Was it possible that he had grown bored? That he was done with the children? That, for whatever reason, he had moved on to new ventures, choosing to leave these innocent souls behind?
She could not believe that, but it was getting harder to defend her husband.
“Come on.” She took Daniel’s hand. “How about a story?”
He sniffed back tears and smiled at her. “Yes, please!”
“Wonderful.” Holding his hand, she led him toward the reading area.
Seeing the two of them go, more children fell in behind, eager for one of Helena’s stories.
“What story do you want to hear?”
“I do not mind.”
She laughed. “Best pick something. Or I might choose one you do not like. Maybe a romance?—”
“No!” Daniel cried out, laughing. “Anything but that!”
“I thought you said you did not mind.”
“Not a romance, please,” he begged.
She smiled at the way he pouted, secretly glad that he had objected to her suggestion.
A romance was the last thing Helena wanted to read today, needing to keep such follies out of her mind because reading of love between star-crossed lovers, even if it was only a story, might very well break her. And she did not relish crying in front of the children.
She had not seen Sebastian for two days. Not that this was hard to do, as he had not tried to see her either.
It felt as if he was avoiding her on purpose, which she guessed to be the case. No doubt he had noticed the change in her demeanor, figuring that she was done trying to grow close to him and was happy to let this marriage play out as it should have in the first place.
It hurt to consider the fact that she had dared to believe for a moment. That he had allowed her to believe in the first place.
How could he do such a thing? Although she supposed that, based on everything she knew about him, it should not have been surprising.
As for her coming to see the children today? That was born from her boredom and need to escape the manor. She missed them, she found. She wanted to see them. And despite everything, they were blameless in this and did not deserve to suffer.
So it was that she spent the rest of the day reading to them. Daniel sat on her lap as she did, turning the pages for her, pretending that he could read even though he could not.
She wanted to stay there forever, but soon the sun began to wane in the windows, and she knew it was time to go home.
“Will you come back again soon?” Daniel asked as he followed her to the front door.
“Of course I will,” she assured.
“And His Grace?”
She hesitated, not wanting to lie. “I promise that he will.”
Daniel scrunched up his face. “Are you and… Are the two of you fighting?”
She blinked in surprise. “Why would you say that?”
“I don’t know.” He looked down at his feet. “But I have not seen you together all week. I thought maybe we had done something wrong.”
It broke Helena’s heart. She did not want to lie to the children, just as she did not want them to think that the worst might be happening. They deserved only the best, and while she was certain that Sebastian would give them that, she also could not say for sure. Not anymore.
The trip back home was a long and torturous one. She spent it thinking about Daniel and what he had said. He feared that Sebastian had abandoned them. It made no sense to her that he would do so, because he had started all of this for their sake.
