“All right,” Uncle Joseph said quietly. “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see, I suppose. There’s very little we can do about it tonight.”
“But aren’t you angry with me?”
“Why would I be angry with you?”
“I got myself into a compromising situation,” she said. “I tarnished my reputation.”
“Well, it doesn’t sound to me as if that was your fault,” Uncle Joseph said. “From what you’ve told me, I would say you were manipulated into that position by the young ladies around you.”
Relief filled Madeleine. That was exactly how it had been, though she hadn’t been sure he would be able to see it.
“But the result’s the same, isn’t it?” she asked. “Whether or not it was my fault, the fact is that no one is going to want anything to do with me now.”
“We shouldn’t borrow trouble,” Uncle Joseph said. “We should wait and see what happens. Maybe this won’t be as bad as you think it is.”
Madeleine found that hard to believe. Given the way the gossip had been spreading, it seemed impossible that anyone was going to forget about what had happened tonight.
“Either way,” Uncle Joseph went on, “you must know that I don’t consider this your fault. You’re my only family, Madeleine, and I’ll do whatever it takes for you. Whatever we have to do to ensure that you get the future you deserve. I know that you want that for yourself as well, and I know that you are neither careless nor foolish. If something went wrong, it was an accident, and that can happen to the best of us. It was not your fault.”
Madeleine wiped away a tear.
“You really thought I would be angry with you?” he asked.
“It was all I could think about,” she admitted.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that,” he said. “I could never be angry with you. You’re the light of my life.”
The rest of Madeleine’s problems suddenly didn’t seem quite so bad. What difference did it make what Lady Cecily had to say about her, really? And if the gossips of the ton thought she had been doing something she hadn’t…well, that would damage her prospects, yes, but she had been through worse. After losing her family all in one night, this seemed like the sort of loss a person could bear.
She wasn’t going to lose Uncle Joseph’s love, and that was what really mattered. As long as he cared for her and she didn’t lose the only family she had left, she could handle everything else that came her way.
If she couldn’t get married, she would stay here with him. There were worse ways to spend a life than in the company of an uncle you loved.
She moved her knight.
He smiled at her. “I was wondering if you were ever going to do that,” he said and captured the piece with his bishop.
Madeleine smiled too. It came as a surprise to feel a smile on her face. She hadn’t expected to smile tonight. She had expected to spend the rest of the evening in tears of guilt in her bedroom.
It was amazing to know that there was a way, however small, in which things were still all right for her after everything that had happened tonight.
But her uncle was quiet as they played chess. It was a change—he was usually talkative over the board. And when the game was over, he rose to his feet and gave her a short good night before retiring to his room.
Madeleine’s anxiety returned.
He wasn’t angry with her. He had said so. But at the same time…something clearly wasn’t right.
There was only one conclusion she could reach. He might not be angry, but hewasdisappointed, and he had walked away in an attempt to hide that disappointment from her. He was trying to protect her, but she had seen through him.
And she went to bed feeling desolate after all.
She had let her uncle down, even though he wasn’t angry with her. And if her parents were alive, they would be disappointed too. That was more painful to Madeleine than anything she could imagine.
She reached her room and lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.
She had to try to find a way to fix this.
But for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out how she might do that.
