Chapter 500
Devin ran his thumb slowly over the photograph on the headstone. “I have no idea. But Patsy never had a single day of good luck in her life.” Colton nodded. That was exactly why he had always felt so protective of her.
She had been born during the worst of Victoria and Goodwin’s battles, when neither parent had time or attention to spare for a newborn daughter. In the end, it was Padgett who couldn’t bear to watch her go unnoticed — he had stepped in and raised her himself. Whether it was due to poor nourishment before birth or something else entirely, she had always been fragile and prone to illness.
When she was three years old, she collapsed without warning, as though her heart had simply stopped. They rushed her to the hospital, and the doctors spent three days fighting to bring her back. Even after she survived, not one of them could identify what had caused it.
Padgett eventually consulted a fortune teller, who told him the only way to save her was to send her away — to a poor, remote village where she would live a hard and simple life. It broke his heart, but he did it. He sent his three-year-old daughter to a distant, underdeveloped town just to keep her alive.
Colton still remembered that day with painful clarity — the tiny, fragile girl sobbing in his arms before they took her away.
By the time she finally came back to Gridron, she had grown into a quiet, withdrawn woman who rarely left his side. He had never been able to look at her without feeling a deep, hollow ache.
“This is all my fault,” Devin said, his voice rough. “I was wrong to stay angry at her for so long.”
Colton knew what he was referring to — the years when Patsy was at her most ill, when she had needed the people who loved her most. Devin hadn’t come. He hadn’t visited once during her illness and only appeared on the day of the funeral, when there was nothing left to say. Colton had carried that bitterness toward him for years.
“I’ve been wanting to ask you for a long time,” Colton said. “Why did you stay away from her when she was sick?”
“You think I chose to?” Devin answered, his eyes fixed on her photograph.
Colton studied him. “Did Patsy tell you not to come?”
Devin nodded. “Before she left the country, she came to me and told me she was in love with someone else. I understood what she was really saying — she was asking me to stay out of her life.”
Colton stared at him. “Patsy was in love with someone? I never heard anything about that.”
“That’s what she told me.”
“Who was he?”
“She never gave me a name,” Devin said, a sad and painful smile crossing his face. “She just told me she never wanted to see me again.” He looked at Colton. “I assumed you knew. But I can see now that you had no idea.”
Colton frowned deeply. “Patsy was with me almost every day. She never once mentioned being in love with anyone.”