“Does Miss Norleigh know?” Hugh asked as he pulled away.
Alistair sighed. “She does… but only recently. Like you, she was lied to. Unlike you, she is rather upset with me.” He laughed andshook his head. “But do not hold that against her, she has every right to be.”
“Why is she upset?”
“She feels that I used her,” Alistair said. “That I am not the person who she thought that I was.”
“Are you?” he asked.
“Am I what?” Alistair blinked at the question.
“Are you who she thought you are?” He pressed his face into a frown, clearly confused by what Alistair had said. “I don’t… you said you lied for the right reasons, didn’t you?”
“I thought that I did.”
“Then tell her that.”
“It’s not that easy, Hugh.”
“Why not?” he asked, his voice hardening. “I forgive you, so why can’t she?”
“Maybe she will one day…” Alistair rested his hand on Hugh’s shoulder again. “Assuming she ever talks to me again.”
“Why don’t you talk to her?” Hugh pushed. “If you know you did the right thing, make her see that. Make her understand.”
Alistair almost told Hugh that it wasn’t that simple. It sure did not feel as if it was. But he looked at his brother, and he saw the innocence in his eyes, the complete lack of guile, and the way he viewed the world through a frame of simplicity. In his eyes, things were that easy.
Maybe it is that easy? Maybe I’m just making it more complicated than it needs to be? Or maybe I’m just scared that she won’t forgive me… yes, that is likely it.
He laughed and patted Hugh on the back. When one knew so little of the world, it was easy to view it through such a simplistic light. And sometimes, often, that was the way things should be. Yes, Miss Norleigh was angry with Alistair, and no, she might never forgive him. But how could she if he never gave her a chance to do so?
“You’re right,” Alistair said with a smile that he felt in his heart; it was relief taking him over, the guilt he had felt now for days slowly fading. “Maybe I will talk to her.”
“You should,” Hugh said with a determined nod, and then he grinned. “And then maybe she can teach me to swim.”
“What does that mean?”
“You’re not a very good teacher…” His smile was wicked and he brimmed with laughter.
“Just because you’re my brother, doesn’t mean you can speak to me like that…” Alistair pretended to scowl at Hugh.
“Yes, it does,” Hugh said.
To that, Alistair could only laugh. He felt relief like he had not done in days, and the sun came out from behind the clouds and shone brightly on him once again.
His problems were not all solved, but there was a path he could take to solve them. All he had to do was be brave enough….
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“I’ve been a fool, Lucinda. A fool of the highest order. The type of fool that belongs in a jester’s outfit, dancing for the court, their only purpose to be laughed at and mocked and –”
“Oh, you have not, Yvette,” Lucinda said. “Just stop it.”
“Why? It’s the truth.”
“It is not the truth. Nothing could be further from it.”
“You did hear what I have just told you?” Yvette asked the chef.
