Beatrice held her hands up. “My apologies, Tess. I shall refrain; I swear it.”
Taking a tremulous breath, her head bowed, Teresa answered her mother and brother’s most pressing question. “There will be no children. I will not be a mother, it seems. I do not know what will occupy my days, but I shall find something.” Her breath hitched. “I will just have to be the very best aunt that I can be… and find the strength to be content with that.”
She was reminded that she was notquitelike Beatrice. They shared many beliefs, many truths, but she had only shunned the idea of motherhood because she had doubted she would ever be married.
That had changed when Cyrus happened.
Of late, her daydreams had changed too, imagining the castle hallways brightened by the laughter of children. Imagining the gardens as the perfect place for her children to play, having grand adventures in such an enchanted realm. Imagining Cyrus with their son or daughter in his arms, doting upon them.
Silly fictions, like everything else…
“I will not stand for it,” Vincent said, his voice rough with emotion. “Somethingmustbe done. You deserve… more than this, Tessie. He cannot be allowed to get away with this disrespect to our family, to you.”
Beatrice raised an eyebrow. “That might be the only thing you have ever said that I have agreed with.” She sighed. “But you are wasting your time. Tess does not want anything to be done; I have already offered extensive retribution, to no avail. She just wants you to accept her back in this house, where she may live in peace.”
“Is that true?” Prudence asked, her earlier humor gone, replaced with the sympathy that only a sister—or an exceptional friend—could embody.
Teresa nodded, offering her sister a sad smile. “I am a duchess in name, but a spinster in situation. All Icanask for is the support of my family.”
At that moment, Julianna stepped forward. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her eyes shining with a renewed clarity, her expression stern. “What I simply cannot understand is what provoked this,” she said. “Did you say something to him to make him withdraw his affections? Did you do something? Did he find those tawdry books of yours?”
“What?” Teresa rasped, her heart twinging.
“Mama!” Prudence barked, scowling.
“Mother, come now,” Vincent chided more mildly.
Meanwhile, Beatrice muttered something under her breath that did not warrant repeating.
Julianna scoffed, throwing her hands up. “I am merely saying what everyone is thinking! I love you, Teresa, but you have never been the most… adept at maintaining gentlemanly attention. And none of this makes any sense whatsoever, consideringhewas the one who proposed and you claim that your marriage was progressing. Is it so terrible for a mother to ask for a reason, when her daughter has been rejected in such an abrupt fashion?”
“Do you think I have not asked myself that same thing?” Teresa shot back, her temper rising. With it, the prickle of tears that she had been fighting so hard to hold back. “Do you think I just accepted it meekly? I have questioned it over and over, and I have found no answer that is any balm to my broken heart! One moment, he cared. The next, he did not. It does not make any sense, but it is, nevertheless, the fact of the matter.”
Julianna gasped, her face turning a patchy shade of red as she puffed and spluttered. “Well, I do not see whyIdeserve to be spoken to like that!”
“This is not about you, Mother!” Prudence interjected. “You were rude and are suddenly upset because Tessie is no longer bowing her head and backing down as she used to. Like she said, she is a duchess—she can speak to you how she likes,Dowager Countess.”
Julianna’s furious face turned a shade darker, but it was Vincent who jumped in before his mother could explode. “I think we ought to have some tea and calm ourselves, so we do not become uncivilized.”
He looked to his mother. “Youshould not say hurtful things to antagonize Tessie.”
He looked at Prudence. “Youwill not speak to our mother like that again, or you will be sent from this room.”
He looked at Beatrice. “I still do not know why you are here.” His expression softened as he looked to Teresa. “But I would not deny you your friend, Tessie, and you were quite within your rights to lose your temper. It does not make sense; you do not need to be reminded of that.”
“Thank you,” Teresa croaked, grateful for her brother’s defense, even if it would not change anything.
Vincent rang the bell in the drawing room, and the housekeeper entered with a somewhat startled look on her face. Considering how quickly she had arrived, it stood to reason that she had been nearby, perhaps hearing more than she ought to.
The sorrowful glance she passed to Teresa as she left again confirmed it: news of her rejection had already leaked beyond the drawing room. And though Teresa knew that the housekeeper would not gossip, she also knew that her heartbreak would not remain private for long.
“Does this mean that you permit me to stay?” Teresa asked Vincent. “You will not insist on me returning to Darnley Castle?”
Vincent sniffed. “I would not send you back there, even if His Grace begged.”
“Youmightconsider the townhouse at Bath,” Julianna muttered, her nose in the air. “Ido not think it is too late to remedy this. There has obviously been a disagreement, and once tempers have cooled, you may yet continue as you were.”
Beatrice stared at Teresa’s mother in disbelief. “There was no ‘disagreement,’ my lady. The man has either gone mad, there has been an external influence that we do not know about, or he was always a cowardly wretch, and he has just now shown his true nature.” She squared her shoulders. “Whatever has caused this, Tess isnotthe one at fault.”
