“Am I?” She hadn’t noticed.
“Let’s go into my study,” he suggested. “We can have a glass of wine there and relax—recover from this encounter. I think it will help us both calm our nerves a little.”
“That sounds wonderful,” Lydia agreed.
He kept his arm around her shoulders as they made their way up to the study. She leaned against him, taking comfort from his embrace. It felt wonderful to be supported like this in the wake of her parents’ visit, to know that Edward had declared definitively that he was on her side. The fact that he had ordered her parents out of the house for daring to speak disrespectfully to her… she’d never dreamed that anyone would do such a thing for her. It was beyond her wildest imagination.
How odd. The things I did dream of seem impossible now. Love and family—those things will never happen. But I’ve found other things with Edward, things I might value nearly as much as I would have valued the things I originally dreamed about.
“Have a seat,” he told her when they had reached the study, and she sank into a chair beside the fire. He pulled out a bottle of red wine and two glasses and uncorked the bottle. “I’ve been saving this for a special occasion,” he told her.
“Is this a special occasion?”
“It’s not a happy one, but I’d say it’s a special one, nonetheless,” he said. “After everything you and I have been through tonight, we deserve a little something special.”
He handed her the glass he was holding and picked up the other one. Lydia took a long drink and let the wine warm her.
“I want to thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“For lying to my parents.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think if you’d told them tonight that we didn’t mean to have a child at all, the shock might have destroyed them,” she said. “It was much better to tell them that we’re just waiting a few years, so I appreciate your willingness to bend the truth. They’ll have to know eventually, of course, but we’ll let them find out slowly, gradually, over time. We don’t need to make an announcement about it.”
“I feel the same way,” Edward told her. “Not that it’s any of their business in the first place. I really don’t know what made them feel as if they had the right to come to my house uninvited and ask such personal questions. I find it shocking.”
“Especially given the way they’ve always told me not to make a nuisance of myself,” Lydia agreed. “I can’t believe they don’t see the hypocrisy. But I suppose they thought they were prying into my life, not yours. I suppose they saw that as a perfectly fine thing to do.”
“I don’t think it is,” Edward argued. “You’renotjust their daughter anymore, no matter how much they might protest that they can’t stop looking at you that way. You’re also the Duchess of Westfrey. Respect is owed to your position in society, even if they are your parents. That’s a lesson they’re going to have to learn.”
Lydia nodded. “I’m so unused to having someone support me when it comes to things like this.”
“Well, you have someone now,” he said firmly. “Now and for the rest of your life. Our marriage may not be all you hoped it would be, Lydia, but you may rest assured I will always be on your side, and I’ll always do whatever I can to show you support.”
“Thank you,” she told him. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
“Furthermore,” he added, “you’re going to make your own choices. You’re going to live the way you want to live, not the way they make you feel that you should. I don’t know exactly what that might look like. I don’t know what you want out of your life or what’s going to make you happy. But I do know that I’m going to protect your freedom to make your own choices and that if your parents try to express any sort of disapproval, I won’t let them near you. They’ve had their say throughout your life so far. Now, it’s your turn.”
Lydia beamed. “Do you really mean that?”
“Of course, I mean it. Why wouldn’t I?”
“It’s just that no one has ever said anything like that to me before. No one has ever made me feel as if I have the right to make my own choices. And I’m just so honored by that. And so grateful.”
“You’re important to me,” he told her, easing into the seat beside hers. “You mean more to me than I would have ever thought possible, Lydia. I didn’t expect to care about you at all when this journey began, and now, I know I wouldn’t be the same without you. So, whatever it takes to make you happy is what I’m going to do, and I won’t abide anyone who stands in the way of that.”
She sighed. “We are going to have to see them again soon, you know,” she said. “Especially since you sent them off today. We’re going to have to make things right with them. I can only imagine what they’re saying about us even now.”
“But don’t worry about that,” Edward reassured. “Worry about the two of us, here. Are you happy?”
Lydia swirled her wine glass and smiled. “I am happy,” she replied. “I was so miserable at that dinner table. It’s hard to believe that things could have turned around for me so quickly. But they really have. And it’s all thanks to you.”
She hesitated, feeling the urge to reach out and take his hand. She wanted to do it badly. But she shouldn’t. She knew that. Hadn’t he made it clear that that wasn’t the relationship he wanted with her?
But things are different now. He’s just been saying how what’s between us is nothing like what he expected. I should act as if a window has opened, because one has. Hasn’t it?
