Page 32 of Celestes Forever Marquess
Sophia came down the terrace steps and smiled at her. Her eyes were still watery, but no more tears were falling.
“How are you doing?”
Celeste smiled sadly. “I will be fine. Thank you for letting me stay here.”
Sophia was quiet for a moment but finally said, “I know you are closer to my husband, but sometimes it helps to talk to someone, especially a person you don’t have a history with.”
She was so tired of pretending. “My mother, when she was young, met Lord Burrows in Hyde Park. She was seventeen and he was nineteen. He professed his love for her and rented an apartment, promising to marry her when he received his inheritance. Eventually, my mother fell pregnant with me, and she told him. He never came back.”
Sophia sat down next to her and squeezed her hand. Celeste added, “Shortly after I was born, she discovered that he went to the Continent and married. My mother talked about him less and less as she played the part of mistress for various men. She was such a warm person, but eventually age caught up with her. Any potential protectors dried up.”
“Only tell me what you want.”
She wiped her eyes. “It feels good to share everything with someone. I’ve never done that. The last year my mother was alive, she was working in this horrible place in Devil’s Acre. The man who managed the women was a lecherous monster. I discovered that Lord Burrows was back. I was almost eighteen. I sent him several letters, pleading for his help. He never responded.”
Sophia wiped at her own tears. “That is awful. He is a wretched man. I didn’t know that about him.”
“I imagine most by-blows of lords suffer similar fates. I’m grateful your husband and Devons gave me a position. I knew nothing about working at a gentlemen’s club.”
Derry’s wife squeezed her hand again. “Those two are lucky to have you.”
She smiled, grateful. Sophia rose and paced back and forth. “You need to tell Haven all of this.”
Celeste shook her head. “No. The Burrows family has vowed to share details of the last year of my mother’s life. I won’t bring scandal to Caleb’s family, and I can’t endure my mother’s name being ripped apart in the press.”
“Your mother survived. There is no shame in that,” Sophia said adamantly.
“London society will say otherwise.”
Sophia smiled at her sadly. “If you love him, don’t give him up. You will regret it. Don’t let thetonwin. Go to him and tell him everything.”
“I will think about it,” she said, and Sophia nodded before wandering back into the house.
Celeste stared back at the fountain, gutted. Had she made a mistake by leaving? She’d kept her life a secret for so long. The thought of revealing any of it terrified her, but Sophia was right; for too long, she’d looked at her life with shame. Celeste and her mother had been survivors.
Closing her eyes, she remembered her mother’s smile. The one she had before she became sick. Quietly she said, “Thank you, Mother.”
Chapter 14
The door of Lord Burrows’ townhouse swung open, and Caleb stalked in. “Please let Lord Burrows know the Marquess of Haven is here to see him.”
Burrows stuck his head out of his drawing room, frowning. “I’m in here with my wife, Haven. Please join us.”
Part of him hesitated, wondering if they should have this conversation alone, but then he decided against it. Lady Burrows should know what he had done. Burrows frowned at him. “Is something amiss? Please sit.”
Lady Burrows stared at him. He suspected she sensed something was very wrong. Caleb remained standing, and his gaze went back to Burrows. “Do you know Miss Hathaway?”
The older lord frowned. “Only that she is part-owner in the gentlemen’s club, the Den, and what you mentioned in confidence to me while we were at the club.”
Fury flared in him that Burrows pretended that he didn’t know Celeste. “You don’t know her any other way? How about regarding your relationship with Anna Hartly?”
The color drained from both of the Burrows’ faces. Burrows quietly asked, “How do you know that name?”
Caleb glared at the man. “That is Celeste’s mother’s name.”
The man staggered backwards as if Caleb had struck him, but he hadn’t. Burrows, still dazed, said, “I can’t believe it.”
He turned to his wife. “I thought all this time she’d perished.”
