All at once, Maria’s eyes flared wide, Thomas’ skin grew ashen, and the ostentatious couple burst into Jasper’s master bedchamber, colour high and hands flapping.
“Oh Maria, whathavethey done to you?” Mrs. Roberts fluttered to Maria’s bedside and put a palm to her forehead, though her gaze was fixed on Jasper. “Aren’t you fortunate to have the duke here to dote on you. I daresay his staff will provide anything you desire, if it should make you comfortable. I… What in the bloody hell ishedoing here?”
The woman turned to eye Thomas with hateful scrutiny, as the man’s face contorted with spasms.
Damn. Jasper marvelled at the woman’s ability to sound achingly sweet in one moment, and in the next, spit such vitriol.
Mr. Roberts blustered, his chest puffing up and his face reddening as he caught sight of Thomas. “Wh-wh-what? How dare you deign to sully the duke’s home with your presence! You belong in Bethlem Roy?—”
“He most certainly does not,” Maria protested, her mien impassive, though determined. “Thomas is brilliant”—Maria listed the items on her fingers, ignoring her mother’s protests—“talented, wickedly amusing, and tender-hearted. He speaks and moves differently than you and I, but he is far more indefatigable in creating a decent life and name for himself.”
“That man has amadness, you stupid, headstrong girl!” Mrs. Roberts gestured wildly, her eyes bulging with the force of her words. “You’ve unquestionably lost the duke’s favour now! Not to mention ruining any chance your sisters have of a decent match!”
His heart drumming a tattoo against his ribs and anger flaring hot along his skin, Jasper opened his mouth to give the woman a set-down. But Maria spoke first.
“Howdareyou?” she seethed at her mother. “Thomas stands just there, and you dishonour him with your pitiful, spiteful lies and ignorance. I am proud to call him family, but I’m afraid that I cannot say the same for you.”
Jasper’s chest swelled with pride as the Roberts’ gasped and spluttered. Maria was utterly glorious. She needed him for nothing, and yet he was desperate to be partnered with her in life…and hoped she felt the same.
“Mayhap we ought to seek privacy for this discussion,” Mr. Roberts put in hopefully, casting sidelong glances at Jasper.
“The duke stays,” Maria returned, her gaze locking with Jasper’s for a brief moment before returning to her parents. “I daresay he wouldn’t pay you a shilling if we married—Icertainly wouldn’t.”
“Indeed,” Jasper agreed, though the wordifmade his stomach wobble.
“Maria!” Mrs. Roberts shrieked. Her face was all but tomato-red, and a vein was bulging from her temple. “Well, I never.”
“How dare you speak to your mother that way?” Mr. Roberts raged, his hands fisted at his sides. “Apologize this instant!”
“I will not. It is far past time that I told you what I think about your imprisonment of my dear brother.” She reached out to Thomas, and he rounded the bed to clasp her hand in both of his.
* * *
Maria’s heartclattered around in her chest, her pulse racing with indignation and protectiveness. How could her parents be so…vile? It baffled her entirely.
Her mother turned from red to green. “How long has this been going on?”
“You—grunt—say that a-a-a-a—click—as though—grunt, click, grunt—she-she?—”
Maria rubbed the back of Thomas’ hand with the pad of her thumb. The poor man was so nervous that he could scarcely get a word out. “Shh, shh, brother,” she whispered. “It will be well.”
He gave her a returning squeeze, his shoulders twitching upward and his face scrunching in a grimace.
Their parents cringed in disgust, and Maria’s heart ached even more deeply for the man beside her.
Thomas stiffened his spine and cleared his throat. “I do not need your—grunt—approval. I h-h—click—have a wealth of love and friendship, as well as—grunt, click—funds enough to give me a happy life. I?—”
“You’ll have none ofmyfunds, boy,” their father said, his face reddened with rage.
Notching his chin higher, Thomas gave him a mocking smirk. “I have no n-n-n—click—need of your funds. I’m fully capable of—grunt—providing for myself.”
“How could you do this to us?” Their mother spun on Maria with an accusatory glare. “How could you have released him? And where have you been hiding him, for pity’s sake? The hospital will receive a shocking letter from me, I daresay.Shocking! They owe me my sodding money back, by God!”
How couldI?Maria mused. Pain prickled in her chest, but she felt a new sense of detachment from her parents. She’d known that they were monstrous for locking Thomas away without giving him even an opportunity to fit in with society, and for not thinking twice about their decision. But now, faced with evidence of his success, they remained unmoved and unchanged in their opinion.
“I have done nothing to you. I have merely provided someone whom I love with a chance at a life greater than you deigned to offer. And I will not stop for anyone, most particularly two people as cruel and ungracious as you. Please leave.”
Her mother’s face was blotched red, and her father’s had very nearly become purple.
