Page 74 of An Earl's Christmas Seduction
Lord Thornton put his arm around her.
“It’s all right, my dear. You’ve done nothing wrong. You were a far better mother to Edmund than his own would’ve been,” he said.
Edmund turned to stare at Nicholas who now realized why his father had been so generous with Edmund’s school fees and other material support. They were brothers. Their lives could have been so very different…
“It’s extraordinary,” he said, and Edmund shook his head.
“I…I just…I never expected…” he said, and Nicholas sighed.
“You and I both, Edmund. But is that all? Are there any other secrets you want to reveal?” he asked, looking at each of them in turn.
Sir Samuel shook his head.
“Nicholas, your father, and Edmund’s father did what he thought was best. Whether he made the right decision or not… well, that’s for the two of you to decide. He and Lady Eleanor should never have married. Her death was a tragedy. But it was Caroline your father loved. He’d have married her, too, if it hadn’t been for the sad circumstances they suffered.
He did what he thought was right, and there was never any question of your legitimacy. As for Edmund, well it’s up to you whether you reveal the truth or not. We swore we would keep the secret,” he said. Glancing to the older members of the party, they all nodded.
The only person who appeared confused was his wife, and she looked up at her husband with an angry expression on her face.
“You never told me any of this, Samuel,” she said, and her husband laughed.
“I was the earl’s lawyer. It was none of your business, Harmony,” he replied, and his wife folded her arm sulkily.
“But… oh, it’s too much,” Nicholas said, for he could hardly take it all in.
Amelia now took his hand in hers, squeezing it, and he looked down at her, sighing and shaking his head.
“You don’t have to take it all in at once,” she said, and he nodded.
“No… I suppose I don’t, but… why was it kept a secret from me?” he asked, and now he turned to his aunt, who shook her head.
“That was your father’s business, Nicholas. We had no right to reveal anything about what happened, at least not until he was dead. The three of us: myself, Lady Thornton, and Lady Fairchild agreed to keep the matter to ourselves. But we didn’t realize Constance knew what she did. When you revealed it over luncheon, I knew we couldn’t prevent you from finding out the rest. It wouldn’t have been right to have done so, either,” she said.
Nicholas was glad to know the truth. He had wanted to know it, even as it was more extraordinary than he had ever imagined it to be. He had suspected his father of having an affair but had assumed it was merely with a servant or some aristocratic woman, never to be seen again. But to discover he had a brother…to discover Edmund was his brother, changed everything.
“I think it’s time the rest of us went back downstairs, don’t you? It’s been quite a morning. I, for one, need a drink,” Sir Samuel said, and there was a murmur of agreement among the other guests.
They filed out of the room, leaving only Nicholas and Amelia’s mother behind.
“You should go and talk to Edmund, Nicholas. It’s as much a shock for him as it is for you,” Amelia said, and Nicholas nodded.
“I will… I just… I want a moment with you,” he said, glancing at Amelia’s mother, who nodded.
“Just a moment, yes. But she needs her rest,” she said, and rising from her place at the bedside, she left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
Nicholas looked down at Amelia, overcome by his feelings for her and grateful to have the truth revealed. He had feared he had lost her thanks to his foolishness.
“Amelia, I’m so sorry for everything,” he said, as tears welled up in his eyes.
She squeezed his hand again.
“I understand, and I know what happened. I know what Constance did,” she said, and Nicholas sighed.
“She wanted you to believe the very worst,” he said, and Amelia nodded.
“And I did believe it. I believed it entirely. But I was foolish not to confront you over it. I shouldn’t have been so quick to draw conclusions, not after everything we shared,” she said, and Nicholas squeezed her hand.
“You did nothing wrong. But when I saw you lying there in the church, I… I feared the worst,” he said.
