The doubt that had existed inside of Gabriel all week, the fear, the indecision… it faded like mist in sunlight. In that moment, there was nothing less that Gabriel wanted to do than go withSommerton, and nothing more that he wanted to do than be with his wife.
He turned so that he found the pianoforte once more. This time, the sun which shone through the room found the pianoforte, illuminating it so that the instrument seemed to glow bright. Again, he heard his wife’s music in his mind’s eyes and this time he smiled as if he could see her sitting there and playing.
How could I have been so wrong? How could I have been so foolish? All this time, the answer was right there in front of me… I just couldn’t see it.
“You know what,” Gabriel said with a huge sigh. “No, I don’t think I will go with you today, Sommerton. Nothing could bring me less joy than that.”
“Oh?” Sommerton did not sound at all surprised. “And what will you do instead?”
“My wife,” Gabriel said. “I… I think it is time that I go to her. Yes…” His smile grew. “It is time that I get my wife back.”
Gabriel had changed much these past few weeks, and only now was he willing to admit it. It was a change that excited him, one through which he saw a future that he no longer feared. In fact, he wanted that future, he wanted those changes, and he wanted his wife by his side to experience them with.
He just had to hope that he wasn’t too late. He just had to hope that his wife loved him as he now knew that he loved her. He just had to hope…
CHAPTER 29
Sophia had been confined to her bedroom until her parents decided that she was of the right state of mind to be allowed back out. It was not the first time in her life that they had resorted to such actions, but that made the circumstance no less humiliating.
She was a woman grown. She was a duchess! But they locked her away in her bedroom as if she was a child. Worse than that, they truly believed that she had done something to deserve it, that a punishment such as this one was fitting of her crime.
And what crime is that? Speaking my mind for a change? Refusing to be bent and broken so I might fit the model of what they deem as appropriate? I am not the same woman who I used to be, and it is time my parents realized it.
The saddest part of all of this, was that even were Sophia not locked in her bedroom, she would not have had anywhere to go.
She was reading this morning, anything she could do to pass the time. The book was a history because she could not stomach romances in her current state. And as she read, as she tried to forget her circumstance, she heard a commotion coming from outside…
It sounded like shouting. A warning from someone on the property of an arriving guest. This was soon joined by more shouting coming from inside her home. Next, she heard knocking on the front door, and then more shouting.
“What on earth…” On instinct, she went to open her door, only to be reminded that it was locked.
She cursed silently, considered what to do, and then rolled her eyes at herself. Her bedroom was on the second floor of the townhouse, and it was positioned directly over the front door outside. To see who had come, all she needed to do was stick her head out the window. So, that’s what she did.
The street outside was quiet for this time of morning; carriages rattled along the road, random pedestrians walked to and fro, and the odd dog could be seen sprinting down alleys. But none of that was what took her attention.
Sophia looked straight down and her eyes widened because she saw immediately who had come calling. It was none other than Gabriel.
“I demand to see her,” she heard Gabriel say.
“Demand, do you?” It was her father’s voice that she heard next, presumably standing in the doorway and blocking Gabriel from entering. “And who are you to demand anything?”
“I am your daughter’s husband!”
“You are a rake and a scoundrel!” her father declared. “And I insist that you leave my property at once.”
“Not until I speak with Sophia.”
“She does not wish to see you. Ever! If it is comfort that you are after, might I suggest Lady Clarissa Harwood. I hear that you and she are quite close.”
“That is not…”
“My business? Your Grace, where my daughter’s affairs are concerned, it is entirely my business.” Sophia leaned out the window, trying her best to see what was going on, but all she could see was the top of Gabriel’s head. “You embarrassed her, as you shamed me and my family. If you think we are going to let you inside so that you can do so again, you are sorely mistaken.”
“I have no intention of embarrassing you.”
“Intentions are funny things like that,” her father said. “Perhaps you mean well. Perhaps you wish to do right. But I know you, Your Grace, as I know your type. You cannot help yourself. It is in your blood.”
“How dare you!”
