My hand had found its way to my lips, my thoughts tripping over themselves.

“I came here to make amends. To tell you the truth. You deserve to know that he didn’t do anything wrong, except trust me. As long as I’ve known him, he’s only denied me once before you—when I cheated. When I called, he always came. When I needed him, he was always there. He has been the most steady and true thing in my life, my entire life. But he’s not mine, not anymore. He’s yours.”

She took a step toward me, her eyes bright with pain.

“Please, don’t let my mistakes stop you from loving him. Because he deserves to be with someone who will give him what I never could.”

My hand fell to my side. “Did he tell you to come here?”

“No. He doesn’t know I’m here. But I owe him so much, Tess, more than I can ever make up for. I’m here because I owe it to him to fix what I broke, to clear his name. Luke said I have to do this alone, and he’s right. It’s time to move on.” She laid her palm on her stomach.

Something about the look on her face, the tone of her voice, the gentle honesty written all over her hit me deep in the recesses of my heart. She was alone and afraid, and she’d come to Luke. She’d sought safety, and as much as I hated what had happened and how it had happened, I found I couldn’t hate her for it.

She wasn’t evil. She was afraid. But not for herself.

For her child.

What she’d done, she’d done for her baby. And that was a truth I could find forgiveness for.

“You won’t hear from me again,” Wendy promised. “I won’t interfere, and as soon as I talk to Mrs. Bennet, I’ll be out of both of your lives. Make him happy, Tess. He deserves it.” She offered a small smile, bowing her head as she turned and walked away.

My mind reeled.

As long as I’d known Luke Bennet, I’d believed him to be flighty and unpredictable, unreliable and irresponsible. Even through the last few months I’d held on to that kernel of doubt, the old ideology never letting go.

But I was wrong—he was exactly the opposite. He was kind and giving to measures of absolute certainty. He sacrificed himself for others, even when it cost him dearly. He shouldered responsibility for things that were not his to be responsible for. He was steady and sure in ways I never thought he could be, in ways that had brought Wendy across the country strictly to seek safety in him. If the baby had been his, he would have done anything, everything to provide. Even now, even having endured what she’d put him through, I believed he would try to help her, do what he could to ensure her security.

And if I gave him the chance, he would do the same for me. More, if I let him.