Ravensmere was still asleep.
Margaret dressed quietly in the traveling gown she had set aside. She fastened her cloak, lifted the valise, and paused only once at the door of the chamber. The room looked unchanged in the gray early light, every piece of furniture exactly where it had been the day she arrived as Nathaniel’s wife.
For a moment, she wondered if she should feel something stronger. Instead there was only a deep, steady ache. She opened the door and stepped into the corridor.
No one saw her leave.
The servants’ wing remained silent, and the house itself seemed almost reluctant to wake. Margaret moved through the halls with quiet certainty, descending the staircase and slipping out through a side entrance just as the first birds began to stir in the gardens.
When the sun rose over Ravensmere, she was already gone.
The carriage ride to her family’s home felt longer than it truly was.
Margaret spent most of it staring out the window at the pale morning fields, her hands folded tightly in her lap. Each mileplaced more distance between her and Ravensmere, yet the heaviness in her chest remained unchanged.
By the time the carriage turned onto the familiar drive, she had forced her expression back into something calm. She could manage this.
The house looked exactly as it always had, smaller than Ravensmere, certainly, but warmer somehow, its windows bright with early light. A servant opened the door in surprise when she stepped inside, clearly unprepared for such an unexpected arrival.
“Your Grace–”
“I wished to visit Mama,” she said gently. “Is she awake?”
Within minutes she was shown into the sitting room where her mother sat with her morning tea. Lady Fairleigh looked up in confusion that quickly softened into concern as Margaret entered with her valise still in hand.
“Margaret? My dear, what on earth–”
“I thought that I might visit,” Margaret said quickly, setting the valise near the door. “Ravensmere has been quite busy, and I realized how long it had been since I came home. I also hardly saw you at the ball.”
Her mother studied her carefully. Margaret sat down across from her and attempted a small smile. She spoke of the ball, of guests who had enjoyed themselves, of trivial matters that filled the air with harmless noise. For several minutes she maintained the illusion with remarkable steadiness.
But her mother knew her better than she had ever thought. Lady Fairleigh set her teacup down slowly.
“Margaret,” she said quietly, “what has happened?”
The simple question broke something fragile inside her. Margaret’s composure collapsed with startling suddenness. Her shoulders shook as the tears she had held back all night finally forced their way free, and she pressed a trembling hand to her mouth as though trying to stop them.
“Oh, Mama,” she whispered.
Lady Firleigh was beside her at once, gathering her into a tight embrace while Margaret struggled to speak through the tears. The words came in uneven fragments about the ball, the room she had entered, Arabella’s hands on Nathaniel, the terrible certainty that she had never truly been wanted.
“I tried,” Margaret said brokenly. “I tried to make it work. I truly did.”
Her mother held her closer, murmuring soft reassurances as Margaret finally allowed herself to cry in earnest. Neither ofthem noticed the figure standing quietly in the hallway outside the door.
Emily had come down the corridor only moments earlier, curious about the unexpected carriage that had arrived so early in the morning. She had paused when she heard Margaret’s voice, and the rest of the conversation had reached her clearly through the half-open doorway.
She stood there very still as the truth unfolded.
For a long moment she did not move.
Then, without making a sound, Emily turned away and walked back down the corridor.
CHAPTER 30
Nathaniel found the letter waiting for him.
He had not wanted to go to bed that night, but Margaret had made it clear that she needed time and he wished to give it to her. A servant had taken his coat, another had mentioned that the duchess had retired early, and Nathaniel had thought little of it at the time. The evening had been long, the aftermath of the ball longer still, and the exhaustion in his bones had made him careless.
