Page 70 of His Wild Duchess
George nodded as he left the window, feeling himself calm enough to join his friend beside the fire. “Yeats Manor is finally complete,” he replied. “Invitations have already been sent. I expect most of the Ton to intend.”
“The Ton,” Fred repeated, his voice mocking. “Anythin’ I need to know about ‘em?”
“I doubt it. They’ll find you and Winnie quite entertaining, I’m sure.”
Fred let out a loud laugh. “I figured just as much. ‘Spose we’ll be inclined to give ‘em a show.”
“Now, now, Fred, there’s no need for that.”
“Why,” he grumbled as he gave George a side eye, “Don’t tell me you’re beginnin’ to feel shameful, Georgie.”
Shooting him a look, George rapidly shook his head. “You know I’d never think such a thing, Freddie.”
“Wouldn’ harm you to remind me.”
“Fred,” George said with an amused smirk, “I’d sooner be embarrassed of my homeland than render you to such low standards. The only way I’ll get through it all is with you and Winnie at my side.”
“I believe you’re forgetting one.”
“Hm?”
Fred raised a brow. “Penny. Your wife.”
“Now, Fred -”
Smacking his large palm down on the armrest of his seat, Fred twisted himself to face George, looking rather miffed all of a sudden. He even set his half-full glass down, a most peculiar thing to see someone like Fred do. He must have something important on his mind.
“The boy that showed up on my doorstep all those years ago wouldn’t have dared to give a lady of that calibre the slightesthintof the disrespect you have given that woman.”
George blinked at him. Every once and a while, for as long as George knew Fred, the man managed to blurt out the most thought-provoking statements. George couldn’t deny that the stereotype of Americans and their way of thought lived on within him - it was a product of his society. That being said, Fred was a man of intellect and wisdom when he wished to be.
“Enlighten me, Fred,” he inquired. “What disrespect have I given to Penelope?”
“You walk ‘round this house actin’ like you’re worlds apart,” Fred said. “There ain’t nothin’ between you two other than your pride.”
George’s brow shot up in surprise. “Mypride?”
“What else is keepin’ you from admittin’ the truth?”
“Fred, the fact of the matter is that our marriage began as nothing more than -”
“A deal,” he interjected. “I’m well aware, Georgie.” He raised his glass once more, downing the rest of it in a large gulp or two. Lowering it to the nearby end table, Fred turned as to fully face him, half his face illuminated by the smoldering flames. “I told you of how Winnie and I came to be, haven’t I?”
George sighed. “You have. Plenty of times. Now, Fred, I -”
“When my daddy passed,” Fred began in a loud, booming voice, “All that was left for me was a patch of land out west, a bag of seeds, and a nasty pack of pests that sought to chew through my wood. But each day, when I went to the market, there was an angel on God’s green earth. And somehow, it seemed likeIwas the only one to notice it.”
George sighed, but nestled within his seat to enjoy the story. Even though it was one he had heard more times than he could count, George could not ignore the allure behind it. There was a sort of magic behind the love between Fred and Winnifred, one that George had admired from the moment he met them. Even now, when Fred told the tale out of spite, he reveled in it as though he were a dog basking in the warmest sunlight.
“So,” Fred continued, “I took my behind down to her estate, knocked on the door and demanded to speak to her daddy. The man didn’ hesitate to drop me down a peg. But you know what?” He leaned forward to press a firm hand against George’s knee. “That didn’ stop athing.The man told me when pigs fly, so I bought every pig that was for sale. You know that that did?”
George smiled. “What did it do, Freddie?”
“Not a damned thing.”
They laughed together, the lightheartedness entering George’s heart but managing to seep right out when the reality of hissituation returned. If it was all as easy as buying pigs from the market, George would’ve done it ages ago.
“The point is, Georgie,” Fred said, “That love prevailed.Truelove prevailed. The permission of Winnie’s father was nothin’ more than a pleasantry in the end. There ain’t no denyin’ the truth once its right in front of ya’, clear as the day. Do you understand me, Georgie?”
