Page 83 of The Odd Riddle of the Lost Duchess
“Grandfather wasn’t murdered, Grandmother,” she heard Noah say. “He died of natural causes. I agree it was untimely, but who has any say when Death will come for a man.”
“That was not true,” the Dowager Duchess said, even though her strident tone had weakened. “All of what you just read was a lie, a fable, written to throw the light from the real culprit.”
“Look at it, Grandmother. I know you’re not blind.” Noah said, and by that time Emmeline could not hold back her inquisitiveness and peeked around the door. She spotted Noah at the side of a large bed where a woman, a fraction of its massive size, rested. The book was being placed right in front of her face.
Emmeline recoiled in horror.Is that a woman or an emaciated vulture?
The woman was thin–so thin that her skin clung to pure bones. Her face was yellowish and her cheekbones protruded so that her sallow cheeks looked sucked in. Her nose was jutting and the wisps of hair around her skull had given her a predatory look.
“Read it, Grandmother,” Noah encouraged and even placed his finger at the spot.
To Emmeline’s surprise, the woman’s eyes ran over the lines quickly. She stood there, hoping beyond hope that the woman would believe the words that she–Emmeline–knew were true. It didn’t take long for the older woman to read all of it. When she was done, she leaned back on her mound of pillows with a tortured look on her face.
Then her face hardened and she turned to Noah with a hateful look in her eyes, “Lies! Thatimpassionedspiel is nothing but drivel. Don’t you have any sense, boy? This is some trick to make you turncoat on your own family. The cursed Grants are trying to fool you.”
“Grandmother,” Noah said with a still voice, as he closed the journal, “Mark this day, that I have done my duty to you. If the words of the man who was there when grandfather died, the physician’s many reports, and common sense, cannot change your mind, only God himself will.”
His grandmother huffed. “You should be thanking me boy, that Grant chit would have done worse to you if she wasn’t dead.”
“You mean Lady Emmeline?” Noah replied easily, then a sly smile lightened his face. “My fiancée? Emmeline, love, please come inside.”
Taking in a deep breath, Emmeline strode inside to stop right at Noah’s side, “Your Grace.”
The older woman looked like she was facing death itself, as she had gone pale with fright. “You! What are you doing here! You’re supposed to be dead!”
“But I am not,” Emmeline replied calmly, “Despite your best efforts.” Taking the journal from Noah, Emmeline spoke. “My granduncle wrote those words in good faith. He, unlike many others, was not an enemy of your husband. They did compete for your hand but when your husband won, my granduncle gave in with good grace. If you cannot let go of the lies you’ve told yourself, I cannot do it for you.”
The Dowager Duchess’ mouth twisted into a snarl, “Get out, now! And Noah, if you marry that woman, you will regret it–mark my words.”
Shaking his head, Noah placed a hand on the small of Emmeline’s back and spoke to her. “There is nothing more to do, my love. She has admitted her guilt in arranging your death. She refuses to recant her false accusations against your family. I have done all that duty demands.”
“Goodbye, Your Grace,” Emmeline said quietly with a curtsey. “I will pray for your soul.”
“You’re damned!” she shouted to their turned backs, “You and your whole line is damned!”
* * *
Far removed from the Dowager Duchess’ rooms, Noah spun a silent Emmeline into his arms and hugged her. With his chin on top of her head, Noah held the softly-trembling woman and rocked her slowly.
“Ignore her, my love.” Noah murmured in her ear. “Her lies have become her truth and now, she’s nothing but shrew. Madness has taken over. Her power is at an end. You are safe now.”
“But she still has a soul,” Emmeline murmured, while surrounded by his warmth, “And I am sorry for her.”
Noah sighed audibly and smoothly untangled himself from her. Taking Emmeline’s hand, he led both of them down to his study and closed the door behind them.
“This is improper,” Emmeline chided softly, “You cannot just secret me off to your study. Tongues will start wagging.”
“Then let them wag,” Noah answered back, as he led the two to the nearest chaise, and gently sat them both. His palm cupped her cheek and his long fingers laced into her hair. Noah felt his eyes drink in the sight of her like a parched man gulping water.
“I prayed, I shouted, I cried, and I cursed,” Noah said quietly. “Just to have you back. I didn’t sleep Emmeline, I couldn’t. I wanted you back. I held on so long, while everyone and everything around me, told me to believe you were gone. And to my shame, part of me did believe it. But only when the last light of hope had been snuffed out.”
He hated to allow it but a tinge of anger burned his chest, amalgamating with the pain and sorrow that had taken his torso as its home three months ago.
“Why…why didn’t you come to me first, Emmeline?” Noah asked a bit more tersely than he wanted. “I could have offered you much more protection than my mother could, and at least…at least my heart wouldn’t have been torn in two.”
Emmeline's eyes lowered and her tone was hushed and sorrowful, “I am sorry, Noah, but keeping me safe wasn’t the only issue. I needed you and George to come to some sort of peace. I needed you two to do away with the feud on your own terms and that meant taking me out of the picture. I am heartbroken that you felt so much pain, but it wasn’t easy on me either. I cried, Noah, so much, but then I remembered it was for a righteous cause. Please forgive me.”
Her words spread soft healing balm over the ragged shreds of his soul and Noah found that though he still felt betrayed on some level, he couldn’t stay angry at her. Her words made sense and he supposed they’d settle in his system over time.
