Page 90 of Her Bear of a Duke

Her parents rose to their feet immediately, having not been expecting them.

"Good morning, Your Grace," her mother said quickly. "Hello, Dorothy. What a pleasant surprise."

"Good morning, Mother, Father. I should have written to you, but I did not think to do so. It is a rather impromptu visit, I will say. I have some news, you see, and I am hoping that you will be pleased about it."

Both of her parents looked at her expectantly for a moment, and then their eyes fell upon Catherine.

"This is Catherine," she explained. "We have adopted her, and she is our daughter now."

Both parents were in shock, that was evident, but they did not seem angry at all. Her mother was the first to move, walking toward the child and smiling gently at her.

"It is a pleasure to meet you," she said gently. "I am so pleased to be your grandmother."

Dorothy stopped herself from breathing a sigh of relief. She looked at her father expectantly, for she was not as certain that he would look upon her as kindly as her mother had. He was a proud man, and given all that had happened with Eleanor she knew that he was stricter than he had once been.

He studied the little girl, and then he knelt down in front of her.

"Do you like to read?" he asked, and she nodded.

"I also enjoy playing music, and speaking different languages. I particularly enjoy French."

"A talented little girl," he nodded. "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you. Would you like to join us for tea?"

They had tea together, and Dorothy watched as her parents spent time with her newly-titled daughter. There was an apprehension about them, as though they were uncertain of what to do with her, but it was a start. Morgan squeezed her hand gently, smiling at her. It had been a risk to introduce Catherine as their daughter, but it was the right thing to do. She had always been treated as their daughter, and so there was no reason to call her anything else.

They left Catherine with her new grandparents for a while, so that she could show them her skills with the pianoforte, and wandered the gardens for a while.

"I do not know how you coped with this," he joked. "There is hardly anything out here."

"Why do you think I enjoyed learning about plants so much? It was not as though I could look at any of them myself."

"No, I suppose that makes sense. You know, I was considering finding you a tutor, if you wish to have one?"

Dorothy smiled up at him warmly, grateful that he was the sort of gentleman to encourage her, rather than convince her to hide her passions away.

"I would love that," she nodded. "I do not believe that I will ever be satisfied with my knowledge, though."

"Then we shall have a tutor for a long time," he chuckled, turning to her with her hands in his. "I must admit, I was wary about your idea, but you were right. This is exactly what we need to do."

"You need not say that for my sake."

"I am not. There will be people that look upon her differently, and perhaps rumors will stem from her looking like me, but we can overcome that. No matter what anyone says, she is our daughter, and she shall be the most loved little girl in all of England."

He took her in an embrace, and she rested her head against his chest.

"I never could have imagined having such a wonderful marriage," she mumbled against him. "When my father told me he had found a husband for me, I thought the worst. I expected you to be a cruel and frightening beast of a man."

"I have disappointed you in that respect, I hope," he chuckled.

"Indeed you have, for there was nothing I wanted more than to loathe my husband entirely."

"Is that to say that you like me?"

"I would not say that," she replied, and he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Then just how do you feel about me?" he asked.

"You ask me as if you do not know."

---