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“Have you ever thought about remarrying, yourself?” Edwina asked solemnly. “I know you loved Mama, but you are a Baron now, and you have no heir. You would not be so alone.”
“If you can find me a woman nearer to my age, unmarried, and able to produce said heir, then perhaps I must consider my duty, but I have no need of a wife,” he told her, trying to laugh. “I do miss your mother, often, in fact.”
“You loved her very much?”
“Of course, I did,” he assured her. “There is not a day that passes that I do not miss her.”
Growing quieter, Edwina asked him, “Did you always love her? Or did it come with time?”
“I have told you how I met your mother, have I not?” he asked, wiping biscuit crumbs from his waistcoat.
“You came to her father’s office having burnt your hand,” Edwina recalled.
Father got misty-eyed. “Yes, her father was a surgeon, and she helped him in his shop. Her father was busy with a much more complicated surgery, so she helped me dress my burns. I was smitten from first sight. I thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. You look a lot like her, you know.”
“The blonde hair,” Edwina mused.
“Yes, and her hazel eyes and the adorable button nose,” he laughed, tapping Edwina on the nose. “Honestly, I think you look nothing like me.”
“I look a lot like you,” Edwina protested. “You cannot pass me off as anyone else’s child.”
“I know; I know,” he laughed. “Anyways, she laughed at me, a lot. I was clumsy, then, too, hence burning my hands in the shop. I asked if I could call on her, and she said yes, much to my surprise. I did not think myself terribly handsome, nor did I have a considerable income, but I was sure that I could make her comfortable.”
“Did she love you?”
“I like to think so, and she told me she did often enough. But I do believe I loved her more. How could I not? She was perfect and beautiful, and she was everything to me until she gave me you.” Looking down at her hands, Edwina fell silent.
“But this is not really about me and your mother, is it?” Father asked with a sigh. “This is about you and the Duke.”
“I want to think I could love him, someday, and that he could love me.”
“I hope you can too,” he said wistfully. “But I cannot help but feel –”
She shook her head. “You do not have to say it. Our circumstances are such that no one should expect us to ever love each other. I just hope that we can at least find a certain sort of friendship. But he barely talks to me, Papa. I do not know what to do.”
“Just give him time,” Father said, gently stroking her cheek. “You are so kind and determined. You have always taken care of me. His Grace surely cannot help but come to care for you, even if he does not yet.”
“Thank you,” Edwina told him with a smile.
“And if he hurts you in any way,” Father continued sternly, “I will take care of him myself!” She could not help but laugh at her father’s bluster, knowing that he could never fall prey to violence, even on her behalf.
“You think I jest!” he argued. “I will purchase a pair of pistols at once, just in case. You just send word from Hillow House that you need me, and I will be there at once.”
Reaching over to squeeze his hand again, she told him, “Thank you, Papa. But I promise you, I am all right. I will find happiness with the Duke somehow.”
“Please tell me that you have put aside that terrible notion to make him sorry for marrying you,” Father pleaded. “You are not provoking him, are you?”
Edwina blushed. “A little.”
“Edwina,” Papa breathed. “Playing pranks and tricks is not the way for you to secure your happiness with His Grace. If you need something from him or want something from him, tell him plainly. I know I was terrible at guessing what your mother wanted until she told me bluntly, and even then, I second-guessed myself.”
“Really, I did not do anything bad.”
“Just, do not play games like the other girls in society might do. You are better than them.”
“I shall try,” Edwina promised him. “What would you suggest I do?”
“I do not know the details, and I do not need to. I would just suggest, my dear, just keep trying to get to know him. Keep trying to be gentle and kind with him.”
She only nodded. “I shall try.”
