“I do not like keeping secrets from you.Nor am I very good at it.I am sorry I have been avoiding you.”
“I thought this might just be what it is like now that you are married and I am not.”Rose shrugged, but she looked away, and Johanna knew it was because she was hiding her hurt.Because that was what Rose did.
“No.You will always be the sister of my heart.I have been trying to protect you.”Johanna sighed, shaking her head.“You will understand after Mother and Matthew’s conversation.”
“We shall see.”
Johanna did not blame Rose for her skepticism.
Of course, it was not as easy as all that.Johanna’s mother was not exactly leaping to get out of bed and meet her husband.
“You are going to be the death of us all,” she said, wringing her hands, even as Johanna and Rose pulled her from the bed.
Rose’s look of alarm did much to help Johanna feel like sticking out her tongue at her cousin.See?I was not exaggerating.
“Matthew has promised me that he will protect you, Mother,” Johanna said gently but firmly.“And I believe him.”
Even so, her mother stood uselessly, tears rolling down her cheeks.She was like a doll Rose and Johanna had to dress.The silent weeping nearly broke Johanna, but she knew this was for the best.Matthew was providing for her whole family.He had promised to protect her mother.
The only thing he had asked for was to be allowed to meet with and question her mother personally.How could she possibly reasonably deny him that?
She could not.
Johanna was putting her faith in her husband.The man who had rescued her.The man who had taken her family in.The man who had made her his duchess and given her the keys to a future she could have never imagined, even a month ago.
The man she had fallen in love with.
All she could do now was hope that he would not betray that faith.
ChapterThirty-Eight
Matthew
While Matthew was waiting for Johanna and her mother to come to the sunroom, he had even more time to think.He went to his study to write a quick list of the questions that he’d been formulating in his head, not wanting to forget any of them in the moment.
As he was leaving his study, he paused, then summoned some of his footmen to bring a small table and chair into the sunroom, along with his blotter and ink, so that he could take notes.He did not know what would be important, so he wanted to make sure he got everything down.
Once things were arranged to his liking in the sunroom, he dismissed the footmen and sat down on the chair.It was a good room, he felt.Not only because it was close to the countess’ bedroom, but also because it was bright and sunny.Even the wallpaper, which was yellow and decorated with purple flowers and green stripes, was nicely cheerful.
The kind of room that should be unthreatening.Hopefully, it would make his mother-in-law feel more comfortable.
Matthew had set up the room so the table was across from the couch, so Johanna’s mother could sit there with her.He would not be directly across from them, but a little to the side, so it would hopefully feel less like an interrogation.It seemed right.
He hoped it was right.
Once again, his hand brushed over his empty pocket.The only reason he even noticed was when his fingertips found nothing, and he was reminded, once again, that he did not have his coin.Although he’d enjoyed breaking his fast and realizing how often he did not use his coin to make some decisions, the number of times he reached for it only to come up empty made him realize how often he did.
Sighing, he sat down, then was immediately forced to jump to his feet again as the door opened, and Johanna came into the room with an older woman on her arm.Rose came in behind them, a very strange expression on her face.Matthew wondered if Johanna had told her everything already.
Johanna and her mother were very similar in facial features, but she, Micah, and Charlotte must have gotten their coloring from their father.Their mother’s honey-wheat hair was more akin to Bridget’s dark blonde, and she had very blue eyes rather than the violet of three out of four of her children.Her hair was pulled back into a neat chignon, showing off the angular lines of her face.
If he had not known she’d been starving herself, he would have been able to guess by her appearance.Her dress hung loosely on her frame, and there was still a tight gauntness to her mouth—though that might have as much to do with the obvious fear in her eyes as she looked at him as anything else.
“Matthew, this is my mother, the Countess Falmouth.Mother, this is my husband, the Duke of St.Albans.”Johanna shook her mother’s arm gently as Matthew bowed, and she dropped into a rather awkward curtsy before straightening again.
“It is a pleasure to meet you,” he said, coming forward to take her hand.“Please, come and sit.Would you like me to ring for some tea?Or something to eat?”
Some of the fear in her expression receded, and she glanced at Johanna, who nodded eagerly.
