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“Isn’t it extraordinary?” She turned to Edgar. “I’ve finally found my family.”
Edgar nodded, because that’s what she wanted him to do. Because that’s what he should do.
He should be happy for her. Thiswasextraordinary and miraculous.
She’d found the truth about her past. Except he had a bad, ungrateful feeling in his chest. A hard knot of doubt and hurt.
I thought you’d already found a family,he wanted to say.I thought you belonged with me and with the twins.
You’re all I need,she’d said. To her father.
Not to Edgar.
“How good of you to bring her here, Your Grace,” said Lumley. “She’s your governess. And you’ll be losing her.”
“Losing her,” he repeated, the hollow feeling in his chest growing stronger by the second.
Mari didn’t correct him. Didn’t tell Lumley that she was more than just his governess. She was his lover. He’d hoped she might want to become his bride.
Maybe she didn’t need him now. Didn’t want him.
Lumley and Mari were still talking. Something about how much money she would inherit and how she could live in luxury from this day forth. The toy business must be going well. His shop was one of the oldest in London.
“Why, you’re an heiress now, my dear,” said Lumley with a wide smile. “I hear heiresses are much in demand on the marriage mart these days, with all of these titled gentlemen falling on lean times. We should be able to find you a perfectly respectable husband.”
Mari laughed. “Now you’re getting ahead of yourself. I don’t want a respectable husband.”
She didn’t want a husband.
He’d never even considered it. Had he just assumed that she would want to marry him because he was a duke and she was a governess?
Edgar was disgusted by his own selfishness. He’d assumed things he shouldn’t have.
Maybe he shouldn’t even be here. This was a private family moment between Mari and her father.
“Close the shop, Tom,” called Lumley to the clerk.
“Sir?” Tom approached.
“Tom, I want you to meet my daughter... what’s your Christian name, my dear? I never asked you.”
“It’s Mari.”
“It rhymes with starry,” said Edgar, too softly for them to hear.
“It’s a very nice name,” said Lumley. “And my name is John.”
“Your daughter? I didn’t know you had a daughter,” said Tom, gaping at Mari.
“Neither did I.” Lumley smiled. “Isn’t it wonderful?”
Mari’s eyes brimmed with tears and happiness.
“I should be going back home,” said Edgar.
“Oh of course,” Mari said. “Well I’ll be back tonight to see the children and tell them the news in person.”
He nodded and drifted away quietly. Mari didn’t stop him from leaving. She’d already forgotten about him, it seemed.
