Page 27 of Matters of a Duke's Heart
“Mr. Hemming, Your Grace,” he answered.
“Perfect. Alexander, say this to Mr. Hemming. Je suis désolée. Would you like to know what it means?”
She didn’t force the knowledge upon him, but gave him the option, expecting him to haughtily shake his head, to finally show her the true extent of all the rumors and the duke’s worries. Even her own mother had commented on what a rascal the boy was already becoming.
“It means I am sorry,” Felicity told him. “Would you like to say that to your tutor? Will you apologize for your words? It truly is not nice to call somebody what you did.”
Alexander still looked caught between what he wanted to do, but after a moment he nodded, and turned toward his tutor, who flinched. “Jee-swee-dess-oh-lay.”
He sounded it out ever so stilted, and Felicity smiled as he recalled her words well.
The tutor bowed his head, still appearing weary, but answered, “vous êtes pardonnés.” To Felicity’s surprise, Alexander turned to her for clarification.
“You are forgiven,” she translated, giving him a softer smile than he likely had received in some time. Standing, she didn’t stray from the boy’s side. She regarded the tutor. “Mr. Hemming, how about you take the rest of the day to venture into the village, perhaps?
Take time for yourself. I wish to bond with my s—with Alexander.” She caught her almost-use of the title, and swallowed it back, realizing it had been a quick ‘proper’ way to address him publicly. After all, the tutors would know her role in the house. Mr. Hemming nodded, seemingly grateful.
“Thank you, Your Grace. Alexander, I will return according to our schedule, and we can try your numbers again.” His instruction was strict even as he hurried from the room. It left Felicity alone with Alexander, the boy turning to face her.
“You did not shout at me like everybody else does,” he mumbled. “Why?”
Felicity contemplated his question. Instead of outright asking, she cocked her head, giving him a conspiratorial smile. “How about you and I take a walk around the grounds? I saw some woodland around the estate when I arrived, but I have yet to venture there, and I have heard you are quite the explorer.”
The praise did the trick, for Alexander’s expression changed into excitement as he frantically nodded. “Yes, please!” He hesitated. “But… Papa said I should not go into the woods.”
“You will be with me,” she assured him. “All will be well. Are you hungry? I can ask the cook to—”
Alexander shook his head.
“Then let us go, then.”
***
The walk out to the woods was exhausting in its own right, and once Felicity and Alexander hit the tree line, she was rather breathless.
“Heavens,” she complained, “I attend my family’s country estate, but it is nowhere near this expansive. And you enjoy coming out here often?”
Alexander nodded. “It is far away from the house.”
That was all he said, and the gentle truth made Felicity pause, her expression crumpling.
“Is that what you prefer?” she asked quietly.
Again, the boy nodded. “It is sad there,” he told her after several long moments where Felicity had thought he’d resigned to not answering verbally. She glanced down at him, her brow raising. “Papa never speaks to me unless it is to scold me, so I do not speak to him.”
“Did your mama scold you?”
Alexander stopped. He frowned up at her, and she got the point that he wouldn’t, or didn’t want to, discuss his mother. She only nodded gently, understanding.
But as they walked deeper into the woods, Alexander spoke again. “Miss Nightingale told me that you are my new mama.”
Grinding to a halt, Felicity was surprised the governess had said such a thing, even if it made sense to give Alexander the simplest explanation of her arrival into their lives.
She decided there and then what sort of action she had to take to secure a good future with him. If she was ever to have a hope of growing close to him or even proving that the duke had made the best choice with her, she could not push. A part of her didn’t want to, anyway. Not yet at least.
“Alexander,” she began, her voice gentle, “I do not have to be your new mama. I do not know if you will speak about your true mother to me, but I assure you I am not here to replace her. If you would like me to I will take on such a role. Yet, for now, it is much more imperative to me that we can simply be friends. Do you think you can see such a thing happening?”
The small boy gazed off into the depth of the trees for a moment, chewing on his lip, before he nodded. “Maybe. That means you must sneak me some extra almond biscuits when I do good in my lessons.”
