“What was it?”
“I don’t think it is my place...”
Setting her aside, Connor rapped on the bedroom door, but receiving no answer cracked the door and looked in. Around him, Emmy could see Ian staring into the fireplace while Dory lay staring at his back with haunted eyes. When the woman saw Connor enter the room, she moaned pitifully.
“What has happened?” Connor asked when no one spoke.
Emmy went to Dory’s side. “What did he say?”
“He hasn’t said anything!” she said desperately. “I think he hates me.”
“Well, you better tell Connor now and have done with it so you can explain.”
“No!” Dory’s anxiety was clearly written on her face and the tension of her body.
Emmy tried not to feel too much pity for Dory. Reaping what was sown, she thought. Dory should never have waited ten years for the truth to be known. “Yes!” Emmy hissed back.
“What is it?” Connor demanded. “Ian?” His brother remained by the fire casting him only a hollow stare before directing his gaze to Dory, who shifted uncomfortably under the weight of their dual glares.
“Well, Connor,” Dory cleared her throat and glanced nervously at Emmy who waved her on in encouragement. “I know we have never been on the best of terms until just recently and perhaps what I am about to say will destroy any chance of that changing, but there is something that I think you should know. It has weighed on my mind for many years and perhaps been the reason that we have never gotten on well, though you are my brother-in-law, because I haven’t wanted to say anything so always remained aloof…”
“Dory, really,” Emmy rebuked softly.
“Very well then,” Dory sighed. “My lord, I think you should know that Heather is dead.”
Connor straightened away from the door and stared her Dory in surprise before turning to Ian for confirmation, but Ian was staring with equal surprise at his wife. Clearly he hadn’t heard the whole story.
“Way to cushion the blow, Dory,” Emmy said drily.
“How long?” Connor wondered hoarsely following a long silence.
“Almost ten years,” Dory admitted.
Connor’s mind raced. Ten years? “Then she died after she left here?”
Dory bit her lip and shook her head. “She did die shortly after the wedding, but she never left here, my lord, because she never came here.”
“But of course she did,” he rebutted. “The wedding…she was…” He trailed off and gaped at Dory as the reality of her confession set in. “It was ye, wasn’t it?” His voice was low and menacing, demanding the truth and Dory gave it to him with a jerky nod. “Ye deceived me all this time?”
“I did not want to, my lord,” she looked desperately to her husband and then to Emmy for help and finally feeling sorry for the timid woman in the face of Connor’s temper, Emmy stepped in.
“Dory is not entirely at fault here, Connor.” She paused briefly as his intense gaze swung to her but pressed on. “With Heather fallen ill and maybe dying, Dory’s father coerced her to pretend to be her sister. He made her falsely marry you in order to keep with marriage settlement you had already given him. She wanted to tell you, but he beat her until she agreed to do it and then ran away.” Emmy held up a conciliatory hand. “It was wrong, she has admitted it.”
“And ye believe all this?” his voice still quietly severe, controlled. “She could be working off yer sympathy and lying to ye to gain an ally.”
“I don’t think so, Connor.”
“I am not telling this falsely, my lord,” Dory chimed in. “I never meant to deceive you. It has weighed on me these many years and deprived me true happiness in my life.”
“And yet, ye did deceive me,” he ground out as he stood, his fists balled against his side. “And ye have committed bigamy with my own brother.”
Ian flinched. “Why, Dory?” Ian whispered his voice filled with pain and despair. “Why did you come back here knowing you were my brother’s wife and marry me?”
“I never wanted to come back. I never meant to,” she appealed for understanding. “But after Father died, I had nowhere else to go. I had no money. No home.”
“Aye, I heard that much of what you said,” he admitted. “But why not admit who you were? Why did you wed me?”
“When I arrived here and saw you again, I just could not do it. I had fallen in love with you when we first met and, on my arrival, I knew that I would encourage your affections and if possible I would wed with you. I chose to damn myself,” she sobbed again. “And I have damned you as well. That was why God took my other babes before they had a chance to live. I was being punished for my sins and surely, if Emmy had not been here, I would have lost the ones we have now. I am so sorry. I have been miserable for years for what I have done!”
“Miserable?” Connor cold voice lashed like a whip. “You have been miserable? Ye’ve lived in my house for ten year amid sin and lies! Aye, I can see how ye’ve suffered as ye’ve witnessed my humiliation for so long!” His voice rose to a roar.
“Connor!” Emmy tried to cut in but Connor silenced her with a slash of his hand.
“I have heard enough! Lies! Years of lies! I want ye gone, do you understand?” He jabbed a finger at Dory. “Gone!”
The door slammed behind him as he left in his rage leaving a cowering Dory sobbing in her bed. Emmy exchanged a long look with Ian. “That went pretty well, don’t you think? I’m glad he kinda lost it there at the end. He was just too quiet before that.”
“Are you jesting?” Dory gawked at Emmy in disbelief. “Emmy, he wants me to leave my home! He looked ready to
