Page 31 of One Perfect Dance
Regina refused his invitation to shelve responsibility. “I could have armed you with the truth, and perhaps saved you a broken hand. I was afraid you would not… That you would look at me differently when you knew.” Unaccountably, now that the confession was done and Geoffrey had not rejected her out of hand, she felt tears welling in her eyes.
Geoffrey was alarmed. He grabbed her other hand. “Do not cry, Mother. You are my mother, for you are the only one I’ve ever known, and I love you.” He blushed again, for he had given up such displays of affection when he’d gone off to school six years ago.
Regina’s smile was a little watery. “And I love you.” She had one more thing to tell him and then all the secrets were bare. “Geoffrey, Gideonwasmy father’s—our father’s—intimate friend. That much of what Deffew told you is true. I promised you the truth, and now you have the whole of it. I hope it will not make you think less of Gideon. He was the best man I have ever known. He was kind, generous, and honorable. He saved me when liars tried to destroy my reputation, and he became my dearest friend.”
Geoffrey was slow to respond. “He was all that you say,” he said at last. “But, Mother, how am I to respond when people make such accusations?”
Regina smiled. “As Gideon would have. As he did, when a man tried to blackmail him into allowing my abduction and releasing my dowry.” Should she tell him the identity of the man? No. He would ask, then, why she tolerated the Deffews, and that would lead to why she felt she owed them a debt for her part in their father’s death.
Besides, as Gideon had told her all those years ago, “We may despise and detest them, Regina, but we do not need to entertain Society by allowing it to show. I plan to behave with civil dignity when we happen to meet, but that does not mean I will ever trust them again.”
She could give her son the benefit of her husband’s wisdom on the matter of responding to blackmailers. “Tell them they can think and say what they like, but they should remember that, if they attempt to tarnish the name of one you hold dear, you, your mother, and your uncle will use our wealth to destroy them.”
Geoffrey grinned. “Much better than a broken jaw,” he said. “And I can just imagine that the slimy toad crawled away on his belly.”
Regina remembered David Deffew’s face just before he fled her mother’s house. “Rather quickly,” she confirmed.
“Is that why you married Father? Because he saved you?”
More truth. But no names.It was ancient history, and she did not want Geoffrey to make a crusade of it. “The blackmailer had previously tried to compromise me and had spread lies throughout Society that caused people to question my virtue, Geoffrey. You have asked before why we do not see my mother.”
She could see the distasteful thought surfacing on Geoffrey’s face. “Because our father was unfaithful, and I am the result. And I suppose she did not like Father for the same reason.”
Regina narrowed her eyes as she thought carefully about her next words. “The break is on my side, Geoffrey. She would have visited had I invited her, or so she said in her letters.” Which Regina had never answered, until in the end they stopped coming.
“I have not spoken to her since my father’s funeral, Geoffrey. She tried to force me into the carriage of the man who assaulted me and tried to blackmail me. She did everything short of locking me in my room to prevent me from marrying Gideon, who was a kind man and a good one. She did not like Gideon, so thought instead to force me to wed a repellent swine who only wanted me for my money.”
Mother had hated Gideon and could not see any goodness in him. Now that Regina was older, she could understand, a little. Like many women, Mother looked at her husband’s infidelities and blamed the object of them rather than her husband. At least a mistress was kept out of sight. But Gideon was Lord Kingsley’s closest friend, and even though he mostly avoided the Kingsley house, he was an ever present third in Regina’s parents’ marriage.
She gave a short laugh into her son’s silence. “I have always taught you to forgive, have I not? Not to bear a grudge? I am a poor example, my darling.”
He sat down on the arm of her chair and gave her an awkward hug with his left arm. “It must have been horrid for you, Mother. But you had Father and Uncle William. And me. You will always have me.”
He looked away for a moment, his cheeks flushing slightly. His gaze when he turned back to face her was almost shy. “I am glad we share the same blood, Mother. I have always wondered why my family did not want me, and knowing that you did… I am glad. That’s all.”
She put a hand on his cheek. “I am glad, too, Geoffrey. I love you.”
*
Rex sighed ashe took a seat in the room that had been designated a study for him and Ash. It still lacked desks and shelves, but a couple of mismatched chairs at least allowed the two friends to escape the chaos in the rest of the house.
“If I had known setting up house in London at the start of the Season was going to be such a challenge, I might have suggested staying in Ipswich,” he complained.
Ash smiled. He knew what was really bothering his friend. Rex had taken far greater inconveniences in his stride during their travels. “It’s the ladies, is it not?”
“I might as well have taken Deerhaven up on his offer of accommodation,” Rex growled. “I would have as much say there as here, with Elaine and Rithya in one another’s pockets. Making lists!”
Rex’s wife and his sister had taken to one another immediately. When Rithya realized that the townhouse was poorly furnished and only half-staffed, she had enlisted Elaine’s help. Rithya still tired easily after her confinement, but Elaine had arranged for what seemed like every merchant and warehouse in London to bring samples, and the employment agencies to send candidates.
The ladies had been having a marvelous time.
A knock on the door heralded Barker, Elaine’s husband. He didn’t wait to be invited in but opened the door immediately. “I came to see where my wife went off to after breakfast and almost got roped into offloading some of the new furniture they bought yesterday. I told them I had an important errand.”
“Shouldn’t we help?” Ash asked.
Barker looked horrified. “And move every item around every room a dozen times while they try them out in different places? I sent for half-a-dozen footmen from my place to help yours. That’s contribution enough. Do either of you happen to have an errand I can claim as an excuse?”
“Ash needs to buy a carriage and team,” Rex offered. “He is taking a lady driving this afternoon.”
