Page 87 of An Unwanted Widow for the Duke
Gerard saw his wife tense. Something flickered in her eyes, but it vanished too quickly for him to decipher. She was thinking of something other than the paper, he could tell, and he badly wanted to know what it was.
“I’ve submitted some pages, my dear,” she replied, tapping the satchel on her lap where her latest column lay secure. “I also have some new ones to give Mr. Finch this evening. If he deems them worthy, then we will have enough material for at least two or three more issues. I have been trying to be nicer as Lady Silverquill.”
“Nicer? You were just being honest!” the boy cried.
“You do know that the content is not exactly appropriate for children?” his father reminded him.
“I’ve told him about it. I only passed him a few of the letters, the ones that even he could answer. Your father is right, Hector. Some of them are not for children’s eyes, and before you tell me that your mind is more mature than a seven-year-old’s, think again. Enjoy being young. You’ll regret rushing into adulthood,” Wilhelmina advised.
The boy nodded meekly, making Gerard chuckle.
Wilhelmina certainly had an effect on Hector.
“Nicer as Lady Silverquill?” Gerard echoed, his gaze intent on her. “But is not the very purpose of that disguise to speak without disguise? To give voice to the truth you would not otherwise be permitted to utter?”
“You may be right,” Wilhelmina conceded, her lips curving faintly. “Perhaps Lady Silverquill is but my sharper tongue, given at last the freedom I so sorely lacked.”
It was why Wilhelmina could not let go of a job she no longer needed. She was Lady Silverquill, not the meek young woman everyone in Society wanted her to be.
They didn’t know her. They didn’t know that while she might be intelligent and prone to a sharp tongue, especially when she was younger, she was more virtuous than most of the women in the ton.
Eventually, they had fallen silent. Gerard noticed that Wilhelmina kept on glancing out the window at the alley. She had gone a little paler and seemed to bristle with apprehension.
“What is it?” he asked gently, so as not to startle her.
“It’s just that… You may find me silly, but I thought someone was standing in the alley, watching us,” she replied nervously, wringing her hands.
It was not like her. Something must have truly spooked her.
Gerard looked out the window, trying to catch the figure she was talking about, but saw nothing. When she saw the look on his face, disappointment crossed hers.
“Never mind, Duke. It was probably just my imagination. It’s one of the perks of being Lady Silverquill.”
“Very well.”
Finally, they arrived at theGazetteer. The building was plain and narrow, nestled between a bookshop and a shoemaker’s. One could say that it was hiding in plain sight.
Gerard knocked three times with his walking stick, much to Hector’s delight. The boy jumped up and down beside him, while Wilhelmina stood behind them.
There was a slight pause before the door opened to reveal Mr. Finch’s pale face. He nodded at them and took off his spectacles to wipe them before putting them back on.
“Come inside, all of you,” he urged. “Your Graces, it’s my honor to welcome you inside. I hope this meeting means that everything is well?”
He looked a little anxious as he cast a glance at Gerard, who gave him a small bow. The poor old man didn’t know how to respond to that. He beckoned everyone to his desk. He sat on his side, while Gerard and Wilhelmina took the opposite seats. Hector remained standing, browsing around the desk.
“Mr. Finch,” Gerard began evenly. “There is nothing to worry about. As you now know, I have married your columnist, LadySilverquill. The three of us are all committed to keeping her secret. We are here to deliver her latest issue.”
He gently took his son’s hand off the press plate. Things could go really wrong in the office. Everything seemed to be precariously stacked in piles. However, he did find the smell of ink and paper pleasant for some reason. It reminded him of the nights when he was a young boy, reading his books by candlelight.
“Oh, I am glad to hear that, Your Grace. I was surprised that Her Grace had decided to stay with us even after she married you. Most young women stop working after they have secured a match.”
“She loves being Lady Silverquill,” Gerard said proudly, smiling at his wife. She smiled back, looking faintly relieved.
“SheisLady Silverquill,” Hector declared.
“Oh, I dare say she is,” Mr. Finch agreed, looking happy and at ease now. “Sales have also gone up. I’m glad that she decided to stay with us. I was wondering if she regretted being a part of us at all.”
“I doubt she does,” Gerard murmured, again glancing at his wife. “What do you think, Duchess?”
