Portia sighed. Then, she gently reminded her sister, “You are in a marriage of convenience. The sooner you accept this reality that you are within the bounds of a ducal contract, the safer your heart will be from pain and disappointment.”
Before Madeline could defend her plans further, bounding footsteps interrupted her. Two small figures stormed into the drawing room like tiny but powerful storms. Any quiet the sisters hoped for was completely gone.
“Aunt Maddy!” Alexander cried, sliding across the polished floorboards before jumping onto the rug. “Monsieur Piotr is not too happy with my performance. I told him that the cold is making my fingers stiff!”
“It is not the cold that is making your fingers stiff!” Emily complained. She looked perfect, hair and ribbons intact, except for a smudge of mud on the hem of her dress. “You were too excited from trying to catch some frogs by the pond.”
Madeline rose and knelt to their level, smiling at the two. She could not help it. Even though the two were certainly troublesome, they managed to make her genuinely smile. She reached to smooth Alex’s unruly collar. An idea formed in her head.
Perhaps the children knew about their uncle’s fears better?
“Alexander and Emily,” she began, lowering her voice as if she were about to share an incredible secret. “I require your expertise on an important matter. A very important andsecretmatter.”
“Oh?” Alexander’s eyes widened with excitement as he shuffled his feet.“Will we be like spies? Or perhaps magicians and captains or—”
“Precisely,” Madeline interrupted. The boy did not look offended that his idea was brought to a halt. “Do you know what your uncle is afraid of?”
The children were quiet. They blinked in unison, as if enchanted or simply completely bewildered.
“Uncle Kenneth is not afraid of anything,” Alexander declared, puffing out his chest. “He is a duke. People are afraid ofhim.”
“Mm.” Emily looked deep in thought, an index finger pointing at her little chin. “If Uncle Kenneth is afraid of anything at all, it is a messy room.”
“Ha.” Portia grinned triumphantly.
“Any kind of mess,” Alexander agreed. “Yesterday, when I left some of my charcoal drawings in the library, he looked at me oddly!”
“You drew on the table, too, Alex!” Emily reminded him. “Also, that does not sound like Uncle was afraid. He was probably just passing by.”
“Spiders!” Alexander blurted, jumping up and down, making Madeline slightly dizzy. Her knees shook as she rose from her kneeling position. “No! Ghosts! I think anyone should be afraid of ghosts, don’t you think, Aunt Maddy?”
“Somehow, that sounds more like me than your uncle,” Madeline admitted wryly. “Those are interesting answers, children. I will keep them in mind. A messy room. Spiders. And... ghosts! Thank you, my darlings.”
Portia caught her eye as if to tell her, “I told you so.”
The afternoon turned into evening, and shadows stretched across the hallways of Huntington House. Madeline’s imagination ran wild, but she only uncovered more of her fears, not Kenneth’s. His fears remained a mystery to her.
And I still have come up with nothing.
By midnight, suffocating silence had settled over the house. Of course, the children had long been asleep, exhausted from their daily adventures. The fire in the hearth of Madeline’s bedroom flickered low. Her heart pounded in her chest.
In her bed, she was depressed in a thin nightgown, her hair tumbling over her shoulders. The strands were now chaotic from her tossing and turning. Her pulse was racing, and with it, she was reminded of the times she had been ill. She was slightly warm, but that was from her restlessness.
Her hand reached for the bell pull. She remembered her family’s concerns about her desire for love within a cold, arranged marriage.
Am I truly going to do this? Am I going to go this far?
Doubt washed over her. What would Kenneth do if he realized that she had been lying to him? The situation between them might become worse.
However, a sense of determination washed over her as she remembered the cold indifference in his eyes. She needed to see through his cracks. She needed to know whether she would have to live like this forever.
After a sharp exhale, Madeline pulled the cord. Not long after she sounded her call, Gertie knocked softly and then entered her room.
“Your Grace? Do you require anything? Are you well?”
Madeline was never in the habit of just calling Gertie for everything. The young maid usually came when she was needed for dressing, and that was all.
The Duchess groaned aloud, hoping that she would sound ill and not petulant. She threw an arm across her forehead and began breathing through her mouth.
