Page 38 of An Earl's Scandalous Return
When Seraphina spoke again, her voice had a slight tremble as if she was fighting back tears. “Murder. Our father killing our mother, perhaps.”
She shook her head
. “What a terrible beginning to a life.”
Edward could see that tears had also filled Seraphina’s eyes, but she was doing her best to keep them back.
“And Gregory is asking for money to keep that secret, and he has not even told me. How could he keep something like this from me? Is this all he wanted? To wait for years until the time came to ask for a sum from this duke? He could have written years ago, I suppose. Why now?”
“I’m sorry, Seraphina, you had to learn of this in this manner. It is all so new and strange, but I do understand your feelings. I’m hoping against hope that my father did not do these terrible things. I always thought him to be a good and kind man. He had been a wonderful father.”
Edward said nothing to that, but he could feel his fists clench as he listened. It was her father’s fault that—
Think of Arabella right now and Seraphina, not of your own losses and frustrations.
“It just does not seem like him at all,” Arabella continued.
“And I don’t think he would have written years ago. For now that my brother is engaged, it makes a far better scandal. And it is the duke who he is asking for money. My brother and I might have brushed his claims aside as foolishness if he had written only to us, and Gregory would have nothing to threaten us with without the engagement.”
Seraphina leaned back against the pew and bit her lip, looking uncertain about something. Edward could feel that Arabella was on the cusp of saying something, and he had a feeling he knew what.
Before Seraphina reacted to her words, Arabella said, “And Seraphina, I think you should come home with us.”
Chapter 41
Gregory watched Seraphina leave that morning with a suspicious eye. His damned leg was giving him far too much trouble to even go to work that morning. And so, he was still awake when she left without her basket, but instead, her shawl and bonnet only seconds before, as if she was going out for a social call.
That question last night.
It had kept him from sleeping well. He was glad she didn’t mention it anymore after he had angrily responded to her.
But still, where could that question have come from? It was so random and yet so pointed. The one crime he’d committed that he’d tried for so long to cover up was now getting close to him. He thought it impossible that someone did not tell her of it, yet she did not say any names. She had mentioned that it was only a feeling that she had got.
I have treated her as I would have treated my own daughter if Jane and I had had a child ourselves and she hadn’t gone after the blasted earl and lost her heart and body to him.
He had a feeling, though, that somehow Seraphina had learned of the letter he’d sent to the Duke of Gloucester. He wasn’t sure how, for he hadn’t told anyone, but perhaps someone had come around to ask questions. Someone who had seen the letter.
But then how would they know that Seraphina was the one to ask about such things?
He stood from his chair, a furrow in his brow, frustrated that he could not think of a solution. He had never expected this to be a possibility, living where they did in Maidstone, a small town with a small number of people. It was the perfect place to run away and hide and to keep Seraphina away from the secrets of London.
But now that he was no longer working as he did, he needed the money and wanted revenge. This was the best way he knew how. After hearing that the Earl of Montrose had passed away, he knew he’d waited too long to act. And so he would get his revenge on the son. At the same time, the duke would send him enough money so that he could live well for years afterwards. An idea suddenly came to him, and he slowly walked to the door.
If I mean to find out the truth, see who she might be talking to, and see what questions she might be asking others, the only thing to do is follow her.
Determined, Gregory left the house. He would keep out of sight but follow Seraphina to see just what secrets she had uncovered.
***
Seraphina stared back at Arabella and Edward, trying to imagine if they’d really asked that question. Her world had changed; the earth had dropped from under her feet. Now, she had discovered the truth.
Her father was not her father, and it was someone else who was also dead. She had been born of chaos and been tossed aside. And then she was asked by a lady, her own sister, if she might like to go home with her and live as true sisters. It felt like she was living in some sort of dream.
Arabella coloured.
“Forgive me. Edward told me I should not be hasty about such things. For I know you have much to think of and much has changed in your life. But I must tell you that I am overjoyed to have a sister, and I can tell you our brother is very kind and loving and would be very happy to have you in his house.
He knows of the letter, of course, but he does not know that we have met. I’ve not sent word to him yet.”
