Page 4 of Her Duke Next Door
Katie let out a sob and ran away, the sound of her heeled, buckled shoes echoing on the stone as she disappeared.Blast!
“Katie—” he called after her but she had fled. He glanced at Geraldine. He did not need his housekeeper to tell him to follow her. He sprinted down the halls of the castle, feeling the ache of loneliness, the magnitude of his home, and how empty it was. He followed Katie upstairs, where she ran to her room.
He was a hairsbreadth away from her when she slammed her bedroom door shut in his face with a sad, disappointed glare.
Letting out an exasperated groan, he knocked on the door. “Katie, open up at once.”
“No!”
“My darling, I am so sorry that I am late. Please open the door, let me apologize.”
“I do not want your apologies, Papa.” Her voice was thick with tears. For a moment, she sounded like his late wife.
I do not want to hear you apologize over and over, Dominique. He could hear the harsh words of his wife in his mind, the harsh words she said to him when he had thought her wrongdoings to him were his own fault.
“Then what is it you would like me to do?” Dominique asked as if he was asking both his daughter and his late wife. He always seemed to make them both cry. Then again, he knew the answer to his own question.
So when only stubborn silence came in reply, he knew the words his daughter refused to tell him:I want you to stay this time.
But Dominique never stayed. He could not.
Every time he promised himself, promised Katie, that he would. Soon, the walls grew too close together, and the memories resurfaced, and Dominique found himself halfway to yet another small coastal village before he could process the decision to leave again.
“Katie, please,” he whispered, his throat closing. “Talk to me, talk to your papa.”
Again, only silence greeted him.
Desperation clogged his heart and weighed down his chest. He pressed his forehead to the wooden door, closing his eyes as he sighed. His shoulders slumped as if they carried a great weight. And they did: fatherhood. And what a great father he was.
She deserves better, he told himself.They both deserved better. At least that’s what he told himself, believing himself to have never been enough for his wife.
He clenched his fist, drew back from his daughter’s closed door, and tried to ignore the sniffles that came from the other side. He would bathe and dress. Yes, that would help.
Halfway through his bath, he let out a great shout of anguish as he realized he had not wished his own daughter a happy birthday yet.
* * *
It was a fine spring day for a garden party. The gardens had been set up for Katie’s birthday party, and he was ready to commit to staying for her birthday celebrations, at least. He owed his daughter that much.
“Stay,” his companion had crooned at him from tangled sheets that morning, as he buckled his pants back up. “Sleep with me some more.”
“I cannot,” he said. “It is my daughter’s birthday party.”
And he had raced for home.
Except now that daughter still refused to speak to him even as he had snapped his fingers at some of their staff as they had carted in all the gifts he had brought for her from his travels. She had smiled, and politely thanked him, but had not opened a single one yet.
Tables were set out on the grass, empty chairs awaiting the guests. The Duke would have preferred to have something more private and enjoyable to share his daughter’s time but she had insisted on a garden party.
“Just because you do not like the people, Papa, does not mean I must live lonely too,” she had told him, convincing him to have the staff arrange the party.
Some guests milled about. Dominique, bathed and freshened from traveling, approached Katie, who giggled as another child placed a flower crown on her blonde head.
“Katie, may I speak with you for a moment?” he asked, his hands behind his back. He held a jewelry box, plucked from the pile of gifts she had not yet touched.
Katie acted as though he was not there. “We must make you all flower wreaths, too!” she chatted with two other girls, who looked back at Dominque, and then to Katie, unsure.
“Katie, please I would like?—”
