Page 101 of The Truth About Dukes
“I could manage some bread and butter,” Constance said, resuming her seat. “A cup of tea wouldn’t go amiss either.”
“This is not the prisoner’s last meal, Constance.” Rothhaven sounded amused, which exceeded the bounds of savoir-faire by several leagues.
“Today has been far more than merely trying, Rothhaven.”
He poured himself a glass of water, poured her a glass of ale, and sat at the head of the table. “It has been a challenge. Nonetheless, please recall that certificates of lunacy can be overturned, and if Weatherby prevails, Philpot will have to deal with you, Nathaniel, Walden, and my own efforts to limit his schemes. Speaking of schemes, I have taken a measure of which I doubt you’ll approve.”
“Say on. I have also taken a measure that I doubt will merit approval.”Anothermeasure.
“I sent a modest sum to Reverend Shaw while I still had control of my assets.”
Constance paused, a piece of bread in one hand, the butter knife in the other. “Why would I disapprove of such generosity?”
“Because Shaw could take offense at my hubris, because funds make it easier for him to decamp to New South Wales, because I did not consult you before I sent him the bank draft.”
Rothhaven grasped that a failure to consult his wife couldbea transgression. That such a man stood accused of incompetence was an injustice of mythic proportions.
“We haven’t exactly been in each other’s pockets this past week,” Constance said.
He touched her arm. “You are not wroth with me for my high-handedness?”
“Eat something, Rothhaven. I can sustain myself on anger and determination, but you haven’t that luxury.”
He served himself some beef and barley soup, which—now that Constance got a whiff of its aroma—looked tasty.
“Shaw might well return the money,” Rothhaven said. “I might have made matters worse.”
“Then he returns the money, but I don’t know as matters can get much worse. I wrote back to Ivy and told her that under no circumstances was she to quit her uncle’s protection.”
Rothhaven filled a second bowl with soup and set it before Constance. “Did you, now? Told her to stay put when she’d all but begged you to rescue her?”
The best part, the very, very best part of loving Rothhaven was that he had from the first been Constance’s friend. An honorable, kind, decent, tolerant friend. He greeted her announcement as pleasantly as if she’d informed him of a decision to have some new dresses made up.
“This whole legal mess,” Constance said, “with Weatherby and Philpot, is driven by Lady Phoebe’s mean-spiritedness.”
“Very likely. Philpot does not need my money, but he needs to keep his wife happy. Sir Leviticus made it plain that Philpot married up, and his bride has never let him forget it.”
The soup was good. Being able to air these thoughts with Rothhaven was wonderful. “Lady Phoebe has been denied children.” Constance had only worked this out on the coach ride back from Fendle Bridge. “She is angry and ashamed because she has been denied motherhood.”
“My guess is, she would find reasons to be angry and ashamed if she had ten handsome, healthy children.”
“Perhaps, perhaps not. Lady Phoebe feels entitled to have children, and she has been thwarted in that regard. I feel entitled to march into Ivy’s life and be her mother. There is no such entitlement.”
“Go on.”
“I am responsible for heeding the flattery of a scoundrel, for allowing him liberties, for trusting him.”
“You were little more than a girl yourself, Constance. Very much at sixes and sevens, and your brother was not as mindful of you as he should have been.”
Rothhaven set aside his empty soup bowl, and buttered two slices of bread. He fashioned a sandwich from the sliced beef and cheddar on the plate at his elbow, and passed Constance half.
“All true, which is why I can forgive myself, but from Ivy’s perspective, Etta Wilson was the woman who loved her and raised her. If Etta Wilson were alive, would I be dreaming of Ivy coming to live with me?”
“Etta Wilson has been gone for some time.”
“But Whitlock Shaw stepped in—a bachelor of modest means—and provided for Ivy. He’s seen her reasonably well educated, and he clearly cares for his niece. His siblings look up to him. I love Ivy, I would cheerfully die to protect her, but I don’t actuallyknowher anywhere near as well as Reverend Shaw does.”
“So what did you tell her?”
