Page 84 of Her Bear of a Duke

"Do you promise?" she sniffed.

"You came all the way to Scotland to find me. I believe that we can find a way through this. In the meantime, might you like to play with your cousins?"

Catherine nodded enthusiastically, taking the small boy's hand in hers and leaving with him.

"Is this her first time with other children?" she asked.

"Indeed," Morgan nodded, and she patted the seat beside her.

He took it, and neither one spoke. Morgan had prepared an entire speech, filled with wallowing and groveling and despair, but the sight of his wife had made him forget all of it.

"You must think me a villain," she said suddenly.

"I could never. Dorothy, I know now what has happened, and I have never felt like such a fool. I should have known, I should have seen it, but I missed it."

"You had a lot to contend with. I understand."

"You should not. You should be furious, and you should be shouting at me and expecting grand gestures and making threats."

"Perhaps, but I am not so inclined as to do that. All I want to know is what truly happened."

She smiled gently at him, and the words came easily. He told her about Lady Annabelle's plan, and how terrified he had been when she disappeared, only to be crushed when he learned that she was seeking an annulment.

"An annulment?" she echoed. "I did not tell her that. She told me that I ought to, and I did consider it, but I never told her that."

The fact that she truly had thought to end their marriage killed him, but he had to press on.

"She showed me a letter. She claimed you had left it for Catherine."

"I would never say such things to a child, though I suppose that has been called into question enough of late."

"Do you mean to say that you did not write it?"

"I believe our houseguest has been the cause of more discord than we know," she nodded. "In any case, I have had a long time to think, and my conclusion is that I cannot do it anymore."

He froze.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I cannot be this meek little thing anymore," she replied, and he softened. "All my life, I have been easily overlooked, someone that allowed the worst to be said and done to me if it meant avoiding difficulty. I thought that it would make my life easier, but all it has truly done is make me feel less capable. I refuse to do it any longer. I am a duchess, and I plan to act accordingly."

He looked into his wife's eyes and saw the raw determination in them. She had made her decision, and he thanked the stars that she had chosen to remain his wife. They could return home, and mend everything that had been broken and go back to the way things were.

No, he reminded himself, it would be better. He would do anything she asked of him, and ensure at every turn that she was blissfully happy in the way that she deserved to be.

"This will not happen again," he promised. "I will never allow anyone to make you feel inferior again, nor will I ever believe anything but the best of you. Dorothy, I do not truly deserve this chance, but now that you are giving me it I will in turn give my all so that you do not regret it."

Without thinking, he kissed her. He feared that it might have been too soon, and that she would push him away and want to wait, but instead she only pulled him closer. For a brief moment, it was like the night they met, where he had met a strangely passionate young lady that acted willfully and had him entranced.

But she was so much more than that to him now. She was his wife, the one that had welcomed his niece with open arms no matter where she had come from, who wanted to be the very best for him that she could be and was willing to give him another chance to prove himself. He loved her, and nothing brought him greater pleasure than that.

"Shall we go home?" he asked.

"I would like that very much," she nodded, "although Catherine might object to that. She may wish to be with other children for a while."

"I can understand that," he agreed.

Catherine did, indeed, wish to spend time with other children. For the first time in her life, she was the oldest, and therefore the one in charge and she liked that a great deal. She came to life around them, and for a short while it was as though she had never been unwell at all.

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