Page 47 of Denying a Rakish Duke
The front door opened to reveal a fine carriage out front that did not belong to the Farbridge family. Tobias was accompanied by none other than Dorothea Atkins, the Dowager Duchess. He appeared to have caught a ride with her back to the Manor. Not a single face in the foyer seemed overly pleased to greet them.
“Grandmother?” Joseph greeted coldly. “To what do we owe your very unexpected visit?”
The Dowager cut him with a glance and invited herself further into the room. “I demand an audience with my grandson.” She addressed the room at large, and Joseph scoffed.
“There is no cause for grandstanding here, Grandmother; we are all already in quite the uproar as it is. Furthermore, I shall not grant you a private audience. Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of my wife and her family— as you seem so determined to interrupt a very important conversation.”
“Yes … they are the sort of family to believe that discussing gossip so fervently would be considered important conversation.” Her already arched brow lifted further as she examined the faces of each person around her— only to settle on the indignant expression of Vanessa’s offense.
“Why are you here?” Vanessa asked plainly. “The stress is not good for my present condition, so I urge you to speak plainly and succinctly.” She crossed her arms in front of her, and Joseph wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He pulled her into his grasp comfortingly.
The Dowager faltered and her focus appeared to be locked on the arm around Vanessa’s shoulders. It almost appeared as if she was not quite certain what she was to make of it— or what the gesture meant for them moving forward. Joseph had always been a son to her, and she had cared for him in the ways that she was able to. She attempted to look out for his best interests as far as she could— but perhaps there were some aspects of that fierce protection that might have been … unwise.
“Never mind all that!” Tobias shouldered his way into the center of the room. “How dare you leave me there! How dare you accuse me of such wicked, vile things! I cannot believe that you, Petunia, of all people could think that anything Ieverdo is out of anything but my ardor for you! I would never harm a fly! Those who accuse me of such things are simply covetous of me and my vast successes!” Tobias’ voice rose with each line that he said. He felt that the louder that he shouted at the room, the more that those around him would believe what he said as truth. He was determined to have his way. He would not tolerate any other outcome.
“Oh,doshut up, Earl Evans. You have the most insufferable voice that I have ever had the misfortune of enduring,” the Dowager stated. Tobias’ mouth snapped shut in a firm click of his teeth. His face and neck quickly started to turn purple with the effort of containing himself. He wished to shout more.
“I started those rumors.”
“What?” Joseph breathed.
The Dowager would not look at her grandson. Instead, she locked eyes with Petunia who stood as if on trial. The Dowager planted her feet firmly on the floor and centered the tip of her cane equidistant between her insoles as she leaned forward. “I started the rumors to discredit your family. It was I who attempted to ruin your credibility and social standing.”
Petunia’s brow furrowed. She could not believe what she was hearing. “But … why?”
“I wished to ruin the marriage of my grandson to your seemingly impetuous daughter. As I had been the one to suggest the match, I could hardly revoke my consent to the matter. Instead, I looked to force strife in your ranks until he was forced to leave her. I believed her to be indifferent and a burden to my grandson. I felt that she lacked heart and was not capable of anything but her insolent quips. They seemed reluctant to be around one another, and I wished … I wished for His Grace to have a plausible reason to send her away.” Her voice was flat as she spoke. She took accountability in full, and not a hint of remorse colored her words in an attempt to garner forgiveness from those around her— even though they were the ones directly injured by her actions. “I was mistaken.”
Ever so slowly, her head turned toward Vanessa and Joseph. Bitter tears ran freely down Vanessa’s cheeks as she held herself tightly. She feared what she might do if she moved. Joseph’s jaw clenched so hard his teeth threatened to crack.
“I did not see at the time that their affections for one another were simply so new that they had not pieced them together. Watching how he cared for her, seeing that she is in fact with child— there was no reason for my actions anymore. I did not need to do such things any longer. I will do what I must in order to rectify the issue.”
Joseph was not so foolish as to expect an apology from the Dowager, and he knew the woman who raised him well enough to know that this was her attempting to mend the bridges that she had burned.
“I did not care to be excluded from your life while you were away … and I see the error of pushing you two away as well. I have already arranged for all of my things to be removed from your home and sent to my Manor in the country. It is my hope that when we are able to mend things … that you will be willing to come and visit an old lady. I can be patient.” She spoke only to Vanessa and Joseph, and it humbled the Dowager to have her sentiments known to the room at large.
Having spoken her piece, the Dowager nodded once to Petunia, sneered at the Earl of Evans, and escorted herself out of Evans Manor to her carriage. Healing what she had broken would take time, and she would grant them that. Joseph’s hand rubbed up and down the outside of Vanessa’s arm as she looked up at him. She could not even attempt to guess the sorts of things running through his mind at a time like this.
She could, however, understand that the Dowager had been doing what she thought was necessary to protect the only living family that she had left, even if she had done so in the worst possible way. Understanding made it easier for her to process.
“That still does not explain why Amanda ran away!” Bridgette turned to her youngest sister. Her eyes demanded explanation. “Nor does it explain your underhanded tactics, Uncle!”
Tobias spun in a small circle, looking for any friendly sign on the faces of his family— and found none. “I do not know what I have to explain. My son approached me and asked for Amanda’s hand in marriage— I granted his request. I am the Earl of Evans! I do not have to explain anything to any of you! I was well within my rights to marry her to any suitor that I chose!”
Petunia nodded. “And you shall spend the rest of your days, alone in this Manor repeating those fateful words to yourself.”
“You cannot be serious! We are engaged!”
“No,” Petunia said firmly. “You lied and tricked me— you bullied me into an engagement that I never would have agreed to otherwise. You knew very well that my heart would always belong to my husband, and that I should never have love for you … and still, you relentlessly badgered me. You forced an estrangement between my daughters and myself. You put Amanda’s life in danger and manipulated your only son. What if something should have happened to her while out on the roads? I will take my leave of you and this home that I once loved this very evening, My Lord.”
“Pah! You have nothing without me!” Tobias attempted.
“Then we shall provide anything that she needs,” Joseph answered, and Vanessa’s heart swelled with love for the man who held her.
“She shall have a family without quid pro quo. Come, all of you.” Joseph nodded to Amanda and Thomas, Bridgette and Isaac, and finally Petunia. Somehow looking at them, he knew that he had found the family that he had always longed for. They might fight or bicker— but at the end of the day so long as they stood together— they loved one another. This was what a real family looked like. Joseph smiled.
“Let us forge a new family home— together.”
Epilogue
