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“Mr. Lumley of Lumley’s Toy Shop is your father, Miss Perkins. Or, should I say, Miss Lumley.”
Edgar leaned forward in his chair. “Are you quite sure, Mr. Shadwell?”
Mr. Shadwell raised his thick white eyebrows. “Do I appear to be a jesting sort of fellow? Does anything about my demeanor give you the least indication that I might play pranks? I know my son is—there’s no delicate way of putting it—a sot. But I can assure you that the apple fell far, far from the tree.”
Edgar glanced at Mari. She was happy to have him there. He was such a strong, steadying presence.
She gathered her wits and took a deep breath. “Am I of legitimate birth?” Mari asked the lawyer.
“You are.”
“And my mother?”
“Deceased. I can tell you no more than that. You must ask your father, Mr. Lumley, for more particulars. I am permitted to tell you, however, that you are his sole heir. Which means,” Mr. Shadwell cleared his throat, “you are an heiress of considerable fortune.”
Blue roses danced before her eyes. Legitimate and an heiress. She raised her head. Edgar was gazing at her with a tender smile on his lips.
He rose from his seat and offered her his arm. “Shall we go to the toy shop, Miss Lumley? I believe you have a fortune to claim.”
Her head swimming, Mari said her goodbyes.
“Can it be true?” she asked Edgar as he helped her into the waiting carriage.
“We’ll soon find out.”
“A fortune,” she whispered.
A fortune... and a family.
“That’s right.” Mr. Shadwell nodded. “And you, Miss Perkins, are an heiress.”
Chapter 31
The bell tinkled as Mari and Edgar entered Lumley’s Toy Shop.
The shop clerk met them at the door and bowed. “Your Grace. Miss Perkins.”
“Are you back so soon, Your Grace?” Mr. Lumley called from the counter. “How was the seashore? Have you brought the children for another game of chess?”
Mari hesitated, holding back from entering the shop.
“Go to him,” Edgar whispered in her ear, taking her hand.
“What if... what if he doesn’t know me? What if I’m not his daughter? What if Mr. Shadwell has everything wrong.”She couldn’t bear it. This sudden, all-consuming hope ripped away.
“Go to him,” he urged. “You can do this.” He squeezed her hand and his touch gave her strength.
She walked toward the counter. “It’s just me and the duke, Mr. Lumley. We’ve just been to see a lawyer named Mr. Arthur Shadwell and he told us the most extraordinary news.”
“Mr. Shadwell, you say? The lawyer in Cheapside?” Mr. Lumley turned his face toward Mari.
Could he be her father? He must have been much older than her mother.
Edgar handed her the cloth bag and she laid it on the shop counter and extracted P.L. Rabbit. “When I was a babe, I was left at the Underwood Orphanage and Charity School in Derbyshire. This rabbit was left with me.”
Mr. Lumley’s fingers moved over the rabbit. “She’s wearing a green velvet dress.”
The tremor in his hands increased as he slid them across the counter toward Mari.
