Page 53 of An Unwilling Earl
“Lord Ashland called on me the other day.”
“I asked him not to.”
Chadley winced. “I can understand why.”
“Can you?”
“I can understand that you might be angry for the way my family treated your mother.”
“You abandoned her.”
“Some would say that she abandoned us.”
“Who would say that?”
“My father. Your grandfather.”
Charlotte had so many things she wanted to say, but none of them were nice, and she was aware that most of what happened had been out of this man’s control, just as it had been out of her control.
“What do you want?” she asked.
“To see you. To apologize for the way we treated your mother.”
“She died when I was born,” she said brokenly, unnecessarily. She felt it needed to be voiced.
“I know.”
“She died knowing her family had turned their back on her. And still you didn’t reach out to my father. You didn’t even come to the funeral.”
“We were forbidden.”
“Forgive me, my lord, but why would I ever want to associate myself with your family after what they did to mine?”
“You have every right to your anger. My father… He was old, set in his ways. In his day, a daughter didn’t disrespect her father. Harriet was supposed to marry another man. Not only did she turn her back on that agreement, but she married beneath her. In his mind, it was unforgivable.”
“I didn’t know…” She swallowed. Talking about her mother was much more difficult than she had thought it would be. “I didn’t know she had been promised to another man.” Her father had never told her that part.
Chadley motioned to the two chairs facing Jacob’s desk. “May we sit?”
She hesitated, not wanting to prolong this visit. Not wanting to get to know this man, but he was telling her things about her mother. Things she didn’t know and she desperately wanted to hear more.
She rang for tea.
“My father was devastated by my mother’s death,” she said. “Even fifteen years later his grief was still sharp. I believe he died of a broken heart.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It was five years ago. There was no word from her family even then.”
“I know.”
“I believe your father had passed away by then as well.”
“He had.”
She waited for his explanation, braced herself for his excuses, but none were forthcoming.
“I would ask my father about my mother,” she said. “But there was so much he didn’t know about her younger years.”
