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Gabriel couldn’t for the life of him imagine why his mother believed that anything would be different after his grandfather’s death or even the death of his own father. In fact, both deaths only seemed to have made the gossip surrounding their family worse, and it was only for his mother’s sake that he even bothered to retain his English titles. He was certain that she would never forgive him if he tried to give up that which had been afforded to him thanks to his father.
“I am glad to hear it, my lord.” Peters smiled and dipped his head before he added, “The dowager Lady Sutthers awaits you in the parlour, my lord.”
Gabriel cringed at that. Though he loved his mother, ever since his appointment as earl, she had become quite intolerable with her constant need to ensure he was doing everything directly by the book.
“Thank you, Peters.”
Sucking in a deep breath, Gabriel straightened his jacket and waistcoat and quickly ran his fingers through his hair, unwilling to give his mother one more thing to chastise him for as though he were still a child. Such things had only increased since his becoming earl as though no matter what he did he was always doing something wrong, not combing his hair enough or allowing his buttons to become askew.
Though he knew why his mother was so adamant to keep him looking and behaving his best, he often struggled to stop himself from snapping at her that he was no longer a child to be coddled.
Seeing himself through to the parlour, he found his mother just as he had expected to. She was sitting beside the fireplace with a dozen or so letters and envelopes both in her hands and strewn upon her lap.
Upon his entering, she quickly picked them all up and pushed herself to her feet to give him a dip of her head.
“Gabriel, you startled me,” she exclaimed and for a moment the surprise left her looking more like her old self, the younger and more beautiful Italian woman who had not been so weighed down by her worries of what others might think of her and her family. But that woman was quickly gone again as soon as she had righted herself and the moment that Peters stepped in behind Gabriel, she said, “Peters, perhaps you will fetch us some tea?”
“That won’t be…” Gabriel began to protest, but Peters had already accepted the request and was on his way out of the room. With gritted teeth, Gabriel watched him go and then turned back to his mother and added, “I cannot stay long, Mama, I have business to attend to.”
Though there wasn’t really much of any great importance upon his list that day he had long since learned not to appear to idle in his mother’s eyes, knowing that she would all too easily find him something to do and it would likely be something uncomfortable or downright brain-numbing.
“Yes, yes, darling, I’m certain that you have much to keep you busy but please come and sit with me,” Lady Sutthers insisted, moving to the nearest couch so that she could tap the seat beside her for him to join her. “I wish to know how your morning went.”
The letters still clamped in her grasp suggested to Gabriel that there was more to what she wished to discuss than that. All too many times he had fallen into such a trap and yet he could not help but sigh and do as she bid him, knowing that she would only make things more difficult.She does so much for this family;he reminded himself.
Those very words having come from his father whenever he or his brother were trying to go against their mother’s wishes. Now, without his father to do so, he found himself reciting the words in his own head, merely out of habit.
“It went well,” Gabriel admitted, sitting down beside his mother. “I had some business in town and then a little free time to visit one of the local bookstores.”
His mother’s raven eyebrow rose at that, and she shook her head. With an edge to her voice, she said, “Darling, if you wished for new books, we could have sent one of the servants. You need not waste your time.”
“It was never a waste in Italy. Why should it be here?” Gabriel pointed out through gritted teeth. Everything had changed since they had left Italy and not for the good.
“That was before,” his mother reminded him. “We weren’t nearly so important then. What if someone saw you idling away in a bookstore? Imagine the rumours.”
Gabriel had to bite his tongue in order to stop himself from snapping something he might regret. He was certain that there were far worse things the English could come up with to spread about him, his brother, and their lowly mother. Especially now that his father was not around to protect them all. Though he was an adult now and an earl, he still sometimes felt as though he were a fish out of water.
He was saved from having to say anything by Peters returning with a tray containing a teapot and two cups. “I took the liberty of adding some biscuits, freshly made, my lady,” the butler explained with a dip of his head as he placed the tray upon the table in front of them.
“Thank you, Peters, very kind indeed,” the lady said with a smile and Gabriel couldn’t help but notice, not for the first time, just how much his mother was beginning to sound like a proper English lady. Though she would never look like one with her raven black hair and her darker olive skin, she was definitely always trying to fit in as best as she could.
Gabriel longed for the days when she had spoken a mixture of English and Italian, determined that her boys should know the languages of both their parents. Nowadays, Gabriel couldn’t remember the last time he had heard her speak in her native tongue, and it sickened him.
His mother waited until the butler had poured them both tea and removed himself to the edge of the room before she picked up her teacup and took a sip. Then she said, “Darling, we have received several invitations today for dinners and balls over the next couple of weeks.”
There it is.Gabriel groaned inwardly, knowing that there had been some more sinister reasoning for his mother wanting his company. He had known it all along, just looking at the letters she held onto.
Desperately, Gabriel wished he was back at the bookstore, speaking with the mysterious and beautiful brunette who had been the only woman to actually gain his true attention since his arrival in England. He closed his eyes, sucking in a deep breath to keep his calm when replying to his mother, and all he could see was the young woman’s smiling face and her transcendent blue eyes.
“I am certain that the invitations are for you, Mother,” Gabriel said, finally opening his eyes once more. He would have liked to keep them closed, to pretend that he was still in the bookstore and not facing the thought of yet another night of boredom at some noble or another’s being forced to prance about and act the fool that everyone expected him to be as an earl. Back in Italy, he had thought the noblemen foolish and pompous, but it appeared that in England they were even worse.
“That is nonsense, Gabriel,” Lady Sutthers protested. “You are the head of this household. It is your duty to show your face at all public gatherings.”
Gabriel’s stomach churned at his mother’s words, and his heart sank into his gut. There was a time when she would have said the same thing about his being the eldest son and yet somehow now it felt far worse than it ever had then. Just the thought of his father not having been there to take the lead role made him still feel quite ill, even though it had been months since his passing.
“And as the head of this household, I have every right to refuse an invitation or even to send someone else in my place,” Gabriel pointed out and he found that even with the sweetness of the tea, he could not bear the thought of being in his mother’s presence for a moment longer. Placing his teacup on the tray in front of him, he pushed himself to his feet and prepared to leave.
“Gabriel, please, certain things are expected of us now,” his mother insisted, her voice quite distressed and her dark brown eyes practically pleading with him to listen to her. Yet with every time that he did, he found himself growing more and more frustrated with the way of things.
