The duchess wiped at her face. “I thought he didn’t love me anymore. That he had given up on us. We stopped fighting. I know it sounds silly, possibly even trite, but those rows have always been our way of expressing our passion, and when they ceased— it broke my heart.”
Augusta had always thought her parents’ marriage too fiery, but it hadn’t ever occurred to her that without that grand emotion, her mother couldn’t breathe. That she lived for her husband’s love, and without it, she was lost.
“Oh, Mama,” she sighed. After Flynn, loss was something she could well understand.
Things between the duke and duchess were still strained, but Augusta could sense her parents were slowly finding their way back to one another. As she crossed the downstairs foyer this morning, Augusta had spied them sharing a tender kiss and exchanging whispered sweet words of affection. The spark had returned to her father’s eyes.
“Since we are having this conversation, may I ask why you didn’t tell Gideon or Serafina about the wedding? I can understand why you would have excluded me, but not your brother. Or his new bride.”
Augusta nodded. “Flynn and I agreed that if he knew of our wedding, Gideon would demand that my husband came home with me. And I didn’t tell Serafina because it would have been unfair to ask her to keep it a secret.”
“Which leads me to the next obvious question. Why didn’t Flynn come home with us?”
That question had been something which had taken some time for Augusta to get her head around, but the long sea voyage home had granted her moments of reflection in which she finally was able to see things from Flynn’s point of view.
“Matteo and Count Nico de Luca were teaching him about how their shipping company works so that he could take up a position with de Luca Shipping here in London.” She paused for a moment, considering her next words carefully. “His other, more personal reason was that he wanted to experience the eternal city on his own terms. Having money in his pocket meant he could finally do that.”
It had taken her some time to come to terms with Flynn’s request, but Augusta had finally made peace with it. The man she loved had suffered through a great deal—she could not have denied him that small boon.
We have a lifetime ahead in which to spend together.
“Before the people of the All Saints’ congregation found him, Flynn was living hand to mouth. Did you know he walked most of the two hundred and seventy miles from Florence to Rome?”
The duchess slowly shook her head. “I had no idea. And what with all the drama surrounding Gideon and Serafina’s wedding and then trying to smooth things over with her father, I didn’t get the opportunity to spend a moment with Flynn.”
“You also had some other pressing matters of your own that were demanding your attention.” She took her mother gently by the hand. “I am glad you did focus on the most important matters, that you made the decision to come home. Now that Flynn is here, you can find the time to sit and talk to him. To understand what he has suffered.”
Lady Anne had been through enough herself, and Augusta could well understand that she had been forced to swallow a good deal of pride and make the trip back to England. To not only return to her husband, but to face down the disapproving matrons of thehaut ton.
“And you and I will also need to talk and make plans.” A soft smile formed on Augusta’s lips. “Because your first grandchild is on its way.”
The duchess gasped. “A baby! Oh, Augusta. Oh, my darling, that is delightful news. I’ve wanted to be a grandmother for such a long time.”
Relief coursed through Augusta. Finally, she had been able to share the news of her pregnancy with her mother. The long weeks of keeping it a secret had been exhausting.
She had suffered privately through the early months of her pregnancy—first with sensitive breasts and backache, then the queasiness of morning sickness.
“Have you seen a doctor? I mean, to confirm that you are with child?” asked Lady Anne.
“No, I haven’t. It’s been hard enough keeping my marriage a secret, let alone a baby,” replied Augusta.
“I shall send for the family physician at once. If you know when you last had your courses, he should be able to give you an indication of when your baby is due.”
“That would be lovely. Thank you, Mama.”
It would take time to repair their relationship. The past few months had seen lies and secrets told and kept by both mother and daughter. But if the duke could find it in his heart to forgive his wife for the pain she had caused him, it was only right that Augusta did the same.
This family has suffered enough over the past year. We deserve happiness.
She included her husband in that thought. Flynn had become part of the Kembal clan. The two of them were soon to become three, creating their own little branch of the greater Kembal and Radley family trees.
That thought pulled her up.
I’m a Cadnam now—a whole new family that I need to learn more about.
There were other people in Flynn’s family aside from his odious father, and she owed it to her unborn child to become acquainted with them. To repair some of the damage that Earl Bramshaw had wrought.
Lady Anne pointed toward the door. “While we wait for the doctor, let’s go and take a look in my dressing room. I kept some of my lovely gowns from when I was carrying Coco, and while they might be a tad out of fashion, I am sure we could get the modiste to remake them into something for you to wear.”
