Page 30 of One Perfect Dance
Regina waited. Let him tell his story in his own words, and then ask questions.
After a moment or two, Geoffrey took a deep breath and continued. “The Chancellor said that was part of my punishment for resorting to brute violence instead of using my brain. He told me to go home until my hand healed, and to talk to you about what Richard Deffew said.” He sat down like a puppet with its strings cut, flopping any old how into a chair.
“Richard Deffew?” Regina commented. “That would be the gentleman whose jaw you broke, I take it.” Mr. David Deffew had mentioned having a nephew at Cambridge.
Geoffrey nodded. “Although he is no gentleman, Mother. I did not mean to hit him so hard, except he deserved it.”
Regina remembered the threats David Deffew made when he tried to coerce her into an elopement all those years ago. She had a good idea of what Richard Deffew might have said to spark Geoffrey’s temper. Her boy was generally easygoing and slow to anger, but his wrath burned hot when it did erupt. She took a deep breath.
She and Gideon had only once talked about the identity of Geoffrey’s progenitor, but as the little boy grew, William had guessed, and undoubtedly, once Geoffrey came down from Cambridge and began mixing with people who knew the current Lord Kingsley or the former one, his true relationship with Regina would be obvious to all.
William and Regina had had a single conversation on the topic, too. “People will know he is our half-brother, Regina,” William had said. “I won’t deny him if that is what you are afraid of. Mama will not like it, though.”
Mama and Regina had been ignoring one another for years. Regina could not see that changing. “I believe we should warn Geoffrey,” she told William.
William quirked a half smile. “I will leave that to you, sister,” he replied.
It seemed she was too late. However, best to know what was said, before she at last told Geoffrey the truth of his origins.
“What exactly did Deffew say?”
Geoffrey blushed. “I won’t repeat his foul words, Mother. But in essence, he said you are my mother in truth, and you were married off to Father—Gideon Paddimore—because you were ruined beyond recovery, and he was your father’s…” He hesitated, looking for a word. “Your father’s intimate friend.” His blush burned deeper.
Regina raised her eyebrows. She had expected Gideon’s reputation to be called into question, but not her own. “I had just turned fifteen when you were born,” she pointed out. “Rather young to be steeped in sin.”
“Yes,” Geoffrey said, but the relief in his tone indicated that the accusation had bothered him. “I knew he was lying, especially when he said Uncle William must be my father because I look so much like him.”
Regina’s eyebrows shot up further. “That would have made him a very precocious twelve-year-old,” she said. “To set the record straight, Geoffrey, I did not give birth to you, and William is not your father.” She paused, wondering how to broach the truth.
Geoffrey gave her an opening. “Do you know, Mother? Who my real mother and father were, I mean? Only, I do look like Uncle William.”
Regina took a deep breath.Gideon, I wish you were here. “You know that we always told you your father took you into his arms, his heart, and his life when you were but a few hours old.” She held out a hand that trembled rather more than she wished.
Geoffrey took it. “Yes, and you did the same when I was two years old, and you married Father.”
“I did,” Regina agreed, and continued with what she needed to say. “Gideon was there that day because, when the mother who gave birth to you died shortly afterwards, the midwife sent for her lover.”
Geoffrey’s hand gripped hers and his eyes burned. “My father.”
Regina nodded. “Your father. Gideon was with him when he got the message. Your father was married, Geoffrey. He could not take you home, he refused to put you into an asylum, and he was reluctant to leave you to paid care. But Gideon had already, as he told you, taken you into his heart. He claimed you as his ward, and from that moment on, you were his son in everything but blood.”
Geoffrey’s focus was on the man who had given him up rather than the one who had taken him in. “Did my real father want nothing more to do with me?” he asked, a tremble in his voice.
“He visited you often, my darling, until the day he died when you were only two years old.” Regina had given Geoffrey a handful of clues, but he still didn’t put them together.
“Father told you all of this.” It was a statement, not a question.
Regina nodded again. “Certainly. He insisted on telling me the whole after he asked me to marry him, and before I accepted. He thought I should know that I would be raising my half-brother as my son.”
Geoffrey blinked, his face blank. He repeated the words as if they did not make sense. “Half-brother.”
She watched the realization dawn on him.
“You and I have the same father? And Uncle William? Does he know?”
“Yes,” Regina told him. “He knows he is your brother, and he loves you. He told me weeks ago that I needed to tell you about your origins before you came up to London, where people might see the family resemblance. I am sorry I did not do it earlier, Geoffrey.”
Geoffrey was generous. “You couldn’t expect Mr. Deffew to come visiting his son and tell him lies about you.”
