Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

H ector was frustrated by how far St. Catherine’s was from Islington Hall.

He despised the fact that it took days to get there but disliked it even more when he realized that, while he was traversing these roads for the first time, Juliet had taken the route on multiple occasions.

He wondered what it must have been like for her as a child to sit in a carriage beside her impassive father and stare out the window, bewildered and hurt by the sudden loss of her mother, only to be duped by her remaining parent and abandoned at the gates of the convent.

He also pondered what it must have been like for her to then be pulled out of the convent almost twelve years later and thrust into an uncertain future that, once again, had begun with days stuck in a carriage with a stranger.

It does not matter how long it will take. I would travel across the lands and seas to get to where you are.

St. Catherine’s looked even sadder than Hector had imagined. This was the place where Juliet had spent more than a decade of her life, the place that had shaped her into the person she had become. It made his heart break for her.

He could see right away why Juliet wanted to come back, and he understood why someone as incredibly kind as she was felt she had to help the people who resided there.

A few of the girls spotted him and pointed in his direction with mixed expressions. Clearing his throat, Hector approached them, but they ran away shrieking.

“Can I help you, sir?”

Hector turned around, relieved to find himself in the presence of an older woman dressed in nun’s attire.

“Yes, I am looking for my wife, Juliet. She arrived three weeks ago, and I …”

A scream cut him off, and he glanced around and frowned.

“Is something wrong?” he questioned as he heard the distressed voices increasing in pitch and volume.

The nun also looked confused and beckoned to a girl nearby.

The girl exclaimed, “There was an incident on the third-floor balcony, and now, Miss Juliet is stuck! We keep trying to coax and beg her to move, but it is as though she cannot hear us!”

The nun turned to Hector with wide, horrified eyes, but he was already addressing the girl.

“Where? Can you show me where she is?”

The girl nodded and quickly led him to where many others were already gathered. With every step he took, he recalled his mother and sister and remembered the lives he was unable to save.

Not this time . I will not lose anyone this time.

He quickly spotted Juliet, clinging to the edge of a shattered balcony, her face ashen with terror.

“No,” he whispered, running into the building. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, blocking out all sound.

Please, please. Let me not be too late.

When he reached the balcony level, he was met by a small group of tearful girls. “Please save her! She only climbed up to the broken balcony because we were stuck. Please help her!”

Hector nodded, first gesturing to the stairs that had led him to that space.

“You all need to leave. If this entire floor is unstable, all of us lingering here will only make matters worse. Please, carefully make your way outside,” he instructed quickly.

The girls hesitated for a moment, glancing at Juliet.

“Juliet is my wife. I will do all that I can to get her off that balcony safely.”

At that, the girls carefully and swiftly made their way down. Hector moved closer to the balcony, his heart breaking when he saw Juliet pressed precariously against one wall, her eyes squeezed shut as her fingers wrapped around its stone edges in a white-knuckled grip.

“Juliet,” he called out to her softly so as not to startle her.

She did not respond at first, so he called for her again. This time, her eyes cracked open, and she peered in his direction, her voice breaking as she replied,

“H…Hector?”

“Yes, darling,” he sighed, relieved that she had responded. “I am here. I will get you down from there, all right? I promise.”

“I am so afraid that I can no longer move,” she admitted.

“I know, sweetheart. I know, but you will not be there for much longer. Trust me,” he assured her gently, already studying the mess before him.

It didn’t take him too long to find a relatively stable path for her to traverse that would bring her close enough for him to lift her from the crumbling balcony.

“Juliet, I see a way out. Can you move a little to the right for me?”

She whimpered then opened her eyes a little more before shaking her head frantically and squeezing her eyes shut again.

“Juliet, I know. I understand how scared and reluctant you are to make any moves because you are afraid of falling. But if you stay there, you will become mortally injured, and I would be rather distraught. Do you trust me?”

She nodded, pressing herself further against the corner she had backed herself into.

“Then you need to move, all right?” He waited until she nodded again before he tried once more. “A little to the right, Juliet. Slowly and carefully.”

She followed his instructions, inching in his direction.

“Good, good. Now, take a step forward…yes! That is excellent; you are nearly there. You are doing wonderfully well. Just one more …”

That was when he heard it: the unmistakable crack as the floor finally came apart, and he held out his hands.

“Take my hands, Juliet!”

Juliet grasped his hands as Hector yanked her body onto solid ground as the rest of the balcony disintegrated.

Juliet fell into his tight embrace and began to sob.

“It is all right, Juliet,” he whispered to her softly, stroking her hair gently. “You were so incredibly brave. You saved all those girls and then yourself. I could not be prouder of you.”

As she continued to cry, her shoulders released all the tension they had been holding, and she melted against him, making his heart tingle with affection.

“I am sorry for pushing you away, Juliet. I really am,” he told her quietly after her sobs had silenced.

At first, she said nothing, but then her gentle voice reached his ears. “I thought…I was so afraid that you had finally abandoned me for good. I waited for days and days, and when you never came, I thought you were done with me.”

“No, Juliet, never.” He pulled back to look at her as he carefully spoke his next words. “I felt as though I was the unwanted one, the disappointment. I was so consumed by my failures and the weight of my responsibilities that it kept me from seeing just how much pain I had caused you. I…I was scared that I would never be enough for you and would turn into my father. He was a vile and angry man, and he hurt my mother seriously enough that she passed away from his abuse. I was scared that opening up my heart would also create the possibility of that happening to you.”

Juliet’s hands clung to his coat as she nodded into his chest in silent understanding.

“I was scared, too…of being abandoned again. It was not fair to see our marriage as a relationship that would likely end with me all by myself in a place I do not recognize. I should have tried to speak and engage with you more, rather than hold you responsible for my fears.”

She raised one of her hands and cupped his face tenderly.

“You are ten times the man your father ever was. You are greater, kinder and more responsible, and I know that your mother and sister would be proud of you. As am I. I am honored to call you my husband.”

Hector took her hands in his, inhaling shakily for a moment.

“I want to be better, Juliet. For you. For us and our marriage. I know I have made mistakes, and I have a lot to make up for, but I am willing to fight for our relationship. Because…I love you, Juliet. There is no one I would rather spend the rest of my life with. I love you.”

It felt freeing to say those three words to her and watch as her eyes lit up, and she understood the gravity of his declaration.

“I love you too, Hector. So much. And I also want to work on our relationship. You are the love of my life, and I want nothing more than to spend our lives together.”

Hector grinned, leaning down to capture her lips in a short kiss. When they broke apart, he lovingly assisted her back to the main section of the nunnery.

And thus, Hector and Juliet knew in their hearts that, despite all they had endured, they would remain in love and prosper together.