CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Alice's parents arrived, and she was entirely nervous as she waited at the door to receive them. She worried her lip between her teeth, her hands twining and untwining as she hoped she could impress them with how she handled her husband's home.
When she finally spotted them, her heart beat an unsteady rhythm as she watched her father take in the lavender gardens lining the path to the foyer leading into the house.
"Father. Mother." She curtsied.
"I must say, Alice, the Duke's home is quite a sight," Timothy noted.
She already knew he would show no regard for her, but his nonchalance still stung.
"You look well, my dear." Her mother smiled. "Marriage becomes you."
She smiled politely and nodded.
"You look well too," she praised. "I hope the journey wasn't eventful."
"Not at all," her mother answered. "The roads are so much better this way. Don't you think so Timothy?"
He grunted his reply.
"Where is your husband?" he asked pointedly. "I should think he would have been here to greet us or have you done something to anger him?"
"No, Father. He was attending to a guest but I am sure he has been informed of your arrival and would no doubt be joining us soon."
He sniffed, and she withered, knowing he saw the duke’s absence as a slight to him. He was easily offended, her father, and now she would bear the brunt.
"Did you fail to inform him we would be arriving today? If you had, he surely would have…"
"I did inform him, Father," she replied quickly. "The guest had been unexpected but a dear friend of his."
"I see you haven’t outgrown the habit of interrupting me."
Her eyes moved downward as anger simmered in her blood. She was beginning to regret allowing him to visit, especially since this had become her abode. If he was never going to be happy with anything she did and nitpick about everything she did, he didn’t need to come. She had been perfectly content not seeing them for the past two years, and she would have continued to do so if he hadn’t written, nearly demanding it.
"Let’s not start the day on a sour note, darling," Patience said, trying to calm the tension. "We haven’t seen our daughter in two years."
"I was only…" He withered under her glare and cleared his throat. "All right."
Her mother turned to her with a bright smile.
"Why don’t you tell us what you have planned for today, dear?"
Alice nodded, hiding her now shaking hands behind her back. If her father saw it now, he wouldn’t hesitate to harp on it, as was his custom, and she didn’t know if her temper would survive the assault.
"I have already told the staff to take your things up to your chambers and had a tea service set up in the orangery. It is such a beautiful day and it would be a shame to waste it inside."
"We shan’t stay long as we are both weary from our journey and we will need time to change out of our travelling clothes," her mother said with a tone that was almost condescending.
She nodded and led them along to the orangery, secretly hoping Victor would join them soon, if only to spare her parents’ attention.
As much as she dreaded seeing him after their last encounter, she couldn’t help but admit that he had a calming effect on her when her anxieties sought to overwhelm her.
Oh, Victor. Where are you?
"I will show you to the new baths we had constructed." Victor heard Alice’s voice say from outside.
She was leading her parents to the orangery from the direction they were taking, and from the sound of her voice, things must have been proceeding quite nicely.
