"Isn't that lovely?" Cressida said. "You deserve a gentleman who is willing to make you feel so desired, Victoria. You deserve a husband who wants to be married to you so ardently that he is willing to give you anything you ask for in order to make it a reality."
Victoria sighed. "Perhaps," she agreed. "But I don't know how to process this. How can he possibly want to marry me so much?He hardly knows me, as I reminded him on the day he made his request. And yet, he acts as though that makes no difference."
"Well, as you know, Matthew and I hardly knew one another when we married," Cressida reminded her. "And yet it's been a wonderful thing for the both of us. Perhaps Lord Harbury hopes your story will be a similar one."
"I told him that he shouldn't count on it," Victoria said. "I told him that I didn't think I would ever be able to fall in love again."
"Is this because of that man?" Cressida meant Jonathan. She had never been able to bring herself to refer to him by his name. Victoria knew that her sister harbored even more resentment toward Jonathan than Victoria herself did, a fact she usually found comforting. It was a good thing to be shown such love.
But today, she didn't wish to think about Jonathan at all. "It has nothing to do with him," she said.
"Because I know he's the reason you haven't gone out into society these past few years."
"That's true, but I haven't thought about him at all recently," Victoria said honestly. "There's simply been too much else going on."
"Like this proposal."
"Among other things."
"You really ought to open yourself up to the possibility of finding love, Victoria, even if it feels unlikely to you right now. I didn't think I could ever love Matthew, but now the two of us are so happy together that it's hard to believe we ever doubted our potential as a couple. I'm so grateful for the fact of our marriage that I hardly know what to say about it. But if I had listened to my instincts from the start, it would have never happened."
"I know that," Victoria said.
"Well, that's why I say you should do your best to keep an open mind as you go into this marriage. You never know. You might be surprised by it," Cressida said. "You might find yourself falling in love after all."
"I know," Victoria said. "I know anything is possible. But it doesn't seem very likely to me, that's all."
"Why not? If it's not about…that man…then what's holding you back? Isn't Lord Harbury a kind person?"
"Oh, he's been very nice," Victoria said. "I told you how welcoming he has been to me, how he's made me feel that he wants me to have whatever I want to make me happy and comfortable in this new arrangement."
"You did mention that," Cressida agreed. "That's why I'm so surprised to hear you say so confidently that you can never love him! What's the matter with him?"
"There's nothing the matter with him," Victoria sighed. "It's me. I'm the problem."
"But I don't see how. It's not that you're incapable of love. Whatever you may think about that, I know that you have a great capacity to love others, Victoria. I see it in you every time we're together. And as your sister, I know you better than anyone in the world, and I know what a loving person you are. You cannot convince me otherwise."
"I think that perhaps a person reaches a point in her life when her heart has been broken too many times," Victoria said. It was the closest she dared come to the truth. "I don't think I could possibly extend my love to another person. Not again. Not after everything."
"I don't understand," Cressida admitted. "You say your heart has been broken too many times, but what do you mean? Other than the first time?—"
"Jonathan."
"Yes, him. Who else have you ever loved? You didn't love your late husband. You hardly knew him at all."
"No, you're right. I suffered no heartbreak when he died," Victoria agreed.
"So then what are you talking about?" Cressida asked. "When did you have your heart broken? Is there something I don't know about?"
Victoria looked away. She couldn't confess to it.
"Victoria…no, surely not. The duke?"
"I never meant for it to happen," Victoria whispered. "Truly, I didn't. I never thought…"
"You fell in love with the duke? I thought you didn't even like the duke."
"I didn't like him. I don't know. Something changed. We spent so much time with one another, and…he really is a good man, Cressida. I thought he was selfish at first. I couldn't look beyond the fact that he was trying to have me removed from this house. But now I can see that he really does care about me, and about what happens to me. He was never just trying to reclaim the place as his own. It was always bigger than that. And…he's been through some hardships."
