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A shout of laughter filtered from the entrance hall, and Adeline smiled. It had been a week since they departed Rosette Park, and the girls seemed to be enjoying Somerset, and she even felt a bit more at peace. In the two months Edmond had been absent from Rosette Park without even scrawling a note to her, something inside of her had withered. If he truly loved her, regardless of his fear, should he not fight to be with her? Adel had pushed past the pain, and resolved to find happiness with her children. There was a brief knock on the drawing room door, and then it was opened to admit Lady Harriet, and her husband’s man of affairs Mr. Dobson.
Adel stood frowning. “Mr. Dobson?”
He bowed slightly. “Your Grace. I’ve been sent down by the duke to make arrangements for a nursery to be constructed here.”
Pain almost made her knees buckle. He was truly relieved she was gone from Rosette Park and his life. “I see.”
“Tell her the rest, Mr. Dobson,” Lady Harriet said with a smile.
“The duke has given instructions that all his estates be equipped with nurseries, Your Ladyship.”
“All of them?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
Adel’s heart jolted. “Even at Rosette Park?”
“Yes, Your Grace, and also the estates in Scotland.”
Oh. What did that mean?
“There will be some knocking and hammering for the next few days, Your Grace, we are begging your pardon for the noise.”
She nodded, and Mr. Dobson exited.
“Why is he doing this?” she asked, still in a daze. What did it mean?
“It seems my son is awakening,” Lady Harriet said.
“But he still has not written to me.”
The dowager duchess walked over to her, and clasped Adel’s hands. “I never thought you were the one to sit and wait. You, my dear, are very decisive and bold, traits m
y son admires. Go to him.”
Adeline smiled and rushed from the drawing room. Hope was stirring in her breast, and she did nothing to suppress it. Was this Edmond showing her he wanted her with him? She’d already realized she loved him, and now she had to know if he loved her and was willing to fight for their family, despite his fears. For if he didn’t, she would walk away forever.
…
A noise alerted Edmond, and he glanced up. Adeline stood at the entrance of the nursery, perfectly still, looking at him. She was dressed in a dark green gown that flowed gently over her rounded stomach. He swallowed. Her stomach was much higher, and more rounded than how Maryann had been when she was sixteen weeks pregnant. “Adeline, I…” His mouth was suddenly dry.
Hell, he had practiced his apology for days, and now that he was face to face with his duchess, words deserted him. He stared at her face which stared back coldly aloof. It was an expression he had never seen her display before and it chilled him. “You came back,” he said, at loss for any other words.
“Yes.”
His heart lurched. The distance in her tone was inescapable.
“I see.”
He placed the lion he had been carving on the carpet. What the hell was he to say? He had always been a man of few words, and frustratingly, now the few words he needed had deserted him. All he could think of was how radiant and beautiful she appeared. “I can’t work. I can’t think. I can’t sleep.” The words slipped from him, as if from their own volition.
“And what does that have to do with me?”
He distantly became aware of a few servants lingering in the hallway, including the housekeeper and the butler. Didn’t they have duties to attend? Though they did not look directly at him, he could feel their keen attention to his conversation with his duchess.
“I have been an unmitigated fool.”
She inclined her head with icy civility. “That you have been, Your Grace.” There was no give in her tone, she simply agreed with him, noticing his existence in passing, with what appeared to be mild curiosity, as she might give an unusual insect found in the gardens.
