He led her into his study. A woman was seated on the settee and appeared to be crying.
Eden’s eyes widened. “Mama?”
Well, she was not entirely surprised to find her mother here, because it usually took no more than a day or two for one of her parents to come running to her, demanding she choose sides in their latest battle. But to see her mother cryingthishard? Those were genuine tears she was spilling.
Eden rushed to her side. “What happened, Mama?”
Her mother merely wailed into her lace handkerchief.
Dread suddenly filled Eden. “Has something happened to Papa?”
Her mother nodded.
Connor closed the door but remained in the study with them. He drew up a chair for Eden and took one for himself beside her. “As far as I can tell, your mother thinks she might have killed your father.”
She gasped. “What?”
“I hit him harder than usual,” her mother explained between bouts of tears and hiccups. “The dolt did not duck in time.”
Eden ground her teeth. “You should not have hit him at all. Are you certain he is dead? Have you summoned a doctor?”
“Do not lecture me, Eden. Your father is a maddening boor. Why should he be the one to stay with you when I rode all theway from London just as he did to be with you? If he were a gentleman, he would have removed himself and settled in one of the lovely inns in Lynton.”
“As you could have done,” Eden muttered. “Or the two of you could have behaved like responsible adults and simply avoided each other. It is a big house. Plenty of bedrooms. You could have kept to opposite sides of the house. But Mama, how has it been left?Didyou summon the doctor?”
“Ugh, Eden! You are still lecturing me. Stop being as insufferable as your father.”
“Well, he won’t be all that insufferable if he is truly dead,” she muttered, her voice shaking with anger at both of them. It was bad enough they had invaded her home at the same time, which was the reason she was here and forced to watch Connor find some adorable young thing to marry. If not for their untimely arrival, she could have been moping around her own home and left in peace while she wallowed in her misery. Chestnut Hill was her home.Herhome. Owned by her outright.
Her parents had no claim to it, and yet had chased her out of it.
Of course, she welcomed each of them to visit her whenever they wished. As miserable as they were, they were still her parents. But when the two of them descended on her together? It was utter chaos.
She still could not wrap her brain around the possibility that her father was dead or that her mother had killed him. “Mama, tell me exactly what happened. How did the accident come about?”
“It was no accident. I purposely threw your candelabrum at him. He just stood there like the dolt he is…was… Well, you know what I mean. The gall of that man. He did not bother to block it. The thing hit him squarely in the head. And now I am sure he is dead and it is all his fault.”
“Hisfault?” Eden turned to Connor, wondering what he must be thinking, but his expression was unreadable.
How could he not be disgusted with her parents? By extension, how could he not be disgusted withher?
“Yes,hisfault,” her mother repeated. “Because of his stupidity, I shall now have to face the magistrate and explain why I attacked him. I am certain he will understand and absolve me of all blame. But what if he is a boor and does not? Am I to be condemned now as a criminal? And must I be questioned? It is too humiliating to contemplate. Oh, why must I suffer so?”
“You? Papa got the worst of it, since you may have killed him,” Eden pointed out, hoping against hope her father had merely been knocked unconscious and was not lying dead on her floor.
“Stop lecturing me, Eden! Must I face your inquisitionandthat of the magistrate? It is too distressing. I shall break out in hives because I am so stressed. Your father’s fault, of course.”
“Am I to understand the reason for your distress is your annoyance at the possibility of being questioned by the magistrate?” Eden glanced at Connor because he happened tobethe local magistrate. “Do you feel any remorse for possibly ending his life?”
“He should have moved out of the way! It was an accident, not a crime,” her mother said with unwarranted indignity.
Connor cleared his throat. “I’ve sent a footman to fetch the doctor.”
“Thank goodness,” Eden muttered.
Connor took hold of her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “I’ll take you back to your home…unless you would rather stay here while I attend to your father.”
Eden was quite spent from her outing, but this was too important an incident to ignore. “I want to go with you.”
