrey survived months and months in there, Jason would never know. Tbecause the time spent in his small cell was enough to drive him mad, and if Elizabeth hadn't been waiting, he would have given up completely.
Fortunately, Johnny came through as he always did, and Jason was released in exchanged for the man who had really attacked Lansing that night in his home. What his friend had done to get the confession out of Sonny Corinthos, he would never know, and he didn't care to. The way he saw it, the conniving bastard deserved what he got for taking Elizabeth to Lansing that night, and handing over the woman who considered him to be a second father to her.
With Johnny's help, he managed a brief visit with Sonny, who tried to apologize and explain, but Jason wouldn't hear any of it. He made sure the man knew how he had torn Elizabeth's life apart and , ruined any chance of helping free Jeffrey, and giving her what she wanted.
"This is the road?" Jeffrey asked, tipping his head towards Jason as they turned onto a long, dirt road.
His eyes cracked open and he nodded, his heart tightening at the sight of his estate sprawled across the hillside. "This is home."
Shifting uncomfortably, he pulled himself upright, adjusting the sling that Jeffrey had put around his shoulder. It was a good thing the man was a doctor or else Jason may have actually died. It took him weeks and weeks to clean out the infection, leaving him bedridden, thus further prolonging his reunion with his wife.
Jeffrey was as eager to see his daughter as Jason, but he wanted to take his daughter's husband to her in one piece. She had probably worried about Jason enough already and deserved to enjoy her husband's reunion, instead of tending to him at his bedside.
"If I haven't said it enough, thank you, Jeffrey," he murmured painfully as he shifted in the seat, doing his best to ignore the shooting pain that ran through his upper body.
"Thank you," the older man corrected, his eyes crinkling in the corners as he smiled. "You saved my life, and more importantly, my daughter's." Sighing, he clasped his hands in his lap and looked Jason in the eye. "You love her."
It was a statement, not a question, but Jason could see he was eager to have his assumptions confirmed.
"More than I ever imagined was possible," he replied softly, the words shaky on his tongue as they neared the house.
"Good," he said pleased, leaning forward and looking out the window. "The house looks lovely. I'm sure she's been happy here."
He nodded, looking away in embarrassment.
What if she hadn't been?
"It's going to take me a moment," Jason murmured, doing his best to stretch in the confined space. Traveling had been hard for him, but he insisted on not waiting any longer, even if it meant stopping more often than he normally would have. Jeffrey nodded, his back to Jason as the carriage rolled to a stop, and he was thankful the man said nothing about his obvious fears. "You go ahead."
What would he do if she hated him after all this time?
"There she is."
Jason's head snapped up, and he leaned forward, continuing to ignore the searing pain in his side as he watched Elizabeth hurry down the lawn, her legs moving as fast as they could carry her.
She looked smaller than he remembered, frailer, and he knew that all of this had worn her out in ways he never imagined. Her dark, chestnut curls hung loosely and whipped around her face in the wind. She drew her shawl tighter to protect her body from the cold, but she didn't seem to mind the cool, spring weather. Johnny and Spinelli followed down the hill after her, and O'Brien stopped at her side, slipping an arm around her waist as if to hold her up.
Had she become that delicate?
The driver opened the door to the carriage and Jeffrey slipped out immediately. Jason expected to hear her rejoice, but instead, he heard nothing. He moved stiffly in the seat, sliding across the bench towards the door in time to see her falling to her feet, her head in her hands as she cried out his name.
"Elizabeth," he called out raggedly, practically throwing himself from the carriage. He would have fallen to his feet along with his wife had the driver not reached out to steady him. "Elizabeth."
Her eyes appeared over Jeffrey's shoulder as he helped her to her feetup, and she ripped from his grasp and rushed towards Jason, throwing her arms around his neck. "Jason, you're here!" she cried, clinging to him as she sobbed happily.
Despite their audience, she kissed him everywhere her lips could reach; his neck, his jaw, his ear, his forehead, saving his lips for last where she kissed him with enough passion to almost make up for their time apart.
"I was so afraid you wouldn't come," she sobbed, cradling his face in her hands. "I – I believed so hard, but-"
"It's alright, I'm here now," he murmured, slipping his arms around her and , reveling ion the feeling of her being in his arms again.
She was different though, more fragile than he remembered, softer even, and he sucked in a breath as he pulled her away to look at her.
"Oh, Jason," she muttered sadly, reaching out to touch the sling on his shoulder, but he barely noticed her touch.
