Page 55 of The Trouble With Titles
Over the next half an hour, Simon and Mrs. Bigsby discussed what had happened, Simon revealing the details that he knew until the moment arrived for him to express his tremendous regret.
“I beg your forgiveness, Mrs. Bigsby.”
“What for?”
“This … for what my mother did.”
Madeline’s mother rose from her seat, walking over to the window to gaze out over the garden as if she were lost in thought. Simon waited for her reply, the drumming of his fingertips belying any attempt at composure.
“You are not your father—the one who tried to ruin my business. You took steps to rectify that when you gained control of the purse strings.” It was true. When his father’s declining health had forced him to hand over the financial reins, Simon had discreetly placed several large orders with Bigsby’s for the Blackwood estates. It was his way of making amends for any harm his father had caused, which John had concurred was the right thing to do.
“It was the least I could do after he campaigned against your business,” Simon replied quietly.
Mrs. Bigsby nodded. “The gesture was unnecessary, but it was appreciated. And you are not your mother, who … did this.” Her eyes drifted to her pale daughter, lying still on the bed. She shook her head, as though to banish the dark thoughts. Then, turning her gaze back to Simon, she continued, “You are you. I hold you accountable for your own actions. The sins of your parents belong to them alone.”
“That is generous.”
“It is how I would wish to be treated. We all have our own mistakes to answer for, so I cannot hold you responsible for the actions of others; otherwise, we would never find peace. Thank you for acting so swiftly to ensure Madeline received help. Lady Trafford tells me that the timing was crucial.”
“I was fortunate to catch her when she was leaving.”
“And what would you have done if she had already left?”
Simon paused, considering the events of the day, grateful to Mrs. Bigsby for her generosity despite his cloying sense of shame. “I would have repeated what was done with John.Assisted her to evacuate her stomach while sendingsomeone to summon theviscountess back.”
“So it was not luck. Lady Trafford’s presence is a comfort, but I believeyou would have done the same after witnessing what happened with your brother earlier in the day. What has happened to Madeline, and to your brother, is unspeakably evil, but you took decisive action when you were needed. For this, I thank you.”
Simon exhaled deeply, profoundly relieved that Eleanor Bigsby had always been a just person who had treated him without prejudice as a boy, despite his father’s blackguard behavior during his childhood.
“However—”
Simon straightened up in alarm.
“—expect Henrietta to be rather more excitable than I. I believe she will arrive home soon.”
The perceptive mother was proven right. Henri arrived within minutes of her announcement, bursting into the bedchamber with a shriek. “What is this?”
Mrs. Bigsby quickly drew Henri out of the room to inform her of the day’s events out in the hall. Simon could hear the emotional replies from Henri, interspersed with Mrs. Bigsby’s low murmurs, for several minutes until Henri grew quieter. When they reentered, Henri scowled at him with an accusatory glare and took up the seat next to Madeline’s bed. She stared down at her twin in anguish, brushing Madeline’s hair aside as if to confirm with her own fingertips that she yet lived.
Simon watched in silence, the guilt that had dissipated during his conversation with Mrs. Bigsby returning to claw at his gut.
Henri exhaled sharply. “Will she be well?”
“It would seem so,” Mrs. Bigsby responded from the window. “Lady Trafford thinks Madeline is in good health and will make a full recovery.”
“Lady Trafford? The doctor’s daughter who married the Earl of Stirling’s heir?”
Mrs. Bigsby nodded. “She apprenticed at her father’s side. It was she who treated Madeline when she collapsed.”
Henri rubbed her face. “There are rumors she treated Lord Trafford, too. After some sort of attack that he suffered. Then he married her to abate the scandal.”
Simon raised his brows, but remained silent. He had seen how Trafford admired his wife, and he did not believe that deterring her ruin was the sole reason the buck had wed the intriguing healer who had saved both Simon’s brother and Madeline this day.
After a while, Henri left, shooting him another scathing glare as she departed the room with her mother which left Simon to resume his seat at Madeline’s bedside and wonder how much Eleanor Bigsby had revealed to Henri out in the corridor.
A couple hours later, Madeline stirred from her fitful sleep. “Thirsty.”
Simon held her head up to assist her to drink the broth that had been brought up on a tray, Lady Trafford having left instructions to have her consume as much fluid as possible to replenish what she had lost. Madeline drank down two cups before falling asleep again, Simon noting she was more peaceful than before.
