Joseph's tears fell heavily onto the patent papers, and his voice broke with anguish as he gasped out his confession.
He said, "We were wrong, so wrong, to mistake cheap glass for priceless jewels and to call a briar patch a rose garden. We were blind fools, and it took us this long to see the truth. Can you find it in your heart to forgive us?"
Ruth's nails bit into her palms hard enough to draw blood, and she sobbed desperately as she spoke.
She said, "Nina, I was wrong. Please do not shut us out. Just give us one chance to make things right, and we swear we will only love you from now on."
A deafening thud shook the room as both Ellis brothers slammed to their knees, and the impact sent sparrows scattering from the windowsill in a flurry of wings.
Lucian, who was normally the pictu
