Page 94 of The Best-Kept Secrets
Mother turned to Duke. “Explain to your grandmother that Colm didn’t mean grandchildren.You would not side against your own parents and grandmother.”
“Of course he wouldn’t,” Father said. “Your aunt and uncle have tossed us all out, Dubhán. You had best gather your things.”
A month ago, he would have dived into the fray, searching for a means of smoothing the conflict between them all. He might even have left with his parents in the name of keeping the peace. Today, he said, “I am remaining at Fairfield.”
Father and Mother looked surprised, but that lasted only a moment.
“We cannot blame you for wishing to finish your little party,” Father said, “but after that—”
“No.” Duke shook his head. “After that, I am going to London.”
Uncle Niles led Aunt Penelope away. Colm walked alongside them. Before going too far, Uncle Niles said over his shoulder to Father, “One hour, Liam.”
“Dubhán.” For the first time in Duke’s life, his father seemed legitimately concerned that his behavior would bear consequences.
“I don’t know what it will take for you to finally let go of all this bitterness,” Duke said, “but I hope you find a way.” Retreating to his bedchamber was not his best option. They might follow him there.
“You truly aren’t leaving with us?” Mother asked, her worry appearing to lean more toward regret than it usually did.
“I am staying here.” He would have considered telling them then that Writtlestone would never be his home again, but he couldn’t be certain it wouldn’t put their backs up once more. They were leaving, which everyone at Fairfield needed them to do. And they appeared to at last be pondering the damage they had done, whichheneeded them to do.
It was too little and far too late for him to change course and consider making Writtlestone his home again. But it was some hope that the future might not be entirely filled with inescapable animosity.
He turned and walked back to the stairs, dragging himself downward. Would this confrontation, this moment of hard truths, truly change anything? His parents might be so angry that they’d choose never to see him again. Or they might be so determined to feel justified that they would hound his heels, demanding, as they’d done for years, that he take their part. Only time would tell. But for the moment, he had a bit of a respite and the possibility, however slim, that things might change for the better.
This had needed to happen. And he hated that it had. And it hurt so deeply.
I need Eve.
But he didn’t know where she was or how to find her. He wandered for more than a quarter hour before finally crossing her path.
“Duke.” She smiled at first, but her expression turned quickly worried. “What did your family do?”
“I shouldn’t be surprised that you could guess the source of my current discontent.”
She crossed to him. “You only ever wear this particular look of heartbreak when they have been wounding you.” Eve reached up and gently touched his face. “I wish I knew how to take that pain away.”
He truly breathed for the first time since hearing his father speak so hatefully to Aunt Penelope. “My parents and grandmother are being thrown from the house entirely.”
“It is about time.”
Duke sighed, releasing some of the tension he was carrying. “I don’t know if this moment marks a real change or a temporary reprieve.”
She slipped her hand from his cheek to his chest. “Temporary or not, it is much-deserved.”
He set a hand over hers, pressing their hands to his heart. “Until I know how they will behave, what my future interactions with them will look like, I can’t—I won’t know if—”
“You cannot begin fully planning your future until you know what role your parents, and to a lesser extent your grandmother, will play in that future,” she said.
“Precisely. And I will only have those answers after seeing how they move forward. That will take time.”
“You now have a peaceful home to live in and an occupation,” she said, “so you needn’t panic that you haven’t time for watching and waiting and deciding.”
“That’s true.” And it was reassuring.
“AndIhave Mater’s company to look forward to and will have income enough to help my family restore Nia’s health, so I’m not panicked about the future either.”
Hearing her speak of her future and his tied together in any way warmed him to his core. He was beaten down, but he wasn’t defeated.
