AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Lady Verity Eagleman, as the daughter of a duke of Everely, will come with a vast dowry. I shall assume it is at the very least forty thousand pounds, if not much greater—”
“And why would that matter to me?” I snapped.
“I plan to leave you a sum of fifty thousand pounds—”
I laughed. He had gone mad. Perhaps he was ill after all. “Fifty thousand pounds, and this home? What next? A dozen horses? A golden carriage? For what do I need such finery? Am I so pitiful to you that you believe me in need of such great charity? I did not ask for any of this!”
“You did not ask to be a bastard either, yet you accept that as your life!” he hollered at me.
“For that is something that cannot be changed, thanks to you,” I countered, and immediately upon seeing his expression, I sought to calm myself. “I do not wish to blame you for things of the past. We are far from that now. I do not hold you in contempt, so you need not seek to make amends in such—”
“You think I do this to earn your forgiveness?” He chuckled. “You believe this to be motivated by guilt?”
“Do you deny it?”
“I do. Theodore, I do this for you because you are my son. Whatever the world wishes to brand you is their concern. Mine is your well-being. I am deeply sorry for the struggles you have had in life, for the struggles you will always have in life due to my failures, but that does not change the care I have for you. As I have sought to bring order to your life, I have also sought to do the same with Alexander. For it is the duty of a man to see to his family, to his children. Did you truly think I would leave you in the world empty-handed?”
I took a deep breath. “Thank you for your care, but I do not need this much—”
“You think it is for you alone?” he interrupted. “Shall you not wed? Have children of your own? Do you think you shall be able to maintain a woman such as Lady Verity in your little inn?”
“I cannot have her! Or any lady for that matter.”
“You would not have sought to escape here had you not already established some sort of relationship with her.”
“I—It…” I fumbled over my words. Dammit!
“And so she reciprocates your feelings?”
“What does that matter? I cannot marry her.”
“Have you tried?”
“Why are you torturing me in this manner? You know as well as I that no nobleman, most definitely not her brother, would allow me her hand.”
“So you did not try,” he said softly. “You assumed and accepted defeat and ran, just as your mother and I did.”
“What?”
He inhaled through his nose and shook his head. “The mistake your mother and I made was not fighting harder. She feared going up against a great lord, feared what trouble it would cause her family and me, so she ran. And I did not follow. Despite the love we held for each other, we did not dare to fight to the end. And it came at great cost to us all. I regret it. Many times, I have wanted to go back and change my course. But I cannot, so I am now the best man I can be for the family I have. I do not wish you to make the same mistake.”
I hung my head. “It was different for you. You were to be a marquess—”
“If you fight despite your situation, what is the worst that will happen? Suitors are free to seek a lady’s hand. You commit no crime.” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “If her family rejects you, work to change their mind. Show them your worth, of which you have a great deal.”
Clearly not. “Is that why you sought to leave me such a fortune and house?”
“I would have left them regardless of whom you chose to marry.” He smiled. “Go inside, look around, and imagine the life you could live here. See it truly, and then go fight for it. I promise you that whatever the outcome, you will not regret it more than never fighting at all.”
He left me, and I stared up at the house for several minutes before finally climbing down from the horse and tying it out front. The first thing that filled my nose as I walked up the path was the scent of roses. Bending, I reached out to touch the petals, when I heard her voice.
They will need a great deal of care, but is that not the case for all things? Verity appeared beside me, leaning in to smell them. I knew she was not really there, but I imagined her to be, and it made me smile.
