Page 68 of Her Duke Next Door
“How about we go for a stroll around the park? I shall take you into London with me and perhaps afterward we can get some lunch. How would you like that?”
Mary’s suggestion was met excitedly, and both girls immediately dashed off to get whatever they wished to bring to the park. As Mary was getting ready herself, she winced at the graze on her cheek. The skin around the graze was an angry red, and although her lady’s maid tried to cover it up with powder, the stubborn mark remained.
The consequences of being a mother, she smiled, thinking it was no matter.
Walking through the busy park, the two girls chattered about where to go for lunch. Katie knew many places.
“How do you know so many places to eat, Katie?” Mary could not help but ask.
“I found it in my mama’s diary,” Katie answered. “She kept a list of all her favorite places to meet with friends. Some of them had a heart next to them so I wish to visit them. She must have loved those ones a lot.”
Mary’s heart saddened.Where they the places that Marguerite Wallace had met her lovers?
Katie looked stricken for a moment. “Please do not tell my papa that I have her diary. I do not read it as I know I will not really understand. But I only wanted to know some of her favorite places. He does not know that I found it in her room the second time he ever left. I was so angry with him and started to look through every room. If I was mischievous then he would have to return to scold me, surely.”
Mary nodded. “Of course. It shall be our secret, Katie. Do you miss her?”
“I do not remember her a great deal. But I know I look like her. Papa once told me I would break many hearts. Is that a good thing, Mary?”
Mary couldn’t help but laugh. “I think that might depend on how you grow up to be, darling.”
“I wish for a husband who will read to me!” Eloise chimed in. “He will lure me to sleep?—”
“Only because your books are so boring!” Katie teased.
“No!” Eloise cried. “Mama, tell her!”
But Mary had admittedly stopped listening, caught on how many people were staring at her. The two girls skipped ahead, playing around near the park’s fountain, but Mary sat on a bench, watching them.
Two women passed by that she recognized from Katie’s birthday party. She smiled at them.
“Hello, ladies!” she called out but they gave her concerned, pitying stares and almost continued on. But Lady Johnson leaned into her friend, Lady Halton, and whispered. Then they stopped, turned, and approached Mary.
“Your Grace,” Lady Johnson said. “Are you quite all right?”
“I am wonderful, yes,” Mary answered. She jumped and then touched her cheek. “Ah. This. Yes, well, Katie and I were playing in the garden yesterday. We had an incident.”
Lady Halton placed a hand over Mary’s. “It isalwayssome incident or another in these cases, Your Grace. But we can help you. It is not too late to leave.”
“Excuse me?”
“You can leave the Duke,” Lady Johnson said. “We have heard rumors you were due to marry Lord Yore but were coerced into marrying the Duke of Livingston! It is so terrible who he truly is, as he was so charming at his daughter’s birthday party.”
“It is always the charming ones,” Lady Halton tutted. “Mary, this shall not go unreported. His Grace needed a new victim and you were sequestered. We wish to help, especially now that we can see the terrible signs of what he is doing to you!”
It struck Mary with horrific force. “Oh, heavens, no! No, His Grace is not like that at all!”
All she received were pitying stares. Not just from the two ladies but from everybody who passed, noticing her bruised cheek. She covered it up with a hand, self-conscious.
“That is what many women tell themselves,” Lady Johnson cooed. “But we know better. We know of how he treated his late wife. We do not want you to end up the same.”
“Murdered,” Lady Halton chimed in unhelpfully.
“His Grace did not murder his wife and he certainly is not abusing me!” Mary cried, standing up and moving away from them. “That is absurd! I apologize, ladies, but you are very wrong. The Duke has not even been present on this last day.”
They looked at her as though they did not believe her. Instead, their sympathy only grew, as if they thought she was lying to herself.
“He always was rumored to run away from guilt.” Lady Johnson shook her head. “That poor child. He never stayed for her. Not one day. Others say it is because he is upset living in the house after his wife passed away but it is for definite the guilt of his own crime. The constables should have thrown him away into prison and then thrown away the key!”
