As far as Lewis was concerned, there were only two worrying elements to this letter. Why had two such dear friends fallen out? And what made his wife so unwell that she required the attentions of her mother? Jillian was the healthiest being he knew. This would not be a mere seasonal sniffle. It angered Lewis that Mr. Trenton had sought to write a tattling letter to his father instead of calling a doctor for his wife. The man had been more concerned with the minutiae of etiquette and had not even described what ailed his guest. He had even gone as far as to call her a liar! Lewis considered it a great mercy that Henry Trenton did not stand before him now, for he would have been hard-pressed not to punch the fellow on the jaw.
“Do you see?” Lewis’s father tapped the pages with an irate finger. “She is making a mockery of you, fraternizing with thisBoyd fellow. I mean, what is a lady’s maid going to do if her mistress tells her to hold her tongue? And Jillian’s mother would be no better. You see what Mr. Trenton has to say about her. It is a damnable state of affairs, Lewis!”
Lewis stared at his father. It would be equally wrong to punch the baron, but Lewis was finding it very hard to hear his father echo Trenton’s ugly remarks.
“Mr. Trenton,” said Lewis through a tight jaw, “is a kowtowing, mean-spirited bully. He thinks and says the worst, running to you with such vile insinuations simply to curry favor with a man of title.”
Lord Bradford was unmoved. “You are willfully ignorant of your wife’s behavior. She does as she wishes and the more you allow such freedoms, the more freedoms she will take. If you are not going to take her in hand, you will find yourself suing for divorce, for she will certainly cuckold you.”
The insult was so offensive that Lewis would have been in his rights to make a scene. A hot fury rose within him, one that may have caused him to strike the man who spoke such evil if it had not been his own father. The fact that it was a man of dignity who had felt free to express these vulgar thoughts made it infinitely worse. So much so that Lewis plowed through the white-hot rage that burned in his skull and landed in a pool of deadly calm on the other side.
“It would appear,” he said, the tone in his voice so mild as to be dangerous, “that Mother thinks Jillian to be going mad and you believe my wife incapable of faithfulness.” The corners of his mouth turned down and his lips curved into a show of disgust as though he had caught a whiff of a foul odor. “And to think, all these months, I have asked Jilly to consider following your example.” He puffed out a wry laugh. “I have been such a fool.”
“Now see here!” Lord Bradford swelled with indignation.
“No, Father,yousee. You see how Penelope does not want to marry because she dreads being bound by the shackles of a married woman. See how I had almost no relationship with you or Mother while Philip was alive. Note how I rose in favor quite suddenly upon your firstborn’s death. Consider the character of Miss Sangford, whom you would foist upon me as the ideal candidate for a wife.”
“What of it?”
“‘What of it’?Thisis your answer? Well, then, I shall explain. Simply put, Father, none of your children have known parental love. All decisions have been borne of rigorous expectation. When Philip complied, you could turn a blind eye to your other offspring. Penelope and I were at best annoying, inconvenient. At worst, all but invisible. But even Philip did not gain your true affection. He merely won your approval. That is why you were happy for him to marry a cold-hearted creature like Miss Sangford. You did not seek his happiness, only for him to do whatlookedpleasing.” Lewis shook his head, his hand to his brow. “Heaven help him. I believethatis why he took himself to such a place as led to his demise.He was rebelling.” His voice sank as the reality of it hit harder. “Poor man. I did not think he had it in him.”
“Stop!” bellowed Lord Bradford. “You will not sully Philip’s good name because your own choices have been fodder for gossip!Hewas a son I could be proud of!”
“Really, Father? You are proud that he died outside a gaming hell? Why was he not at a gentleman’s club, or riding with Miss Sangford, or meeting with Mr. Cooper, our steward? Why did he feel a need to be amongst such society, especially if he knew it would displease you?”
His father’s shoulders slumped. “I do not know. It cost him dearly. It cost our whole family dearly.”
“Ah, yes, because now this second-class son”—he indicated with his thumb to his own chest—“has had to play at being the heir. And, for a brief time, Ididfill Philip’s shoes.” Lewis grabbed at his shirt as if it suffocated him. “Oh, how quickly I forgot myself and lapped up the attention you suddenly threw my way! What a good boy I was! And how soon I turned against my beloved!”
Lord Bradford pushed against his cane and drew himself fully erect. “That woman has done nothing but cause strife within this family! You should never have married her in the first place. Now look at the precipice to which she has brought us.”
“What precipice, Father? Has our position suffered? Our lands? Our friendships? What, besides some ill-intentioned tittering and this malicious letter from Henry Trenton, has occurred to harm us? I see you do not even show concern for Jillian’s wellbeing. You do not ask why she is unwell or what has been said or done for her to question her oldest friendship. You lay all blame at her feet. You only care for how you are perceived by society. What about how your own family sees you? While you wave your scepter about, do you even think whom you strike with it? How it hurts them?
“Jillian has brought warmth and lightness to my life. And you would have preferred I marry someone who ate with the right fork yet wanted nothing but the wealth and title that would one day be mine. Jilly has loved me simply and completely and did not seek anything more. Still, you have condemned her, berated her and, most importantly, learned nothing from her.
“Fool that I was, I followed your example. I first came to love Jillianbecauseshe is different. And then I expected her to change. I asked her to be something she is not and thought we would be happier for it. What madness! If shehadbecome all you have expected of her, she would no longer resemble the person I fell in love with.”
Lord Bradford turned a cold eye to his son. “You persist in your loyalty to this woman who will be your undoing. I have tried my best to bring you to your senses. I do not understand this hold she has over you. But youwillsend for her. She cannot be allowed to blacken our name. In fact, have her delivered to Oakwoods. Penelope can return home and they can keep their mischief limited to our private grounds. What I did to deserve such wayward offspring, I will never know.”
“No,” murmured Lewis, “I don’t suppose you will. One thing is certain, Father, you will have little cause to speak to me of this again.”
“Oh?”
“I will be fetching Jillian myself. And I will make sure that, once I have her secured, she stays put.”
“Well, that, at least, is happy news. I had begun to think I had lost you entirely.”
“Fear not, Father, I am returning to the place you have always kept me: on the periphery of your world.”
“Now, Lewis, don’t start this childish mewling again.”
“It is quite the opposite,” said Lewis blandly. “I have finally grown up. I no longer crave your approval. It carries no weight with me anymore. The price is too high.”
“Really, Lewis, your mother and I…”
Lewis marched past his father, who spun around, flustered.
“Lewis! I am talking to you!Lewis!”