His hands smoothed down her arms, over her sides, settling on her hips where they started to tremble before he touched her round belly. "Elizabeth," he whispered, slowly falling to his knees. "You're – you're-"
"Yes," she interrupted, raking her own shaky hands through his hair as he pressed his face against her stomach, breathing her in.
"How long?" he asked, fisting his hands in her dress as he looked up at her.
"Nearly sSeven months," she replied, her eyes filling with tears. She crumbled, collapsing into his arms, and curling against him as he held her. "I've – we've been waiting for you."
**********
"He's resting," Elizabeth murmured, leaning against the doorway of her father's room, overwhelmed at watchingto watch him do something as normal as unpacking what few clothes he had. "How bad are his injuries?"
"Better than they were," he answered, clearly not wanting to subject her to the horrors of what had been.
"You saved his life?" she asked, needing to know how close she'd come to losing her husband.
Both Jason and her father were being so cryptic about all that had happened, and she felt terrible for prying. They'd had a long trip, obviously gone through hell in London, so she shoved her questions aside, hurrying them into the house for dinner and a warm bath.
It was the most she'd eaten in months, the strongest her appetite had been, and she barely made it through dinner without crying every time she looked at her husband. To see his face, the blue eyes she remembered so well, and to hold his rough hand in hers – it made the pain of being apart for so long worthwhile.
Especially when he'd realized she was carrying a child.
It wasn't long after arriving in Italy that she became sick, bedridden with what Spinelli believed to be a horrible flu, and Johnny had rushed off to town to find a doctor, who laughed at their diagnosis. Elizabeth scoffed at his assumptions, mostly because she couldn't bare bear the idea of carrying Jason's child without him there, and within a couple months, she realized the doctor had been right. They called him back for another visit, and he scolded Elizabeth for stressing over her husband, who Johnny said was away on private business.
The month after that he forced her to bed, telling her she needed absolute rest and to keep down more food than she was, or else her child was going to be in danger. As if she didn't have enough to stress about, she lived in fear that she was going to hurt her child, and Jason would never forgive her.
Spinelli and Johnny watched her closely, monitoring what she ate and reporting it back to the doctor. At first, she felt attacked as if they were conspiring against her, but she understood that it was really about taking care of their friend's wife and his unborn child.
Some days she couldn't bring herself to get out of bed and face another day without Jason. She managed to get used to the idea that he would miss the pregnancy, but what about the birth, and being the first one to hold their child.
Or worse, would the baby even know its father?
Not that any of those fears mattered now. They ceased to exist the moment she saw Jason over her father's shoulder, and the way he held her let her know that he was never going to leave her again.
He really did love her, and perhaps, that was the most comforting thing of all. To know that despite where they were, together and apart, they would always think of the each other.
"Papa?"
"Elizabeth," he sighed exhaustedly, closing his suitcase as he turned to look at her.
"I have a right to know what happened," she said softly, not wanting to argue with her father. "He's my husband."
"You've grown," he commented, smiling as he sat down on the bed and motioned for her to sit beside him. "When I left you were only a girl, trying to figure out what she wanted in life, and now…"
Her eyes filled with tears as she eased herself down beside him, her hands resting against the sides of her stomach. "I hope that despite how all of this began – I hope that you're proud," she murmured.
"You've becoame an exceptional woman, Elizabeth," he said, gently wiping the tears that slipped from the corners of her eyes. "I will always dislike how you became this. You didn't deserve to go through something so difficult, and I ask myself daily if I made the right decisions."
"You did," she replied, leaning over to rest her head on his arm. "You – you brought me Jason." She grinned as she noticed his hand twitching hand and reached over to bring it to her stomach. His eyes lit up as he felt the soft kicking against his palm. "Are you surprised?" He looked at her. "That I – that I married Jason, that I'm having a child now."
"I wasn't sure it was possible at first," he admitted, dropping his gaze to her belly, "but I wanted to believe it was. You needed someone to show you how strong and good you are, and no one was more capable of that than Jason."
"I do love him so much," she whispered, starting to cry all over again. "And I was so afraid he was going to break his promise – that he would turn himself in." She sucked in a breath when her father remained quiet. "He didn't, did he? How else were you freed?"
"Elizabeth, a lot happened," he replied quietly, returning his hand to his lap.
"If you rather I talk to Jason, I understand," she murmured understandingly. "I would just like to know what happened when I left London…and how you were freed."
"I see," he sighed, tipping his head towards her. "Things happened that I know you won't like, and from what Johnny told me about your condition-"
"I'm with child, Ppapa," she corrected, arching her eyebrow at him. "That's hardly a condition."
