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“They’re my little sisters. Of course I am.”
“Even though Regina is only a year younger than you?”
Ellie shrugged. “Force of habit.”
“I’ve noticed. You’re always looking after everyone and you forget about yourself.” Her father frowned. “Is there something else going on? You’re upset about something, Ellie.”
Ellie wished he wasn’t so astute, but she didn’t want to go into it. How embarrassing for her that she had been humiliated by her own husband.
But have you? Or have you humiliated yourself?
“I’ve just had a tough few days, that’s all.” That was partly true. Ellie managed a smile. “I missed you, and I wanted to see how you were. So, when my husband suggested that I should take a few days to myself when things got a bit overwhelming, I thought about you.”
“I’m flattered.” Her father didn’t look quite convinced, but he didn’t push it further. He sighed. “I wish I could have gone to the wedding, but my doctor had me convalescing on the Isle of Wight. He said it was for my own good to get away and have a change in scenery. I asked why I couldn't do that going to your wedding, but he was adamant.”
“I understand, Father. Your health comes first.” Ellie looked him up and down. “And it looks to have done you some good. I haven’t seen you upright and walking like this in a while.”
“I’m not as strong as I used to be, but things are much better.” Gillingham smiled. “And seeing you here has made me feel better. While I wish you could have warned me you were coming, I’m pleased that you’re here.”
“So am I, Father.”
Gillingham put an arm around her, and they walked back to the house. “Why don’t you go inside and rest? I haven’t got anything to do today, so you have all the time in the world to recover from your journey.”
“You’re looking after me now?” Ellie couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m always the one telling you to rest.”
“I’m the parent, and you’re the child. It should always be this way.” Gillingham squeezed her shoulders. “Once you’ve rested, you can talk to me. And you can tell me anything, can’t you?”
Ellie knew that. She just didn’t know how she was going to tell her father about what had happened over the last couple of days.
#
“You need to take a deep breath, Derrick,” Lady Northampton warned, eyeing the cane in Derrick’s hands. “You’re going to snap it in half if you grip it any tighter.”
Derrick hadn’t noticed that he was holding onto his cane that hard. Now his knuckles were beginning to hurt, and his palms were throbbing through his gloves. He relaxed his hands and flexed his fingers.
“I suppose I was imagining my hands wrapping around a certain someone’s neck,” he muttered. “The imagery was pretty good.”
“Violence isn’t going to solve anything, is it?”
“You think?”
Lady Northampton frowned. “Much as I would love to slap the stupid girl for her behaviour, it’s not going to help. We’re just going to her to talk, and then we’ll be gone. That’s it.”
“And you think confronting her is going to work?”
“Doing it in person rather than in a letter, and with a witness, means that she can’t try and twist it to anything else.”
“She could say we bullied her, Mother,” Derrick pointed out.
The dowager countess snorted rudely. “She’s not going to try that with me. I’ll let her know what it feels like to be bullied.”
Derrick hadn’t expected his mother to be so incensed about this when he told her. Lady Northampton was normally calm about things like this. She should have been giving him a clear and concise picture of how to progress with this mess. But she was angrier than Derrick was, and it had taken a moment more than he anticipated to get her to calm down. It was a little bewildering that his mother would be so furious about this.
Then again, he had seen the way the two women interacted, and how Lady Northampton behaved around Ellie. She was impressed with his wife, and from the way she was acting now, it was becoming clear that she had a soft spot for her daughter-in-law. Derrick was relieved about that; his mother had been unimpressed in the beginning, but Ellie had gotten through her defences.
That made things a little better, though not by much. Derrick had to deal with the issue at hand before he went after his wife. Hopefully, he would be able to get past the Earl of Gillingham to speak to his daughter. While he was not a well man, he would be protective of his eldest child.
They just had to get this problem sorted now. Otherwise, Catherine was going to carry on and get between them for her own sick amusement.
