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Rose realized how like her father Mary was, always seeing the bright side of any difficulty and so flexible and adaptable. She had been like that once.
“Actually, now that you are here, I am certain Jacob won’t mind me sharing some news.” She paused as Rose waited expectantly. “I am with child again.”
“Oh goodness, that is wonderful news,” Rose said, pulling her sister in for a hug. “Congratulations.” Mary was beaming. “Jacob must be delighted.”
“We both are. I know we should be sensible and stop at two, but the house does not feel full enough yet.”
“Sometimes being sensible is not the happiest route,” Rose said wistfully.
Mary looked at her keenly.
“What about you? Is it time to think about a family?”
“Mary!”
“What? You are not married to him anymore.”
“But I am barren! No man would ever want me.”
“You don’t know that. Maybe you were just unlucky.”
“For nine years!”
“Well, maybe the Duke was not home as much as he should have been.”
Mary made it obvious she knew about the rumors of Ambrose’s infidelity. But then, how could she not? All of London had known that he had been dallying with other women.
“Have you ever thought that maybe you are lucky?” Mary asked.
“In what way?”
“That life is giving you a second chance.”
Rose looked confused. “What can you mean?”
“Will!” Mary chided. “He has wealth now. He never married. Maybe he has been waiting for you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rose said a little too emphatically.
“What is so ridiculous about it? I have absolutely no idea what possessed you to marry the Duke. I never took you for someone to marry for status, and Ambrose was no Will.”
No, Rose thought sadly.Ambrose was no Will.
Rose so wished she could confide in her sister. She had no one else to tell how she had truly felt about her marriage, the loss of Will, the stultifying boredom of her life as a duchess. She had taken that wild, adventurous, nineteen-year-old girl and stuffed her in a box, and the twenty-nine-year-old dowager duchess sitting in front of Mary was a hollow, dull creature that could see other people living full lives without experiencing one herself.
However, if she were to explain everything, then Mary’s whole happy existence would come crashing down. She would know Rose had sacrificed herself for her, realize she had saved the house for her, understand how Jacob had risen so easily in high society, and believe she deserved none of it. Then those last nine years would be for nothing. No, she couldn’t do it. Instead, she said, “Life is not a fairytale, Mary. I am afraid Will Browning despises me. I broke his heart when I chose Ambrose. People do not come back from that.”
“Have you discussed it with him?”
“No. Of course not. But there’s no need. Especially as I have an announcement of my own.”
“Oh.” Mary sat, expectant.
“As you yourself said, my mourning period is nearly over, and as the Dowager Duchess, with the new Duke, I have had to consider my future, so I have given it a lot of thought, and I have decided….”
Rose paused. She was not sure she could even say the words.
“I have decided to marry Ernest Barrington,” she blurted out.
