Page 48 of Her Duke Next Door
Katie paused. “No, but my papa bought it for me!”
“I am sure we can have it fixed or replaced,” Mary assured her. “As long as you are all right then that is all that matters to me.”
“But!” Katie stammered. “Will you not write to my papa about this? Surely he will want to scold me for breaking a gift.”
“I would not wish to bother your papa about this,” she said. She winked at Katie. “And if we replace it before his return then he shall never know. It can be our secret so you do not get into any trouble.”
With that, Mary walked out. She did not see the forlorn look the two sisters gave one another, wondering why their excellent plan had failed.
* * *
“Your mama said that as long as I am all right,” Katie said. “That is all she says every time we try to make her write to my papa.”
“Yes,” Eloise whispered. The two of them had taken up space under an oak tree. It had become their secret hideaway.
“So if I am not all right then she might write to him.”
“Oh!” Eloise said, understanding.
“It makes sense,” Katie said, adding it all together. “She did not care that I broke my doll, or playfully pushed you over. She did not care when Benson got out of his stall because I left the latch undone. And she did not care when I threw our ball up in the tree and climbed up to get it without permission. All she asks is if I am all right and then helps us clean up the mess or solve whatever we have caused.”
“So if you were to not be all right then our plan will work and the two of them will come back together!” Eloise said, excited that she understood.
“Exactly! It has been more than two weeks since my papa left. Surely they miss one another. I think they shall be grateful when we make them be back together.”
“I agree,” Eloise said, nodding, as she munched on a sandwich.
“I shall pretend to be sick,” Katie announced. “So gravely ill that your mama panics and writes to my father. I shall stay in bed all day and cause her some worry that she will beg him to return.”
Eloise laughed along with Katie. They were so very clever!
ChapterFourteen
“Where is she?” Dominique demanded as soon as he strode through the doors of Livingston Castle. He did not bother to even change his muddied boots from riding as he ran through the house, spurred by a letter from his wife.
He had honored his word to leave Mary alone but worrying about his daughter’s illness brought him racing right back to the countryside. He had traveled the hard days to reach his daughter as soon as possible.
“She is in her room, Your Grace,” Mary said. She had heard him storm through the castle, his protectiveness for his child turning him into a raging storm of concern. “Please ensure she is well.”
“Have you called for a physician?”
“I thought you ought to make that call as her father,” Mary said.
Dominique paused. “And yet you are now her mother! She could be gravely ill and?—”
“Papa?” the weak voice came from the closed door to Katie’s bedroom. “Papa, is that you?”
Mary pulled forward. “Katie, it is your papa and I. Can we come in?”
“You are together?”
“Yes,” Dominique said. “We are coming in.”
“Perhaps you should?—”
“She ismydaughter, Mary. Let me.”
He saw her flinch back, and he knew he could not call Katie theirs when it suited him but his own when he felt like he was losing control of a situation but he could not help his sharp tongue. He had already lost his first wife. He did not want to risk anything happening to his daughter.
