She frowned, white brows dropping over stern eyes. “And yet you refuse to follow where your heart leads you. Come along, my girl. You’re made of sterner stuff than that.”
Seraphina, blinking back those damnable tears, shook her head. “But how can I make a life with him, my lady?” she demanded.
“How?” Lady Tesh demanded right back. “Because he is a duke and you have a past? Do you think your friendshere should have given up happiness with their dukes simply because they had a bit of baggage?” Here she motioned to Katrina and Bronwyn, who stood with their husbands’ arms wrapped about them. “Would you tell your other friends to forgo happiness with dukes of their own should they happen to find ones to love?” Here she motioned to Adelaide and Honoria before saying in an aside, “And don’t think I’m not actively looking for some dukes to match you with, ladies.”
“Oh, I’m not certain dukes are for us,” Honoria said slyly before taking Adelaide’s hand in her own. Adelaide, for her part, blushed crimson but held tight to Honoria’s.
“Oh!” Lady Tesh said, straightening, even as Seraphina stared at her two friends, seeing them in a new light, pieces clicking together that had not fit before.
“Well, good on you,” the dowager viscountess said with an approving nod. “Men can be such a headache at times. Current company excluded, of course.” She nodded to both Ash and Sebastian, who gave her wide grins, before turning to Seraphina. “And excluding your own duke, of course.”
She took Seraphina’s hand in hers then, giving it a squeeze. “Believe you me,” she said in a full voice, “if I could have my own dear husband back for even a day, I would and gladly. Don’t turn your back on happiness if you have a chance at it, my girl.”
Seraphina shook her head helplessly, looking over Lady Tesh’s head to her sisters. “And what if he doesn’t want me any longer?” she demanded. “What then? Am I to lay my heart at his feet and wait for him to trample on it?”
Which was when Phineas decided it was time to join in on the conversation. He landed on her shoulder and rubbed his cheek against hers, bringing her attention once moreto the tears that had unknowingly been tracking down her cheeks. But this time Seraphina didn’t care that her emotions were on display for everyone to see. And then her pet spoke.
“Keep the heid!” he squawked, nodding his head up and down before adding, “Damn it all to bloody hell.”
A sputter of a half sob, half laugh escaped her lips at the echo of Iain in that blasted phrase. And then her sisters were before her, their own eyes welling as they gazed up at her.
“If I remember anything about Iain,” Millicent said softly, gently, cupping Seraphina’s cheek and wiping away the tears that would insist on falling, “it is that he was kind, and just as stubborn as you. If he has fallen back in love with you, as you say he has, then there is nothing on heaven or earth that will change it this time around.”
“Claim some happiness for yourself for once in your life,” Elspeth said through her tears.
And as Seraphina stood there, surrounded by these people she loved, and who loved her in return despite everything she had revealed to them, she felt that maybe she could claim that happiness. She thought of Iain that last day in Scotland, when he had declared his love to her, how he had all but begged her to reconsider. She had thought she was doing right by him in refusing.
Now she wondered if she hadn’t made the biggest mistake of her life.
“I can’t leave you,” she said to her sisters now, one last attempt to hold on.
But her sisters only smiled, as if sensing victory was at hand.
“We’re grown now, Seraphina,” Millicent said gently.“You’ve been mama bird to us for so long, keeping the nest safe.”
“But it’s time for us to fly,” Elspeth added.
With that, a permission she hadn’t known she needed, she felt the last of her doubts fall away. Drawing in a deep, fortifying breath, she let it out in a sharp exhale, her mind already spinning with what was to come. Was she afraid of the journey she was about to take? More than she’d ever been in her life.
But if Iain was at the end of that journey, she knew that any fear she might feel would be well worth it.
Smiling truly for what felt like the first time in too long, she said, “You’ve all wished to know how the story of Josephine is to end?” Her smile spread into a grin, one she found she could not contain even if she had wanted to. “Well, it looks as though you’re about to find out.”
Chapter 28
Iain, theGaia Review and Repositoryis here.”
Iain, who had been deeply immersed in the accounting books before him, looked up to see his cousin in the doorway of his study holding up the periodical. She smiled, with no hint of the distrust and wariness that used to fill her gaze. It was a wonderful sight, proof that the more than two months of work they had all done in repairing their broken relationship had succeeded, giving hope for the future.
Or, rather, it would have been a wonderful sight, if Iain hadn’t been completely and totally focused on the paper in her hand. He stared at it, his heart pounding in his chest, fighting the urge to race across the room and snatch it from her. He had been religiously asking both his cousin and his grandmother—and the butler, and basically any servant who would listen—to inform him when the magazine arrived. As it was only published monthly, and had to travelall the way to the wilds of Scotland before it arrived on the doorstep of Balgair Castle, he’d had no idea when it would finally appear.
But he had not expected it to arrive so close after the last issue, which they had received a mere two weeks ago. He would certainly not complain, however, for here it was, a bit of connection to Seraphina.
But Cora was waiting for him to speak. Managing a smile, he put the accounting book aside and stood. “Shall we go see Gran then?”
Together they made their way through Balgair to their grandmother’s sitting room. The duchess was dozing in a stray sunbeam, a bit of embroidery in her lap. As they watched, a light snore escaped from her lips.
Cora, chuckling fondly, made her way to the woman’s side and gently shook her shoulder. “Gran, theGaia Review and Repositoryis here.”
