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“Lionel, tell me. How can you be so sure that I am your son?”
Lionel’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “Your mother confessed to me that she refused the duke only after the first few weeks of their marriage. That is part of the reason we drew together, seeking each other’s company.”
“Do you suppose that is why he hated me and my mother so?”
Lionel nodded sadly. “Yes, Michael. He did find out once your mother started showing. She could not hide it from him. He took out his anger at being betrayed on both of you, growing more and more violent the older you became.”
“Why did he or my mother never tell me?”
“Being illegitimate is a terribly unfortunate life. We all wanted you to inherit Marigold. My brother knew he would not and could not sire another child with your mother by the way he treated her. He would not embarrass himself to admit that you were not his. So, we all raised you under the guise that you would be duke one day.”
“You know what the ironic thing is?” Michael asked.
“What’s that?”
“If Joseph had known and exposed me, he would have been the rightful duke all along. He didn’t need to try to murder me. Though, I suppose that by being illegitimate I would not have been able to marry Lydia.”
He smiled fondly at Lydia, who still sat very closely to her mother.
“Do you still want to accept me as your husband?” he asked. “We have not yet consummated the marriage. You could have the marriage annulled and save yourself the embarrassment of being married to me.”
“No!” she cried, rushing to him. “Michael, I love you. You are the man I chose to marry.”
He stood, crushing her to him.
“You see, and all along, you said that you did not want to become the man that your father was,” she rushed, hugging him tightly. “And all along, he was not truly your father! What if you had gone through life, denying yourself the opportunity to marry and have a family?”
“You are right,” he sighed. “It was a silly vow, promised to a man that did not deserve it. I should not have tried to avoid his legacy so, which only made me resent him more. In truth, he was a bitter old man who hardly deserved the pity.”
“You make an excellent point though about marrying my niece,” Francis pointed out. “If you are exposed as illegitimate, Lydia and her sisters would be ruined. She could do far better socially than to marry you.”
Michael glared at him over Lydia’s head, too tired to be outraged by Francis’s comments. Lydia looked back at Francis angrily as well.
“Uncle, you have truly shown your true colors these past two days as well!” she cried. “You have threatened to throw my family from your house, blackmailed by husband. You do nothing unless driven by your own greed. Worse, you have tried to coerce my own mother into marrying you by threatening our destitution.”
“Come now,” Francis argued, looking taken aback. “I have not been so bad as all of that.”
Martha looked at him slyly. “Yes, Francis, you have. I suggest you think carefully how you might treat your niece from now on, considering she is married to a duke, regardless of his parentage.”
“I think we should all endeavor to keep this our family secret,” Lionel assured Michael. Lionel looked to Lydia’s sisters, then to Kitty. “Girls?”
“I would do nothing to compromise my own upcoming marriage,” Trinity assured him. She looked to Lydia. “You have gone through so much to help secure advantageous marriages for us. We would be daft to ruin anything now.”
“I will need to speak to Mr. Weller and the marquess soon,” Michael sighed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Ensure they have not heard of all this scandal and wish to back out of any marriages.”
“We would gratefully appreciate that,” Trinity assured him.
Michael turned back to Lydia. “Well, this is not what I had imagined for our wedding night.”
“Though, you must admit, it will make for quite the story for us to remember, many years from now.”
“I think what I might remember most is how tired and in pain I was,” he laughed, rubbing his head.
Lydia knelt by his chair, touching the red stains on his shirt. “Are you sure you were not hurt?”
“This is wine, my dear,” he laughed. “No, the only thing that is injured is my head, from where Joseph knocked me out the first time. I suppose I will have a headache for many days to come.”
She clutched his arm tightly, watching him with fearful eyes. Tears welled in them again. He cupped her cheek, tenderly stroking her soft skin. He stood slowly and took her into his arms.
