I gestured vaguely toward the estate beyond the fog. “Unfortunately, inflation, modernization, and upkeep have all taken its toll. Castles aren’t exactly efficient homes to maintain. I mean, the tapestry budget alone…”
One corner of his full lips twitched, his shoulders rising a little under his thick raincoat. “I can imagine.”
“The roof maintenance costs more than most people’s houses and that’sbeforeyou consider the staff, the grounds, the farms, and the restoration work it takes to keep it all in safe, working order.” I paused for a beat, uncertain how far to go with this all of a sudden, but ultimately, this man was going to be my husband. He deserved to know. “I don’t care about the title, but I do care about this place. It means something to me. It means everything, actually.”
Every inch of it was stitched into the very fabric of my being and not because of the status it afforded my family but simply because it was home. I glanced back up at Jesse, finding his jaw tight as he stared across the grounds.
“All I want is to take care of it,” I finally finished. “Agreeing to this arrangement was a way of doing that. To secure it now and in the future.”
“What if your father passes without an heir?” he asked quietly, a beat before he turned his gaze back to mine. “From the sound of things, this system is still set up in a way that means you and your sisters don’t count, right?”
Pain streaked through me, deep under the surface, and yet, when Jesse looked at me, it was like he could see it. He even winced a little when I finally responded.
“You’re right,” I said. “We don’t count. Female offspring mean nothing for the line of succession of one’s own family. If my father should pass before one of us has produced a son, the estate and title pass to a distant male relative.”
Both of his eyebrows lifted slowly when he seemed to realize I was serious. “Distant how? Wouldn’t it just go to a cousin or something?”
I shook my head. “It will pass to the closest male Roderick alive at the time of my father’s death, which in our case, is someone so distant, we’ve never even met him. He’s certainly never stepped foot here.”
“That’s fucked up.”
Despite the coarseness of the statement, I nodded my agreement. “It certainly is, but that’s just how it works.”
“You couldn’t even stay here?” he asked. “Surely, being your father’s daughter should entitle you to some kind of rights over the place.”
I shrugged, my chest tightening a little at just the thought. “Unfortunately, no. All rights and title will pass upon his death. My sisters and I will be afforded a short window of time to remove our personal belongings from the estate, but that’s it.”
He let out a low whistle between his teeth that made the dogs’ ears perk up, but they didn’t move a muscle otherwise. “I’m sorry, Eliza. That sucks.”
“That’s the reality.” I finally looked back up at him, blinking away the pressure behind my eyes in favor of giving him a forced, probably tight smile. “What’s worse is that because he’s never been here, the estate will hold no meaning to him when he inherits it. He’ll almost certainly sell it to developers or break the land into parcels.”
“Break it into parcels?”
I nodded curtly. “They’ll turn it into holiday cottages or luxury flats. It’s happened to a few of the old estates in the area. Tourists and people from the city are willing to pay good money for property that used to be connected to royalty. No matter how distant.”
Jesse exhaled slowly, finally looking at me like he really got it now. “You’re trying to prevent all that from happening.”
“Yes.” I supposed there was no point trying to deny it. I’d just told him as much. “Technically, it should be Eugenie’s responsibility.”
The rain softened, turning into a steady hush against the roof. He tilted his head, his gaze moving slowly from one of my eyes to the other. “Because of your birth order?”
“Yes.”
“Why not just leave her to it, then?” he asked. “Your family’s situation isn’t completely dissimilar from ours, but when my dad retired, Alex took the helm without a second thought.”
“You’re lucky,” I said. “My sisters don’t care about this place the way I do. Alex stepped up for your family company when the time came, but Eugenie hasn’t done the same for mine. Nor does she seem to have any inclination to do so.”
It wasn’t a criticism. Just a fact.
He gave me a slow nod, like all the pieces were clicking into place in his mind. “Let me guess, neither of your sisterswantto lose the title or the castle, but they’re not committed enough to sacrifice anything to keep it?”
I averted my gaze. “They do love the castle. It’s just that they don’t feel responsible for it.”
But I did. Every cracked stone and leaking roof, every acre of land that had been ours for centuries…It’s my responsibility because I’ve taken it upon my own shoulders to make sure we never lose it.
“Winnie would’ve married you,” I said quietly. “If you’d chosen her, she would’ve done it, but her motivation wasn’t the castle or the legacy. Mine, however, is all about that, Jesse. I will do whatever I can, anything I can, to protect this place.”
One thing I’d fast come to learn about the man I was marrying was that he listened carefully every time I spoke, and every time I glanced at him, he was already looking at me. This was no exception, and suddenly, the thought that had been weighing heavily at the back of mind since the first time I’d seen him again slipped out.
