“It was such a long time ago. I should be getting over it.”
“The ones we love stay with us forever, even when something painful happens,” Horatia said. “Even though you’ve lost them, you’ll always remember them. One day, you’ll find a way to visit those memories that doesn’t hurt you so badly.”
“Shouldn’t I have found it by now?”
“It will happen when it’s meant to,” Horatia said wisely. “In the meantime, you have other things to worry about.”
“What do you mean?”
“We have a marriage to contend with,” Horatia said. “And your uncle has just informed me that the Dowager Duchess will be here today to discuss arrangements with you.”
Madeleine groaned.
“So finish your tea,” Horatia said. “We have a lot to do to prepare for her arrival.”
CHAPTERTWELVE
The Dowager Duchess was an imposing lady. She looked at Madeleine as if she was a hawk and Madeleine was her prey.
“Well,” she said before they had even greeted one another or mentioned the impending wedding at all, “something is going to have to be done about that scar.”
Madeleine was so shocked that for a moment, she could find nothing at all to say, even though she knew the situation called for a response.
“My son told me you were quick-witted,” the Dowager said. “Have you nothing to say to me?”
“I’m sorry,” Madeleine said, finding her tongue. “Forgive me, Your Grace. It’s just that people don’t usually address my scar so directly.”
“People are cowards,” the Dowager said. “But I see no point in avoiding the subject. Unless you are a coward as well, of course.”
“No, Your Grace.” In truth, Madeleine appreciated the Dowager Duchess’s directness. It was better to hear what someone was thought than to wonder about it.
“I didn’t get a good look at you that day in the garden,” the Dowager said. “Of course, I knew it was you and that the scar must be there. My son is not aware of society gossip, but I am, so I know all about you. The cursed lady who survived the fire that took her family, who walked away with only a dreadful scar.” She pursed her lips and examined Madeleine’s face carefully. “It’s a pity because, without that scar, you might well be the most beautiful lady in all of London.”
“Does this mean you’re not disappointed that the Duke has chosen to pursue a marriage to me?”
“He has made his decision,” the Dowager Duchess said. “And now that I look upon you, I feel he could have made a worse choice.”
Madeleine couldn’t help asking. “What about my curse? You don’t worry that it will harm him?”
The Dowager hesitated.
Madeleine’s heart sank.
But when she spoke again, her words were not what Madeleine had feared. “Every mother worries for the well-being of her son,” she said. “I worry about him all the time, especially after the incident that took place a few years ago.” She eyed Madeleine shrewdly. “I’m sure you know to what I’m referring.”
“I do know,” Madeleine said quietly. She had been wondering whether this would come up.
“You may be rumored to be cursed,” the Dowager Duchess said. “But that curse is only a rumor. The thing Iknowto be true about you is that you saved Thomas’s life.”
Madeleine nodded.
“So, no—given my way, I would not have him take this risk. But it’s his decision to make. Without your involvement in his life, I would have lost him already. I suppose that makes me feel a little better about your presence there,” the Dowager said. “If a curse is what you bring, I have yet to see it—to our family, you’ve been nothing but a blessing.”
A blessing. No one had ever saidthatabout Madeleine before. “Thank you, Your Grace,” she stammered.
“You should call me Henrietta,” the Dowager Duchess said briskly. “You’re going to be a duchess yourself soon enough, so it doesn’t make sense for you to continue addressing me as if I’m above you somehow.”
“All right,” Madeleine agreed. “Henrietta, then.”
