AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The pale eyes, very like Rafe’s, Sam realised, were now fixed on her with a totally different quality. But then they went utterly flat. Edge might have been sent away young, but he must have absorbed certain skills at a very young age.
‘No, he was not happy. The Duke said the child’s death was ordained thanks to Edward’s disrespect to the Edgerton name.’
Sam gasped in shock.
‘He did not. He could not have said such a thing.’
The Duchess didn’t answer.
‘He said that...to Edge? To his face?’
‘Yes.’
Sam leaned forward, then sat back. She could not sit still.
‘I have never heard anything so cruel, so ignorant...so brutal. To say something like that when they had just lost their child.’
‘They?’
‘Edge and Dora. It is too cruel. They must have been devastated.’
‘Dora was not at the burial, naturally. She had been ill and was with her mother in Bath for some months. The child was very poorly that last year. He never did recover after the rheumatic fever struck him and the doctors did not give out much hope the child would live to adulthood, you see. He could hardly even crawl. So naturally they recommended Dora not expose herself to the worry of her son’s ailments given her delicate constitution. The Duke felt that, too, was a sign. He felt it best to place the child in the care of a woman on one of our lesser properties. Once that was arranged Dora’s mother would naturally have considered advising her to return to Chesham so they could begin again.’
Sam shook her head. Edge had shared only the barest bones of this tragedy and it had still been devastating. She had never realised how alone he had been in his love for his son.
‘You keep saying “naturally”,’ she said. ‘I see nothing natural about any of this other than Edge’s love for his son. Do you mean to say that for the whole year between Jacob’s illness and death Dora was coddling her nerves in Bath, being manipulated by her mother into punishing and threatening Edge, while his own father proclaimed it an act of God that a baby suffer and die? And you stood by and didn’t howl to the heavens at how wrong this was?’
The Duchess plucked at some lint on her grey wool gown. She opened her mouth to speak, but Sam could not bear another word. She stood and realised her legs were shaking.
‘I am sorry, Your Grace, but you must excuse me for a moment. I... No, I am not sorry. I am so very, very grateful to you. You will never know how much.’
She had finally succeeded in exciting an emotion other than disdain from the woman, if surprise could be considered an emotion.
‘Grateful?’
‘Yes, grateful. I did not understand how you could have given away your child, a boy of six, but it was the very best thing you could have done. Poppy and Janet loved him with all their enormous hearts, unconditionally. They helped make him the marvellous, unique man he is. Someone any natural parent would be so proud of they would likely purchase a hundred copies of his novels and force all their friends to read them, but would fight tooth and nail to protect his privacy if he so wished it. It broke their hearts when your...when their grandson died. It broke their hearts when Edge went even further away and they had to let him go and hope he would return. I saw their faces when he arrived in Qetara. That is love. And I guarantee you that they are probably even now filled with happiness at the thought that they will see him again when they reach England. That is why Edge will always turn to them when he needs to see what he is really like. Not to you.’
‘Yes. I know. And now to you. What do you call him when you wish to annoy him?’ the Duchess asked.
Sam felt very much as if she’d run off a cliff. Her breath was still choppy, her heart beating faster than a horse at a gallop, but she’d lost her ground. The Duchess wasn’t even looking at her, but over her shoulder, and with a shiver of premonition Sam turned. Edge and Rafe were standing just outside the open door. Edge was holding Rafe’s arm, whether to support him or anchor himself was unclear. Rafe was leaning on a cane and he moved forward awkwardly.
‘Yes, Sam. What do you call this lug when you wish to annoy him? I could use some leverage. Hello, Mother. I admit you have succeeded in surprising me.’
‘I dare say I have. You are not looking well, Rafael. These past two years have not dealt kindly with you. Do sit down before you fall down.’ She patted the sofa by her, but Rafe managed to ease himself into an armchair opposite her. Sam wavered and found herself pressed back down on to the sofa by Edge. He sat within reach but unreachable, his gaze on the Duchess.
‘What game were you playing just now, Mother?’
