“I am not even certain what I am looking at,” Hudson pivoted the conversation. “Apart from needless destruction and chaos.”
“Oh.” She clapped her hands together and her eyes sparkled. “It shall be an orangery. The thought occurred to me last week, that this estate does not have one. And I have always wondered if I might try my hand at horticulture—I feel as if I might have a knack for it.”
“As you have a knack for interior design? And horse rearing?”
“Those are hobbies.”
“What is the difference?”
“How adept I am at them,” she responded with a smirk. “But this is different. Construction will be finished within the week, and once it is, I daresay I shall have found my calling.”
“And if you are not the natural horticulturist that you imagine?”
She shrugged. “Then I suppose it will be onto the next thing.”
“Which is…”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Whatever I feel like.”
This was a delicate situation, and Hudson was more than aware of it. On the one hand, he thought to simply leave her to it and not get involved. This was partly his fault, and if the worst that should occur from his rejection of her desires to have a child was that she spent his money with abject freedom and withoutconsequences, then so be it. At least that would see them avoid another fight.
On the other hand, Hudson did not think it right for him to back down and let her have her way. She was throwing a tantrum, rebelling because she did not get her way. If he allowed it, it would set a precedent from which there would be no coming back.
He needed to put his foot down. Hopefully, for the last time.
“I know what it is that you are doing,” Hudson began calmly.
“Oh? Pray do tell, what am I doing?”
He scoffed. “The constant spending. The purposeful upending of my home. The eye toward frustrating me until I finally break. It is obvious…” He crossed his arms and looked at her. She did the same back, daring him to make his point. “You are trying to force my hand.”
“Force your hand?” She frowned. “Whatever for?”
“Oh, please…” He chuckled. “Do not play pretend. We both know what this is.”
“Are you going to speak to the point or are you going to continue to dance around it?” She laughed to herself. “Although seeing as I have seen you dance, I do suggest that you hurry, lest you trip and hurt yourself.”
His face dropped, as did his patience. “This will not work. I do not know how you were convinced of this ill-advised plan—what madness saw you take this path. But if you think that you can annoy me into having a child with you, I am afraid that you have been wasting your time.”
“Annoy you into having a child…” She leaned back, her face scrunched into a ball of confusion. “Is that what…oh my, God,” she scoffed. “Is that what you think I am doing? The reason for all of this?”
“Well…” Hudson hesitated. “Are you not?”
“No!”
“Then why?” he blustered, unsure if she was joking or not. “Tell me, why all the spending? All the activity? What end could this possibly achieve?”
“You really have no idea, do you?” She shook her head at him. Not angry. Not even upset. More the way a parent looks at a child who has done wrong but can’t figure out the reason. “You have been so darn preoccupied with whatever it is you’ve been doing this last month that you have not stopped to wonder at what I have been doing.”
“I know too well what you have been doing.”
“Because I have no choice!” she cried out. “That is the reason. Seeing as you want nothing to do with me—and no, I am not justreferring to having a child. When I say nothing, I meannothing. It is all too clear to me, dear husband, that you wish I did not exist, and the way you have ignored me seems to have convinced you that I do not. Thus, with little real choice, I am forced to take matters into my own hand and find entertainment through whatever means I can. That is why I am doing this. To save myself from dying of boredom!”
“Oh…” Hudson blinked, struck speechless by the verbal onslaught. “That is…unfortunate.”
He had no idea what to say. Or what he could say. Had a man ever been so wrong in his entire life? Had a man ever been so guilty? So conceited? So unaware? Most likely they had, but surely this was a contender for the top spot?
Hudson was aware of the way he had been treating his wife this past month, going out of his way not to see her and such. What he had failed to consider was how she might feel about it. Truly, after their fight, he had just assumed that she would want nothing to do with him—that she would be grateful that he was avoiding her. He really could be clueless sometimes.
