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“Very well, my lady.” She bobbed a curtsy and disappeared through the door that led to the nursery staff’s rooms.
Victoria glanced at Donella. “Would you mind checking on Joseph?”
Donella crossed to the door on the opposite side of the nursery. Carefully, she cracked it open, letting a sliver of light seep into the small room.
The bedroom’s comfortable furniture was perfectly sized for a little boy. The bed, tucked near the fireplace, was normally piled high with thick wool blankets and several pillows. Tonight, Joseph had kicked off most of the blankets and scattered most of the pillows onto the floor.
Sprawled on his stomach with one leg half off the bed, he hugged the remaining pillow to his chest. He was sound asleep and didn’t stir when Donella gently moved his leg back onto the bed and rearranged the blankets over his slight body.
Reaching down, she smoothed a hand over his thick hair. Her chest went tight with longing, and she had to resist the urge to lie down beside him and bring him into the shelter of her arms.
While she’d come to love this sweet child in such a short time, Donella now realized how foolhardy it was to grow so attached to him. Soon, she must say good-bye. She could only hope that Joseph would forget her a great deal more quickly than she would forget him.
Or forget his father.
“Everything all right?” Victoria asked softly from the door.
Donella tucked the blanket a little closer around Joseph’s shoulders.
“He’s sound asleep,” she whispered as she returned to the nursery and closed the door. “I’m sure he slept right through the, er, episode.”
“Epic disaster, you mean,” Victoria said as she gently rocked her daughter in her arms.
Donella rested a hand on Rowena’s head. The babe turned her cheek and gave her a sleepy grin, punctuated by a huge yawn. “She’s so beautiful, Victoria.”
“Why don’t you hold her?”
“But—”
The countess plunked her daughter into Donella’s arms. “Take the rocker while I tell you about the epic disaster.”
“Don’t you want to sit? You must be exhausted.”
“I’m too annoyed to be tired.”
“You seemed to calm everyone down, though.”
“It’s only an armed truce, one that’s barely holding. I haven’t seen Nick and Logan this angry with each other in a very long time.” Victoria crossed her arms and lowered her gaze, lost in thought.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” Donella said. “It’s truly none of my business.”
Victoria began pacing the long room. “I’m trying to decide where to start. It’s a complicated story.”
“I’d imagine it has something to do with the breach between Mr. Kendrick and Lord Arnprior, and his move to Canada?”
“You knew about that?”
Donella glanced at the baby in her arms. Rowena’s eyelids were at half-mast. “I do recall my uncle talking about an unfortunate series of events that befell the family, and that Lord Arnprior had essentially sent his brother away. But it was years ago, and I’d never met any of the Kendricks, so it didn’t mean much to me.”
“Nicholas did more than send Logan away. He told him that if he ever set foot on Arnprior lands again, he would kill him.”
Donella stared at her friend. “Did he actually mean it?”
Victoria looked grim. “At the time, he did.”
“I . . . I don’t know what to say.” It seemed so out of character for such a kind and just man.
“You know I’m my husband’s second wife.”