"There's that grown woman again," he commented, nodding in agreement. "From what I understand, the night that you left London, Jason was arrested."
"For what?" she asked, her eyes widening. "Not Richard? I was the one – I hit-"
"It didn't matter to Jason. He's your husband, and he was going to protect you," Jeffrey interrupted gently. "Richard was aware who hurt him, and he didn't care that you weren't arrested."
"Jason was a perfect way to get to me," she murmured exhaustedly.
"He did his time, and Johnny worked fervently to free him," he continued. "Elizabeth, you won't like this."
"Like what?" she asked worriedly. "And how long was Jason in jail?"
"Two months," he answered, shaking his head. "And the only reason he was freed was because of Sonny."
"What?" she asked, holding her hand against her mouth as she thought back to that night.
"Sonny took you to Richard because he was supposed to," he said spitefully. "Michael had gotten into some trouble, and Sonny was offered a deal if he could get you to – to confess." He reached over and tucked her loose curls behind her ear. "You don't appear surprised."
"Richard told me, and I didn't want to believe it, but…" She shrugged it off, feeling rather numb about the whole situation. "It may not be the fairest of exchanges, but Sonny did things that are equally cruel as committing crimes. Or maybe I'm so sick with love that I don't care about anyone else…" Her cheeks flushed as she trailed off. "Doesn't that sound awful?"
"No, it sounds like a woman in love, who's willing to do whatever it takes for her husband," he replied honestly, smiling widely. "That makes me very proud."
"And the rest?" she asked, ignoring blushing at his comment. "How were you freed?"
"Elizabeth, I'd rather not-"
"Papa, please," she begged seriously. "I need to know."
"I don't want to upset you, and I'm not sure if it's my place," he murmured worriedly, clearly thinking about her husband.
"I'll be spinning stories in my head if I don't learn the truth," she pleaded, hanging her head. "And if my father can't tell me the truth – who, then who else is there?"
Sighing, he nodded reluctantly and pushed himself up from the bed. "Richard and Sonny are brothers," he said, stopping in front of the window.
"What?" she asked, starting to move to her feet, but she felt too weak to move. Thankfully her father failed didn't to notice.
"Brothers," he repeated, soundings as confused as she wasdid. "I never knew, and he worked in my home nearly your entire life."
"From an affair, I assume," she murmured, rubbing her hands against her belly as the baby kicked inside her. Her father was right; getting upset now wasn't a good idea. She'd have to keep calm for her and Jason's child.
"I don't know the specifics," he shrugged, turning to face her, "but I do know that's why Sonny confessed to hitting him that night in his home. He had the perfect motive, some horribly twisted family secret, and it – it was why he confessed to – to killing Lucky too."
"What?" she cried, clenching her jaw as her stomach tightened.
"Elizabeth, I told you this was a bad idea," he murmured, kneeling down in front of her.
"I'm fine…I just – Sonny – is he in prison?" she asked, torn between being relieved that her father and Jason were safe, and feeling guilty for Sonny having sacrificed herselfhimself.
"For the time being," he answered reluctantly, reaching out to touch her stomach. He smoothed his hands over it quietly, clucking his tongue. "You're too tense, sweetheart."
"It's a lot to take in," she sighed tiredly, taking a deep breath. "Will Richard have him hanged?"
"I don't believe so," Jeffrey replied, nodding for her to continue breathing deeply. "Sonny is Richard's brother, and I don't think – despite how evil he may appear – Richard will kill his own brother, especially when it doesn't benefit him in anyway."
"He doesn't think we care about Sonny enough to hurt over him," she murmured, the tightening in her stomach slowly uncoiling. "You're free, Jason's free, and I'm free – what is left?"
"Exactly," he said, dropping his hands from her stomach and moving back to his feet. "I'm afraid we'll never go back to London though."
"Richard's waiting for me, isn't he?" she asked dryly, rolling her eyes and not needing Jeffrey to answer. "He'll be waiting a long time because I have no intentions of leaving Italy."
"Something told me you would say that," he chuckled, leaning over to press a kiss to her forehead. "There is more, but I've already said too much. I may be your father, but you have a husband now."
"Yes," she agreed, holding out her hand so he could help her to her feet. "And I'm sure he needs tending to."
"Elizabeth," he scolded gently, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Papa," she mocked, stretching to kiss him on the corner of the mouth. "I'll be sure and put the help to work for once."
