The carriage pulled up to Hartfell in the late afternoon, and Rhys barely had time to step down before he was tackled by a small, mud-splattered figure who had apparently been lying in wait.
“Papa!” Thistle’s arms wrapped around his legs with the particular ferocity she applied to everything.
“You’re back! I have seventeen new specimens to show you, and Caesar learned to climb the curtains, and Miss Grace says I cannot bring the hedgehog inside but I think if you talk to her…”
“Thistle.” Anna’s voice cut through her sister’s enthusiasm with practiced efficiency.
“Papa has just arrived. Perhaps we should allow him to enter the house before presenting him with requests.”
“But the hedgehog…”
“Can wait.”
Rhys looked up from Thistle’s enthusiastic greeting to find Anna standing on the front steps, her posture straight and herexpression carefully composed. Beside her, Viola watched with those quiet, observant eyes that reminded him so much of Celeste.
And behind them, in the doorway, stood Mel.
She looked exactly as he remembered: steady, composed, her grey dress practical and her hair pinned back in its usual arrangement. But there was something different in her expression, something that might have been relief or concern or some complicated mixture of both.
“Your Grace.” Her voice was carefully neutral.
“Welcome home.”
He disentangled himself from Thistle and climbed the steps, stopping in front of her but maintaining the careful distance that propriety demanded.
“You’ve heard,” he said.
“Lady Serena’s letter arrived two days ago. She was quite thorough in her explanation.”
“And?”
Mel studied him without blinking, her expression unreadable. Then, slowly, she reached out and took his hand.
“Come inside,” she said. “We have things to discuss.”
***
The conversation took place in the study, after the children had been settled with Mrs. Kemp and promises extracted that Papa would read bedtime stories later. Rhys sat in his usual chair while Mel stood by the window, looking out at the garden that had witnessed so much of their history together.
“Tell me what happened,” she said. “Lady Serena’s letter contained the facts, but I want to hear it from you.”
He told her. He described Arthur’s confrontation, his own response, the silence that had followed his declaration. He explained the aftermath: the letters of support and condemnation, the gossip sheets, the social fallout that was still unfolding.
“I didn’t plan it,” he said finally.
“I didn’t wake up that morning intending to expose everything. But when he asked me, when he used that word, I couldn’t… I wouldn’t let him make me ashamed of them.”
“The word wasillegitimate.”
“Yes.”
Mel was quiet for a moment, her gaze fixed on something beyond the window.
“My father was cruel once and called me his destruction, his burden,” she said. “When I was twelve, before he left. He was arguing with my mother about finances and he said that I was just another mouth to feed, another burden he hadn’t asked for.”She paused. “He didn’t mean it the way Arthur meant it. But words have weight, regardless of intention.”
“Mel…”
“I’m not telling you this for sympathy. I’m telling you because I understand what you did today. I understand what it cost you and what it meant.” She turned from the window to face him.
