AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I had not expected that. “But Archie’s name.”
“Yes, well, I couldn’t very well give him his father’s name.” She looked at her fingernails, then back at me. “Mr. Danvers was created years ago when I was struggling to find a way to keep other men at bay, to explain why I was unavailable. I met your father when I worked for a reputable faro club, and it was very nearly love right away, but he could not marry me because of my station.”
“And because of my mother,” I said.
She gave me a soft smile. “He did not yet know your mother.”
The wind swept from my lungs, and I tightened my hands into fists on my lap. If she meant to imply that my father had been with her first . . . that he had carried on a relationship with her for decades, not even fathering her child until nine years ago . . . I swallowed hard and shook my head. “That cannot be true. My father loved my mother. He did not . . . he was not unfaithful to her in the beginning of her marriage.”
“Of course he loved your mother,” Mrs. Danvers said kindly. “He was a man with a full heart, and he loved many women.”
Two women, if she was correct. But, of course, there were the others, too. The women he would sneak away with after balls or parties. He had not only been unfaithful to my mother, it would seem. But Mrs. Danvers seemed perfectly aware of that, if her response was any indication.He loved many women.Repulsion thickened my throat, making it difficult to swallow.
“How long did you . . .” I could not finish my question, but thankfully, she seemed to understand me.
“I never stopped loving your father, and despite his frequent responsibilities abroad, he never stopped loving me. He provided enough to remove me from the faro house and set me up in a little apartment in Cheapside.”
That was a great expense that he needn’t have gone to. Surely living on the Continent removed such a necessity, unless helping Mrs. Danvers was something he had wished to do of his own volition. “When I learned Archie was only a boy, I assumed your liaison was of a shorter nature.”
She tilted her head a little, a mist present in her gaze. “There were other babies before, but I lost them. Archie was the first to be born healthy and strong, and I cherish him with all that I am.”
It was evident in the way she spoke of her son that she was a doting mother and a kind soul. I wished I could like her, and I thought in any other capacity I would, but given her relationship with my family, I did not know if I would ever be able to find myself on pleasant footing with this woman.
I did not need a relationship with her, though. I only desired to have one with her son. “You will allow Archie to come to me, then? Perhaps for a few weeks in the summer. He is the only family I have, and I would like to know him better.”
She was hesitant for only a moment. “Your father would have liked this.”
Anger flew through me, but I tempered it with even breaths. My impulse to defend my mother’s honor was strong, to reject anything that would have hurt her, but she was no more faithful than Father, so my defenses fell like sand on my tongue.
Mother had also hidden the will that would have supplied Archie with his inheritance six years ago, so she certainly did not need to be spoken of in this house.
“Can I ask what you have done since my father’s death? If he provided for you, then . . .”
Mrs. Danvers shrugged. “We did what we needed to do. We’ve never been too hungry, if that is your fear. My brother took Archie on as a scholarship student before we could afford to pay.”
The image of Archie, thin and hungry, had haunted me momentarily, but I allowed her to put my mind at ease.
I stood, having reached my limit for the moment. I was still reeling from the revelation that Mrs. Danvers had been with my father longer than he had known Mother. If that was the case, then I had been so wrong about . . . but no, I could not traverse that path at present.
Felicity rose beside me, silently providing her support.
“Can I ask,” I said, watching Mrs. Danvers rise, “whatever happened to your fictional Mr. Danvers?”
“He was in the navy for a good long while, which provided me with the excuse to live alone or go on long journeys without inciting any questions among my neighbors. But then, six years ago, he died, leaving Archie and me with nothing.”
I nodded, understanding. Father had been Mr. Danvers to her. He had provided the stories she supplied her friends and neighbors, and likely the letters she received as well. As my father’s name was CharlesDanielNorthcott, it was not a great stretch of imagination to discern where the Danvers name came from. Similar, yet subtly so.
We walked to the door and bade her farewell before Felicity led me to the carriage. “Will you be well?”
“Certainly,” I said with more confidence than I felt. “She did not seem to be a terrible woman.”
“No, not terrible.” Felicity sighed as the carriage rocked forward. “She seemed like a woman deeply in love.”
“I had the same impression.” A woman so deeply in love that she lived a life alone, with snatches of attention, the veritable life of a widow long before the man of her affection died. But he must have cared for her in equal measure if he had provided for her for so long and split his inheritance between me andherson. He had cared for her long before he loved my mother, and this new information took all of my carefully erected walls and crumbled them to dust.
My fear that Benedict would be as Father was, that he would alter slowly over time, was unfounded. Father had not even done that. He was never honorable to begin with.
The truth rocked me, and every defense I’d built against Benedict’s suit was now invalid. “My father was never faithful to my mother. It was not as I had imagined at all, that his willingness to flirt with other women had slowly distorted until he was an adulterer.” I bent my head and dropped my face in my hands. “Oh, the things I’ve accused Benedict of. I have been such a fool.”
