Page 100 of Foolish Bride
Mother gasped. “Elinor, how dare you speak of your father that way?”
Michael beamed at her. It was nice to see pride rather than pity or shame in his eyes.
Virginia gaped at Elinor, then cried.
With a sigh, Elinor sat next to her. “I am sorry, Mother. I know that you think Father is always right.”
“That’s not true. He is rarely right, but he is still your father,” Mother said.
Elinor laughed. “Well, I am telling you right now that I will marry no one if I am not allowed to marry the Duke of Kerburghe. I would rather grow old and be pitied as an old maid than to marry a man whom I do not love. It is not fair to me and certainly unfair to the poor man I am forced on. I will marry Michael or no one at all.”
Mother sputtered. “Elinor, you do not know what you’re saying. It is obvious to me that the events of the past few days have caused you some sort of trauma. I shall call the doctor back for another look at you.”
“I am not ill, Mother. I mean what I say, and no amount of doctoring will change my mind.”
“Middleton is a good man, and he may well make an offer.”
“You are correct. Middleton is a good man. However, whether he makes an offer or not is irrelevant. I will not have him. I love Michael, and marrying anyone else is out of the question. Besides, do you really think that Middleton wants a wife who is in love with someone else?”
Mother got up and walked to the other side of the room, shoulders slumped and shaking.
Michael’s eyes smoldered with desire.
Reading his mind, she blushed, thinking of all the wondrous things he had done to her and how she wanted to do them all again.
At the window, Mother gazed into the gardens. “I do not know where you got the idea that marriage and love had anything to do with each other, Elinor. Marriage is a contract. It’s business.”
Elinor wished for some kind of divine intervention. Being disobedient wasn’t what she wanted, but she would have her way. “I do not know where you got the idea that marriage was about anything else but love, Mother.”
Virginia spun, wide-eyed. “I do not know who you are anymore. You look like my daughter but everything else about you is a mystery to me. When did you become so forward? Where is the sweet girl I raised to be a lady?”
“You and Father gave me little choice. When Father became an earl, I stopped recognizing the two of you.” She had to proceed without hurting Mother too deeply. She rose and walked over to Virginia. “I do not know Father. He was always gone on some mission to Spain. So when he became overly enamored with the idea of being an earl, I was not really surprised. He always had an opinion of himself that outstretched his reach.”
“Elinor.” Mother gasped.
She put up her hand to stop Mother from saying more.
Behind her, Michael chuckled.
“However, Mother, you have taught me everything about life and love. You have been with me every day for my entire life. If I believe that marriage is about love, it is because you taught me that, in spite of the state of your own marriage. I know that you love Father. His feelings are a mystery to me, but yours are obvious.”
Mother slouched, dabbing her nose with her lace handkerchief.
“I was not surprised by Father’s attitude, but I was surprised by yours. All my life, you have been my constant ally, until the moment I needed you most. When I needed you to stand up to Father and tell him what he was doing was wrong and dishonorable, you abandoned me. I can only assume you too had become full of yourself over being a countess.”
Head down with shame, Mother sighed and nodded.
“You left me no choice but to take control of my own life. I will admit, it has not gone as I had planned, and Michael’s first response was unfavorable.” She turned to Michael, whose apology was written all over his face.
It was unfortunate that she was hurting the people she loved most, but at the moment, it seemed inevitable. “I had wanted to spare you this information, but I will have the man I love for my husband. I am no longer a virgin.”
Mother’s face fell and she stumbled to a nearby chair.
She wanted to go to her and comfort her but couldn’t show weakness. “At this moment, I could be carrying the heir to the Kerburghe dukedom. So you see, Mother, you really have no choice but to let us marry as soon as possible.”
Mother stared at Elinor as if she had two heads.
Michael moved across the room, put an arm around Elinor’s waist, and kissed the top of her head. He whispered, “I could not be more proud of you.”
