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“It’s not,” she assured me. “But I know you haven’t eaten lunch, so finish that, and then we’ll discuss.”
I eyed her for a moment, but when she shot me a stern look, I did exactly as I was told and knuckled down to finish my food. I knew better than to ignore her when she looked at me like that, and I knew better than to leave food on my plate.
The woman was a dictator.
When I’d finished, I got up and cleared the plates. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Your relationship with William. He and I had some interesting chats yesterday.”
I froze. “Do we have to? I don’t even understand it myself, so I don’t know what good it is to go over old ground.”
“Yes, we do. I know you’re avoiding it because of your parents’ relationship, and—”
“No, it’s not, Granny. It’s not just that, anyway. Dad threw everything away for someone who could give him what me and Mum couldn’t—a male heir. You think marrying the future of Duke of Glenroch isn’t going to put me in the same position Mum was in? I could have four kids and they all be girls, and that won’t be good enough.”
“Sit down.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I said sit down, Grace!”
I sat down. Quickly, too.
One didn’t argue with her when she used that tone.
“William doesn’t deserve your dillydallying. He’s a nice young man, and he cares about you a great deal.” She looked at me. “Do not thrust the sins of your parents upon him.”
“Of my parents? You’re kidding, right? Dad was the one—”
“Your father isn’t the bad guy.”
I stared at Granny. “Oh, please,” I scoffed. “Don’t start defending him and his wife.”
“I’m not. I’m telling you the truth. It’s about time you found out before you let someone else’s choices ruin your life.”
“What on Earth does that mean?”
“Your father’s affairs were your mother’s idea.”
I froze.What?“Granny. How can you say that?”
“Because it’s the truth,” she replied simply. “I was there. You were not. And your father is going to hang me for telling you this, but I will not sit by and watch you make bad decisions because you only know half a story, so you sit there and be quiet while you listen to me.”
She raised her eyebrows, and I said, “Yes.”
“Your mother battled cancer when you were much younger—you were around five.”
I swallowed. I knew she’d been unwell when I’d started school, but it’d always been brushed off as something she’d get over. Obviously, she beat it that time, but I was shielded a lot from her when she was poorly.
How had I never connected those things?
“She survived it, but the treatment ruined her fertility. They tried for another baby for two years before she was told she’d never have any more children, and even if she could get pregnant, she wouldn’t be able to carry to term.”
“I never knew that,” I said softly.
“IVF wasn’t an option because of the ‘of the body’ rule that prohibits an adopted or surrogate child from inheriting a title. You were your father’s only heir, and as long as they were married, you only ever would be.”
“But I’m female.”
