Page 52 of The Duke's Last Dance
“Mother?” Nicolas approached cautiously. “May I sit down?”
“Of course, Nicolas.” His mother looked at him.
Though she was no longer sobbing uncontrollably, her face was red and stained from her sobs earlier. Her eyes were wide and red, as if she had been dabbing at them with the little handkerchief in her hand.
If the handkerchief had not been wet, he would have wondered what she had been dabbing her eyes with.
“Mother, I have some news for you,” Nicolas began. He struggled with how to continue, but eventually, he said, “Father wants to spend his final days in the countryside manor. I believe he wants to see the view out his window there one more time before he passes away, though the doctor believes the best thing to do is keep him here.”
“Oh, get the carriage ready to depart tomorrow morning, Nicolas,” his mother said. “Your father has always loved to be in the countryside. I am surprised we did not stay in the countryside when he first fell ill. We came to the city proper so that we could meet you at the dock. We should have had you come meet us in the countryside.”
“Perhaps that would have been best, but knowing Father, he may have only wanted to come to Town and see this view,” Nicolas said, chuckling. “I will get the carriage ready as he has requested, but I thought it best you knew first.”
“Thank you for informing me, Nicolas. I will get my trunks and things ready, but there is only so much I can do right now.” His mother sighed. “Go get the carriage ready. I will make sure your father’s things are packed for the morning.”
“Thank you, Mother,” Nicolas said. “Good night.”
“Night, Nicolas,” his mother replied.
Then, Nicolas got up from his seat at the table, and he retraced his steps out of the gardens.
As much as it pained him to have to make these adjustments, he knew that his father would get his way. It was his final wish to stay at the countryside manor, and since it was a more reasonable request than seeing Nicolas marry before he passed away, he was more than happy to keep his mouth shut and hope that biding his time would get him out of the marriage with Miss Alexia.
Hope… that was the key word. He had to make sure it would work, first, but he had to have hope until then. If that did not work, then he had an alternative plan, and that was what he would do if he had to.
He did not want to wake the housemaids or the butlers if he could avoid it, so he began to get the carriage ready himself. It needed a soft washing as there was dust and dirt from the last journey it had taken, but that was easy to do. He would not have to hitch the horses up until the morning.
Nicolas took the time to think about what he would do while they were at the countryside estate. It had been a while since he had been there, too, and he was rather looking forward to the time he would be able to spend there.
Then he thought of Catherine. If he disappeared again, she would lose all trust she had in him, no matter what her heart told him she felt about him. He resolved right then and there that he would go to see her early the next morning to make sure she knew that he was not abandoning her again.
He had never meant to abandon her the first time, but this time, he would make sure she knew this. He would make sure that his father could not stop him from telling her the intentions of his heart and of his mind this time.
However, that would require him to get some rest. So, though he had not wanted to, he woke a few of the footmen and housemaids up and told them of his father’s request. He needed the carriage and the horses ready. One of the footmen offered to help him pack trunks tonight so that he would be able to get some sleep.
Soon plans had been made for preparations, and Nicolas hurriedly packed two trunks with the butler. He was not sure how much he would need, but they had always had to do laundry at some point while they were in the countryside before. Surely they would need to this time, too.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Catherine stood in the drawing room, looking at her watercolor painting. It was supposed to be a painting of the view outside, and she felt she was almost done. She had been working on it slowly but surely for almost five days, and today, she needed to add only a little more.
A flower by the windowsill that had been added the day before, blue and beautiful, now sat perfectly positioned in the painting. She finished it off with a little dot of yellow to show the rest of its beauty, and then looked to the flower on the windowsill.
The flowers matched, and that made her happy.
There was not much more she could do, but she had to finish the curtains. She had waited until today to do them because she wanted to make sure she got everything else that was around them first. The curtains were such a dark color that they would cover any mistakes she had made.
She was about to start mixing the color when a butler came into the room.
“There is Lord Lockhart here to see you, my Lady,” he said.
She smiled, and then she set her painting supplies down.
“Tell him I will be down in a moment, please. Dismissed,” she said.
He nodded, and then slipped out of the room as quietly as he had come into it.
Catherine could not help a wide smile; Nicolas had come to see her. She wondered what he could possibly have come to see her about, but the first thing that crossed her mind was that he was here to ask her for her hand in marriage. Or to court her.
