His son stopped running and turned to face him while the little dog came running up to Dominic, tongue hanging out and tail wagging. As it came closer, he realized it was the same dog that he and Selina had caught together during the Duke Hunt. The Misunderstood Duke. The one she had lured into her lap with some food and kindness.
Dominic knelt down and held out his hand for the dog to sniff. It licked his hand gently instead of running away like it did in the forest. The duke smiled softly and started to pet the dog, only for his fingers to brush against a piece of paper tucked into the collar of the dog.
He pulled it out and saw a note scrawled in Selina’s neat handwriting. He read it quickly:Every misunderstood dukedeserves a loyal friend who understands him. Love, Selina, the Duchess of Greystone.
A lump formed in Dominic’s throat at her use of ‘love.’She is so full of warmth and affection, yet I pushed her away as if it was nothing.
Percy tugged on Dominic’s sleeve, interrupting his thoughts. Dominic looked down at his son.
The young boy pointed at the note before looking up at his father expectantly.
Dominic cleared his throat. “It is a note from Selina. She left this puppy—Duke—for us. As a gift.”
His son smiled before grabbing Dominic’s hand and pulling him inside. The duke wordlessly followed his son while the dog came in behind them, sniffing at their heels.
The dowager smiled and turned down a hallway, letting Dominic spend time alone with Percy.
The little boy led him upstairs to his nursery. Dominic watched, bewildered, as Percy knelt next to a cupboard and pulled out a wooden box. He opened it up, revealing a bunch of folded-up pieces of paper. Dominic’s mouth dropped open in surprise as he realized that they were the notes he wrote to his son.
So he has saved them after all.
Percy picked up the note lying on top and opened it up. Dominic recognized it as the note he had written to Percy two days ago. It was a short one, with only three words on it.
Percy looked at his father and pointed at the note. “I love you.”
“H—how…” Dominic’s words failed him as he stared at his son. He felt an overwhelming onslaught of emotions that made it difficult for him to recognize them all. But there was one that rose above the others: happiness.
Percy pointed at the piece of paper in Dominic’s hand, the one that came from the dog’s collar. “Mom,” he said simply.
“Mom,” Dominic repeated, feeling tears sting his eyes. Not ‘Mama’, which was what his son always called Eugenia. But ‘Mom’. Even though Selina was not replacing Eugenia in his heart, Percy loved her all the same.
Percy grabbed a fistful of notes and thrust them in Dominic’s hand before sitting cross—legged on the floor. Duke settled in his lap, looking ready for a nap after the excitement that morning. He pointed to the notes. “Read. Please?”
“Y—you want me to read them for you?”
Percy nodded enthusiastically.
Dominic tried to swallow past the lump in his throat. “All right,” he said. He settled on the floor next to him and unfolded thefirst note before glancing at Percy. His son was watching him expectantly.
“Um, this one says ‘I love you’. And I do.” He cleared his throat and set it aside. “I was happy to see you playing in the garden today. I love you, son.”
Percy grinned up at him. The sight made a warm feeling bloom in Dominic’s chest. Encouraged, he kept reading. “I was happy to read aloud to you today. I love you.”
Dominic spent the rest of the morning reading aloud his notes to Percy. His son wanted him to read all of them to him, even though Selina had already done so. Some of the notes he insisted Dominic read more than once.
At first, Dominic felt awkward about it, but it got easier the more he did it while Percy cuddled up next to him. The puppy had eventually fallen asleep in Percy’s lap, and after some time, Dominic realized Percy was asleep as well.
He smiled at his son and picked him up in his arms, careful not to wake him. He carried him to the bed and set him down gently before pulling the blankets over him. “I love you, son,” he whispered, kissing Percy on the temple, before leaving the room.
He needed to speak to Selina. He needed to apologize for the cruel words he told her the day before and to thank her for her gift. For everything.
He did not find her in her room, however. He ran into the dowager duchess in one of the drawing rooms. “Have you seen Selina?”
The dowager looked pale as she shook her head. “I was just informed by the footman that Selina took the carriage out this morning. It just returned without her.”
Twenty-Six
Selina stood outside the door of Gillray Manor, feeling like there was a lead weight in her stomach. She clutched the small suitcase in her hand, packed with a handful of dresses and necessary items that would last her a few days.
