He nodded. “My father had a temper,” he explained. “And he liked to drink. He often got angry with me for things that weren’t really under my control.”
“I’m sorry,” Lady Valeria said quietly. “That’s so difficult, isn’t it? Knowing that someone you care about might become angry with you at any moment?”
Thomas nodded, remembering what it had been like. “You always hope you’ll win their approval,” he said. “That something you say or do will at last find favor with them.”
“But it never works,” Lady Valeria said. “It can’t work. They think only of themselves, and they do not concern themselves with the needs of the people around them. Even those they are supposed to love.”
They sat looking at one another for a long time.
She’s been through the same things I have.
And suddenly, for the first time, he really understood why she had closed herself off. Why she had opposed the idea of courtship and had always avoided him when he had tried to get to know her better.
She was afraid. She was afraid because of the way her brother treated her.
Duncan got to his feet. “I think I’ll take a walk down to the creek,” he said, pointing to a stream that was visible in the distance. “Would either of you like to join me?”
“No, thank you,” Lady Valeria said. Thomas shook his head.
Duncan ambled off.
Lady Valeria and Thomas were alone together at last.
Chapter 18
Valeria glanced at Lord Woodsford, and then glanced away. Being near him was making her nervous in a way she didn’t quite understand.
“What happened to your father?” she asked at length. “Is he… still in your life?”
“No,” Lord Woodsford said. “As a matter of fact—he was arrested.”
Color rose in his cheeks, and it was so viscerally familiar to watch that Valeria was sure she knew what he must be feeling. It was that sensation of shame paired with defiance that came along with being associated with a criminal act while at the same time knowing that you yourself had not done anything wrong.
It was awful.
“What was he arrested for?” she asked.
“Failure to pay his debts,” Lord Woodsford said. He was avoiding her gaze now. “I didn’t know a lot about it at the time, but I’ve learned more since his death.”
“His death?”
“Yes, he died in captivity.”
“Oh, Lord Woodsford,” she breathed. “I’m so very sorry.”
He looked at her. “You are?”
“Of course.”
“Most people just tell me good riddance to them, or that they’re glad I no longer have to put up with his presence in my life.”
“That’s awful,” she breathed.
“You really think so?”
“I would feel terrible if someone said that about Richard, no matter what he’s done to me,” she said. “After all, he’s still my brother. My feelings about him are complicated. And I’m sure your feelings about your father are just the same.”
He nodded. “I never thought I would meet anyone who understood,” he said. “Duncan and Henry—they try, but they know debt collectors have bothered me for years about the obligations my father left behind. They think that I should be pleased to be rid of him. But of course it isn’t that simple.”
