Gil looked hard at him. Why did he have the feeling there was more to the story? Some of the famous Westcott meddling, perhaps?
So he had a half brother, did he? Adrian. But he did not want to know. He did not want to know anything about his father’s life.
He nodded at Bertrand before Lady Molenor, one of the Westcott sisters, hugged him and congratulated him.
“Once you marry a Westcott, Bennington,” Lord Molenorsaid, “you become one forever after, even if you do retain your own name. You might as well get accustomed to it.”
“Katy is now officially my granddaughter,” the Marchioness of Dorchester said, extending a hand for Gil’s. She was beaming at him. There might even have been tears in her eyes. “I am very happy for you... Gil.”
And, taking her hand and glancing at Abby, who had tears on her cheeks as well as swimming in her eyes, he fought not to break down in front of the lot of them.
It was true. It wastrue.
“It is a blessing,” the Duke of Netherby said with a languid sigh, “that the judge is no longer present. He would surely be handing out handkerchiefs and complaining about his dinner.”
•••
Lady Pascoe had not said where their home in London was, but it was not hard to discover. Alexander had volunteered the information even before they left the courtroom, and Colin had confirmed it. General Sir Edward Pascoe had a house on Portman Square.
Abigail and Gil arrived there promptly at ten the following morning, though neither had been looking forward to it.
“I think,” Gil had said the previous evening, “we should just leave for Essex in the morning, Abby. It will be easier going there to fetch Katy when they are not there. And they will probably be relieved not to see us again.”
But there had been no real conviction in his voice.
“You cannot just go there and snatch her away, Gil,” Abigail had said. “She has not seen you since she was a baby. She will not even remember you.”
He had grimaced and frowned.
“Besides,” she had said, “we are the ones who offered the meeting, albeit here rather than at their home. It would be... dishonorable not to go.” And besides again, the general and his wife were Katy’sgrandparents.
He had not argued the point. He had not been really serious anyway.
And so here they were, being admitted to the house on Portman Square by the general’s butler and then to a small but elegant salon on the ground floor. Abigail smiled and was filled with dread as their hosts welcomed them with stiff courtesy—which did not involve handshakes—and directed them to two chairs before sitting down themselves. They were the child’sgrandparents, and they were soon to be deprived of the granddaughter who had lived with them for the past two years.
Winning the case had been the easy part, Abigail thought during an uneasy silence while the coffee tray was brought in and Lady Pascoe poured and offered a plate of macaroons.
“Judge Burroughs was wise to suggest that we meet, just the four of us together,” Abigail said as a conversational opener, cup and saucer in hand.
It was the wrong thing to say. But was there a right thing?
General Pascoe sat like a block of granite—was it a military thing, that posture and look? But Harry had never had it. Lady Pascoe’s mouth was set thin in a face that was cold and haughty.
“Judge Burroughs,” she said, “ought to be removed from the bench in disgrace. The comments he inserted constantly into the proceedings were frivolous and inappropriate. We would have had a fairer judgment if there had beena jury. Yourhusband, Mrs. Bennington, is a cruel and abusive man. I daresay you have not discovered the truth of that yet. You will.”
“What Ihavediscovered, ma’am,” Abigail said, “is quite the opposite. But I do understand that you are hurt and fearful for the granddaughter you have cared for throughout the past two years. You need not be afraid. I am to be her mama. My family, as my cousin the Earl of Riverdale said yesterday on behalf of them all, will take her under their collective wing as they have done with all the children of the family. We will bring her to Essex to visit you and the general, and we invite you to come to Gloucestershire to see her whenever you wish. I will even send you specific invitations. Any child who is surrounded by a large and loving family is fortunate indeed. I was such a child, and I am still surrounded by them despite the unsettling discovery that was made several years ago about my parents’ marriage.”
“You have a glib tongue, Mrs. Bennington,” Lady Pascoe said.
“Ma’am,” Gil said, “allow me to tell you, if you will, about the day Katy was born. Caroline had had a hard time and was exhausted. After holding my daughter for a minute or two, I was expected to relinquish her into a maid’s care and go away to celebrate. I held her for a number of hours instead. My heart almost hurt with the love I felt for her. And I made the vow to myself that I would love her with every breath I drew for the rest of my life. And care for her. And allow her to grow into the sort of woman she was—is—meant to be. I have never broken that vow and never will. If there has been cruelty in my life—and there has been on the battlefield—it could never, ever spill over into my domestic relationships. Either with my wife or my daughter or any other children with whom I may be gifted.I have dreamed all my life of home and of family and of love.”
His tone was clipped, his voice apparently without feeling. Abigail felt her heart break a little bit. He was thirty-four years old. He had had a desperately hard and lonely childhood, and life had been harsh for him in the army. But he had had a dream and had never relinquished it.
“An affecting speech,” Lady Pascoe said.
“An olive branch,” the general said, speaking for the first time. “It is easier to be magnanimous as the winner of an altercation than it is as the loser. My wife and I are the losers, Bennington, thanks to a judge I would dearly like to see strung up by his thumbs. But we have nothing to gain by calling you a liar or refusing the offer your wife has made. Caroline was our only child. Katherine is our only grandchild. My wife would not wish to cut herself off from all contact with her merely to spite you. Now... you will be wishing to see the child. Perhaps even to take her, though I am not sure the Pulteney Hotel is the best—”
“What?”Gil had shot to his feet. “Katy ishere?In this house?”
