Josephine laughed, a small and quiet chuckle that held echoes of her old laughter, although more subdued. It still went straight to his heart.
“You must forgive Edward, Your Grace,” she said, leaning in to wipe a piece of egg from the child’s chin. “He is just learning to feed himself and his table manners leave much to be desired.”
He smiled, amused and enchanted by the cherubic tot with his blond curls, rosy lips, and chubby hands. Charmed by Josephine, sitting next to the child, patiently helping him, but at the same time allowing him the independence he needed to achieve things by himself. By this entire domestic scene, so sweet, so unexpected.
Despite everything, he couldn’t help a pang of longing. If things had been different, if she had loved him enough to stay, this could’ve been their family. Damn her. How dare she torment him with this image of blissful domesticity after breaking his heart! He took a sip of coffee and cleared his throat.
“Talking of forgiveness, I must beg yours for the way I behaved yesterday. I was taken aback by our unexpected encounter, but there was no call to be rude.”
“Oh!” Sky-blue eyes, wide with surprise and vulnerability, turned on him. “Not at all, Your Grace. It is understandable why you distrust me, after the way we parted… I was going to apologize to you as well. For getting defensive when you said you wanted to hire a governess. Can we start over, then?”
Start over. She meant in their dealings about the guardianship of the child, of course. But for a mad moment, his mind drifted twelve years back. To another type of starting over. Their relationship. The future they had once imagined and that never came to pass. He gave a mental shake. What nonsense. They could not restart their past, nor did he want to. He had to keep reminding himself that she had left him. She had decided back then that he was not what she wanted.
“Agreed. Let’s start fresh today. And I promise you, I won’t let our past color my decisions about the child.”
It was the first direct reference he had made about their shared past, and he saw her surprise in the way her eyes widened and then skittered away as if in shame.
“Thank you. I would like that. For my part, I will cooperate with you on all things. I’m sure you have many questions. You can ask me anything.”
Again, she meant about the child and the guardianship. But his mind immediately went to the one question he wanted to ask. Why did you leave me? He didn’t ask it, of course. She had already explained her reasons in that awful letter. And he wasn’t so pathetic that he would lower himself to question her now, hoping for a different answer. He was about to ask some inconsequential question about the child’s routine when the door opened once again and the same maid entered.
“You have visitors, milady. Mr. and Mrs. Everleigh.”
He saw her dismay in the way her shoulders sagged and her face paled. She either really disliked these people or was afraid of them. Maybe both, and with good reason. They were the ones contending her guardianship of the child. But her chin came up as she replied.
“I will see them now. Please send refreshments to the drawing room.” Then she turned to him. “Would you please excuse me? I should go see what they want. You may stay here and finish your coffee if you wish, of course.”
“Would you like me to go meet them with you?”
She hesitated for a moment but then shook her head. “No, better they don’t see you. They are likely not aware of your involvement yet.”
“I’ll wait for you, then.”
“I don’t know how long I will be—”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll wait until you are finished.”
“Thank you.” Then her brow furrowed. “Would you like me to have a proper breakfast sent up?”
“I’m fine, Josephine. Go see what your unwelcome guests want.”
With one last nod, she discarded the apron she was wearing, no doubt to save her gown from her nephew’s messy eating, and departed in a hurry. He was left in the nursery with a toddler who looked at him with wide, curious eyes. His nurse was nearby, but Michael suddenly felt awkward around the child. It’s not as if he had any experience handling children.
“How do you do?” He gave a nod and a smile to the child and received a toothy grin in response.
“Gaze!” The child pointed to him, a piece of egg blob falling from his fingers.
“Excuse me?”
“Gaze! Gaze! Gaze!”
Oh, the child was trying to say His Grace. He had probably heard Josephine address him as such. He hated it. Especially coming from her.
“Michael,” he said, pointing to his chest. “I am Michael. And you are Edward.”
“Mako,” the child repeated obediently, and Michael decided the mangling of his name was preferable to being called by his title. Unfortunately, two-year-olds didn’t make for good conversationalists, so he sipped his coffee, scrambling for what to say to the child next.
He was saved from small talk with a toddler by the nurse approaching them at that moment.
