My Once Handsome Husband - Chapter 278

“Miles?  What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here Delaney?” the younger Adair asked with a worried frown, “Did someone tell you to come here?”

“What? No… Was someone supposed to tell me to come here?” she asked confused, twisting her ring on her finger.

Miles looked away and crossed his arms over his chest.  He didn’t look at all happy to see her.  Very slowly, Delaney began up the stairs towards him.

“What’s going on?” she asked, “Does Vincent not… not want to see me?”

Miles sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t know Delaney.  I didn’t tell him you were here.”

“What do you mean?” she asked in confusion, “Could he not see for himself?”

Miles dropped his gaze, “He’s not… He’s not able to come out to greet you right now.”

Now it was Delaney who frowned at him, “What are you talking about?  Why not?”

She didn’t get an answer because at that moment the doors opened again and someone else stepped out.

“Oh, Delaney!” Violet smiled sadly, joining them and giving her daughter-in-law a quick embrace, “It’s so good you’re here.  Did someone tell you to come?”

“N-No,” she answered looking between the mother and son, “What’s happening here?  Is something wrong?”

“It’s not good she’s here, mother,” Miles looked at her, exhausted, “You know that as well as I do.  He’s been clear.”

“Oh nonsense,” Violet frowned at him, “It’s perfect that she’s here.  I know it will help things.”

“Help what things?” Delaney asked still confused and starting to get worried, “Where is Vincent?  I need to talk to him.”

Violet looked at her seriously now and took a deep breath.  “Alright… I will take you to your husband.”

–

“We shouldn’t do this, mother,” Miles sighed in defeat as they grew closer to the bedroom door, “Everything he’s done until now is so this would never happen.  You know that.”

“Everything he’s done until now has been foolish,” Violet frowned at her younger son, walking with her arm linked through Delaney’s, “This will cheer him up.”

Hearing them talk, Delaney began to worry that this wasn’t the right thing to do.  What if Ms. Bird had been wrong about everything?  What if Vincent wasn’t just annoyed she was here but furious?  It didn’t sound like what was about to happen was going to be good from what her brother and mother-in-law were saying.

“Is he going to be angry that I’m here?”

“Of course not,” Violet tried to force a smile but it didn’t quite reach her eyes, “He loves you.  He will be happy to see you.”

“Mother!” Miles hissed, wanting her to be quiet.

“He will be happy to see her,” Violet Adair said louder as if she was trying to convince herself as much as anyone listening, “He will be happy to see her.  He has to be.”

When they reached the door Delaney’s heart was racing and her stomach was sick again.  She didn’t know what was going on here but there was obviously something wrong and it was making her uneasy.  Why didn’t Vincent come down to tell her hello when she arrived?  He had done so last time even though it had been pouring rain.

Miles stood in front of them, hand on the door, and took a deep breath before pushing it open and walking in.  Violet didn’t give Delaney a chance to pause before sweeping in with her as well.

As soon as they were in the room Delaney came to a stop, going very still.

Vincent was laying in their bed and it was clear to her that what they had been worried about was him.  Something was wrong.  He was pale but his scars were deep red and had grown onto the other side of his face now, over the bridge of his nose, across his chin and forehead, branching out over his cheek.

He was sweating so much his hair was damp and the shirt he wore was as well.  He had his eyes closed and his breaths were struggling to move in and out of his lungs.

Delaney’s hands flew to her mouth as she took in the sight of the man she loved in such a state.  She was so distracted she barely registered Bernard and Duncan sitting in chairs on the other side of the bed or Harris hovering near the table with what looked like medicines.  They had been watching over their friend but now they looked at her in surprise.

Perhaps sensing the building tension in the room, Vincent slowly blinked open his eyes and looked around.  When his gaze landed on his wife he stopped and his face went slack.

“Wh-What is she doing here?” he demanded, his voice hoarse and his breaths coming faster.

“She came to see you, Vincent,” Violet smiled nervously at her son.  She put one hand on Delaney’s back and tried to push her forward but the other woman was rooted in place.

He looked between the others then, anger and betrayal molding his expression.  “Why is… she here?  Did one of you… send for her?”

He had to take breaths in the middle of his sentences, not able to breathe deep enough to speak loudly all at once.

“We didn’t send for her Vince I promise,” Miles said to his older brother seriously, “She came on her own.”

Vincent’s face twisted with pain as he worked to push himself until he was sitting upright.

“What’s going on here?” Delaney asked with a barely audible voice, “What’s wrong with him?”

“Vincent is… well he’s very sick my dear,” Violet said gently with tears in her eyes, resting a hand on the younger girl’s arm.

“How did you know to come?” he barked at Delaney now, his anger growing, “Who… Who told you to come here?”

Delaney’s hands were trembling and she felt tears slip over her cheeks.  She watched as an expression of hurt flashed over his face for a moment before fury replaced it again.

“You see!” he weakly raised a hand to point at her, “This is… why I.. didn’t want her here!”

“Vince, try to calm down,” Harris said gently, “You need to…”

“Don’t tell me… to calm down!  I’ve done… everything I could manage… to make sure she never… had to see this!”

“So you knew?” Delaney asked now, feeling pain stabbing her heart, “You knew you were sick?  This sick?”

“Of course I knew,” he groaned, closing his eyes again and leaning his head back as his face twisted in pain, “I’ve always known.”

“Always,” the word squeaked from Delaney’s lips and she was sure now her heart was stopped.  It had to be.  There was no way it could continue beating with the pain it was in.

“Delaney he just didn’t want to hurt you,” Violet spoke up to defend him although her tone proved she didn’t agree with what he’d done, “He didn’t want you to have to see him…”

“You knew!” she snapped at the older woman suddenly, her mind spinning, “You knew he was sick all along! Even when you spoke with us in my Uncle’s office that day.  He made that deal and you were so angry.  You’ve known he was sick and you never told me!”

“I tried,” Violet said desperately, “He told me I couldn’t tell anyone but I tried to make you notice things…”

“You knew I loved him,” Delaney shook her head, pulling her arm away from her mother-in-law’s, “You should have told me as soon as you knew I loved him!”

“Delaney…” Miles tried.

“Did you know?” she demanded, her anger turning on him, “Have you known how sick he was?  That it was getting worse?”

Miles looked at her with pain in his lovely green eyes that were so like her husband’s.

“No,” he shook his head, “No I promise I didn’t know until after he’d sent you to live with your aunt and uncle.  Before that, I thought it only got worse if he pushed himself too far.”

“So you knew when you came to see me?” she asked quietly, “You could’ve told me and I could’ve come here to be with him…”

“I’m so sorry…”

“How could you all keep this from me?” she looked around the room and saw eyes dropping from hers, proving they had all known before her.

“Which one… of them… told you, Delaney?” Vincent asked with cold eyes, “Who told you… to come here?”

His wife turned on him with an icy gaze of her own, glaring at him for a moment before she spoke.

“None of them.  None of them gave up your secret.  I just came here to see you…”

“That can’t be true!”

“It is!  I just came here to see you!” tears were streaming down her cheeks as she looked at him, her face showing the pain of her heart breaking, “But if I had known… if I had known you had been so selfish, sent me away, and ended our marriage all because you didn’t want me to see you while you were sick… If I had known you thought so little of me that you didn’t think I could handle it then I don’t think I would have bothered coming back here at all.”

Vincent glared at her now.  His scars angry red and his breaths sharp.

“I didn’t send you away… because I’m sick Delaney… I sent you away… because I’m dying.”