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Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Mother, if there is something you need to speak with me about, can it wait until another time? I must be heading out.”
“No, it cannot wait.” To prove her point, the Dowager Duchess laid her hand on his chest and gently forced him to step back, allowing her to enter the study and close the door behind her. Shock was the only thing keeping him there as he stared at his mother.
A cold feeling washed over him. “Did something happen?”
“Nothing you are thinking about,” she said. She was calm, folding her hands before her as she regarded him. “I simply overheard your conversation with that man just now.”
“You were eavesdropping?”
“And it was fully intentional once I saw a commoner enter my manor. I knew it had something to do with that Lady Belle you are so concerned about.”
“If you know very well why he was here, then why do you insist on stopping me?”
“Because you need to think about your future, Stephen. Our future. It is time you forget about her.”
Stephen held back his groan of frustration. His mother still stood before the doorway, so he couldn’t very well stalk out without hearing what she had to say first.
“A marriage to the Dowager Duchess of Fernridge is the best option for our future, Stephen,” his mother said. “I cannot stress that enough. It is time you begin thinking about your title and what it means for the actions you take.”
“Mother, I think it is time you start thinking about your son’s feelings.” He forged on, not letting the wince of shock on her face deter him. “I do not love the Dowager Duchess. I have not loved her for a very long time. My heart belongs with someone else, so please, Mother. Step aside and allow me to do as I wish.”
The Dowager Duchess only laughed mirthlessly, making Stephen’s frown deepen. “You are a fool if you believe love is the answer to everything, Stephen. Love will not keep in this manor nor will it give you the respect you deserve as the Duke of Dunleer.”
Stephen stepped away from her, shock rushing through him. His mother’s cold dismissal was the very last thing he expected to hear. After everything she’d been through with his father, he would have expected her to be more lenient regarding matters of the heart, even if she had been painfully stubborn thus far.
Father’s betrayal must have hurt her more than I first thought.“Mother...I understand why you must feel that way, considering how Father distanced himself so long ago. But that doesn’t mean—”
She let out another laugh that cut his words short. “You truly know nothing at all, do you, Stephen?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I never loved your Father, Stephen. He was only my partner in an arranged marriage that my Father put together in order to help our dire financial situation at the time. I have never felt a smidgen of love for him and he distanced himself because he was the fool who fell for me.”
“But...”
She scoffed. “Love was the very last thing I wanted from him. Our marriage served only one purpose and after I provided him the heir he needed, there was no longer any reason to be in his company. Meanwhile, he had foolishly thought that I had fallen in love with him.”
Stephen could hardly believe what he was hearing. All this time, he thought his mother had loved the late Duke, that she had turned to shopping and the company of others to forget about the late Duke’s affair. And that had all been a lie? How many more would he have to endure today?
“I can tell by the look on your face that you thought very differently,” his mother said in a casual tone. “Do you remember that day you confront your Father regarding the affair he had?”
Stephen couldn’t answer. A day did not go by without recalling that incident, the anger he had felt and the way he had stormed out without giving his father the chance to defend himself. Now, for the first time, he had to ask himself—should I have given him a chance to respond?
“I remember,” his mother went on. “You were so angry that day and, like now, I had been eavesdropping on your conversation. I nearly felt wrong for keeping the truth from you, but then you discovered what the Dowager Duchess did and you were so distraught that I thought it best to keep the truth from you for now. I suppose it was wrong of me to have you believe such things all this time.”
Stephen couldn’t bring himself to speak. He simply stood there, gaping at his mother as everything he knew fell down around him.
“I was the one who had an affair first, Stephen,” her mother, driving another knife into his heart. “It was with an artist, someone I met during one of my trips to France. He was quite...well, I suppose there is no use going into detail about him but let me end by saying that it was the closest I’ve ever come to being in love. Though, I did end it after I grew bored with him.”
“Mother...what are you saying?”
“I’m saying, Stephen, that your ideas of love have no place in this world. Look at what it did to your Father. After he found out about my affair, he felt betrayed and he began going on those long business trips to come to terms with it. That was what caused him to become so distant with us. Imagine if he had not fallen in love with me in the first place. Imagine if he had remembered that it was an arranged marriage and there was no need for love once we gave each other what we needed. I gave him his heir, and he was to make sure that my life was comfortable. An easy trade between nobles.”
“That is what you want to happen between Serena and I?” he asked, dazed. Stephen didn’t know how he was managing to stay on his feet.
“That is your role as the Duke of Dunleer, Stephen. Can you not see that?”’
