“Our sincerest apologies, Your Grace,” Helena offered, tiptoeing over to Anna like a cat. “We saw Alicia and the impresario leave with George through the window and assumed the coast was clear.”
“What did she say?” Sophia asked, tugging on Anna’s arm. “You’ll have to repeat everything to us word for word. They left together, so that must mean you were successful. Are they getting married, then?”
“For now, that seems to be the plan,” Anna replied, turning from Philip to the girls. “George gave her some sage advice, and…” She laughed and glanced back at Philip. “I’ll tell you all about it in the music room.”
With a loving glance back at him, his wife took off with her friends.
* * *
Storms had besieged Sussex over the last week. Philip found the gardens recuperating well, Hector ordering the gardeners at the bottom of the lawn as they lugged uprooted plants and branches back and forth. The grounds were wet underfoot, and his hessians shone with dew by the time he reached a quiet corner.
It wasn’t quiet for long. He caught Elinor out of the corner of his eye, hiking up her skirts as she trudged toward the knot garden.
“I was just about to take a walk and inspect the damage,” she called upon seeing him, beckoning him close. “I escaped out here when I heard Miss Walford’s carriage arrive. Am I to assume that sordid business will trouble us no longer?”
“All thanks to Anna.” Philip started toward the maze.
Elinor had been frosty with him all week, despite his improved relationship with his wife. She followed him hesitantly.
“You are within your rights to resent me, Elinor. But things will be different from before. I have been shown the error of my ways.”
“Somehow I believe you.” Elinor sighed, slipping past him into a maze of hedges. “You have seemed happier this last week—which is absurd, given the circumstances. Anna’s effect on you is undeniable. Oh, don’t look so innocent. I see everything, much to my dismay. Are you sure you will be able to manage not being miserable all the time?”
“I shall make a concerted effort to try.” The gravel path crunched underfoot. “She deserves that much. Only time will tell what that means for us. But your place here needn’t change. If you wish to remain with us forever?—”
“Don’t say it. The kinder you are to me, the harder it is for me to make the right decisions for myself.”
Elinor paused as they stepped into the center of the garden. The rose beds had been crushed by the wind, vagrant twigs and branches littering the looping paths between them. A few young plants had weathered the storm, sprouting unaffected from their beds, buds curling toward the gray-blue sky.
“I am going to Delphi,” Elinor announced. “I know you will miss me terribly, but that is where I belong for now. There will be a changing of the guard there once Graham’s heir is located, and I must prepare the house for when that happens. After that, I will move into a small dower house in London and live out the rest of my days obsessing over your children—unless I have misunderstood the nature of your new relationship with Anna.” She smiled, looking down at the flowers. “And everything will be alright.”
Philip hesitated to agree. Elinor truly believed that the best way to honor Graham’s memory was by remaining alone forever. And as much as Philip missed Graham and wished things had been different, he couldn’t stand the thought of his sister spending her life fixated on everything she had lost.
Anna had shown him there was another way. The past didn’t have to dictate the future.
But there would be time for Elinor to come to that conclusion herself. For now, he simply nodded, offering his support through a smile, with the same familial patience that Elinor had shown him for years.
“So…” she continued. “With me off to Delphi and tempers cooling here, what is next for the Duke of Wells and his most admirable bride? There was talk of France, wasn’t there? Are you headed there alone, or not at all?”
“It remains to be seen,” Philip said, stepping forward to take his sister’s arm. “Whatever happens next, you and I shall not be parted for long.”
CHAPTER25
Three Weeks Later
Anna reread the last paragraph of Helena’s manuscript for the third time, hopingthistime the words would stick. That was not to say Helena’s novel was boring by any means. It was her attention that was lacking. Anna had been restless all day, waiting for Philip’s return from the War Office in town.
She groaned and set the handwritten manuscript aside. Her fingers flitted absently through the pages as she looked up at her surroundings.
Charleton Manor was quiet, now that Elinor had left for Delphi. Their goodbye, two days ago, still lingered in Anna’s mind. Like Philip, she had been reluctant to send Elinor off alone. But the marchioness had insisted that the liquidation of her late husband’s home was a task she had to undertake by herself.
When she returns, I will let her know how much she has been missed. Cotoneaster, Charleton… These old Wilmington houses are not the same without her.
Rising from her chaise-longue to check the time, Anna gasped when she heard the front door open and close. Rushing to her feet, she sprinted through the house in the direction of the stairs, stopping short as she saw Philip in the entrance hall. He took off his hat and dismissed the footman he had been addressing, marching up the stairs to greet her with a kiss that made her knees turn to jelly.
Anna laughed as he pulled her into a recess off the landing, not wanting to be spotted by the staff. He had revealed a new side to him over the last few weeks, affectionate and hungry, abandoning his dark moniker for good now that they could look toward the future unburdened by the past.
“Wellington accepted my conditions without argument,” Philip said, his fingers pressing into her waist. “I take it you have not changed your mind since this morning and still wish to accompany me.”
