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She had only spoken the truth, but he only seemed even more infuriated.

“Perhaps my absence has afforded you a sense of superiority, Duchess, but you would do well to remember that I am still the duke of this household and your husband. It is ridiculous that you would believe that some time apart would strip me of my sense of duty. That might have been what it appeared to be, but if that was the case, I would not have instructed some of my men to keep an eye on you, in case you ever needed anything. However, my efforts were clearly for naught because you managed to hide this from me for so long. It was purely a stroke of luck that one of them overheard about the baby clothes from the modiste. It is insulting that you did not have the decency to tell me yourself.” Hudson told her, his tone hard with irritation.

Anna was caught off guard by the admission that he had placed some men to look after her. Surely, that was simply to ensure she stayed out of trouble and did not embarrass him? Why else would he have gone through all the trouble of having her watched?

“You seem to have held onto a misconstrued idea of our marriage, Your Grace. Need I remind you that our union was borne out of necessity? You might have forgotten, after so long, but it was a mutual agreement to stay away from each other’s lives. An agreement you were all too excited to put into action, because you left on our wedding night. You had no qualms simply walking away because you wanted nothing to do with me after your impulsive and rash actions had gotten me involved in a scandal,” she scoffed, folding her arms. “You don’t have any right to make any demands or have any expectations of me.”

It was ridiculous that they were having this conversation when their stance had been decided long ago, but she was determined to do everything necessary to keep this man from taking her babies away from her.

“That is a different thing entirely. We had decided to dwell separately, but surely the circumstances under which that decision was made differ greatly from the current situation. You bore a child! My child. Why did you believe I did not need to know?” he questioned, exasperated.

Anna inhaled sharply, trying not to get even more upset, choosing to focus on the simplest matter first.

“Children,” she intoned calmly.

He opened his mouth, expression fierce for a moment, before a shadow of confusion covered his face.

“I beg your pardon?”

Anna exhaled deeply before she repeated. “Children. They’re twins. A boy and a girl.”

When her response was met with owlish blinking, Anna continued,

“Do you really think that there was a reason I should have let you know? It was my prerogative to care for them. If you wondered what would have happened to me in your absence, you could have come to find out yourself. You only feel some sort of obligatory guilt now that you have discovered that you have children. Allow me to put your mind at ease – dear husband,” Anna purred sarcastically. “We do not need you. I have done my best to raise them, and we have been doing well without your influence or presence. You are free to return from whence you came, without any sense of obligation, as I do not intend to hold you to it.”

Hudson’s jaw twitched, and he exhaled deeply, closing his eyes as though he was pondering a fitting response for her.

When he opened his eyes, he stepped towards her suddenly, his unexpected movements startling Anna. She stood her ground, keeping her chin up in a show of defiance, but she could not help the heat that flooded her cheeks as he stopped a mere breath away from her.

“I do not care what idea of me you hold or expectations you have of me. I will not be walking away from my family, regardless of what you would prefer that I do.” He leaned in closer, whispering in her ear. “The twins are now a connection that binds us together, and I intend to remain here, in their lives and yours as well.”

Hudson drew back slightly, his eyes glancing between hers for a moment before he walked away. Anna felt her lungs release air she had unconsciously been holding, shivering at the lingering feeling of his breath on her ear.

“I will not let you take them away from me,” she muttered under her breath. “No matter what.”

“I think that this could be good for you and the twins.”

Anna tried not to roll her eyes at Miss Hill’s claim, trying to focus on the task of getting Lucy dressed.

The little girl giggled, bringing her fist to her mouth. Anna gently lowered it with a finger, cooing at her daughter as the girl reached for her with open arms.

“My darling,” Anna sighed, leaning down to press gentle kisses on her daughter’s forehead and cheeks. “My little angel… I promise, I will protect you from all that would try to hurt you or take you and your brother away from me. You have my word.”

“Your Grace, I wish you would not burden yourself with thoughts or worries about the duke’s conduct. I can assure you that you have nothing to worry about. At least you do not need to hold onto any concern about the secret of the twins’ existence. Now you can focus your attention on raising them,” the housekeeper pointed out softly.

“That does not take away from the fact that I did not want him here,” Anna mumbled, swaddling Lucy securely before laying her down in her cot. “I felt a lot more at ease in his absence. I only wanted to live out my days with my sole focus on my children. I did not plan to keep him out of their lives completely, but I wished he had stayed out of mine.”

Anna felt tired and angry still. It made her seem as though she was being far too sensitive about the situation. She just could not imagine what it would be like to have him here, so close and within reach. After spending weeks and months trying to forget about how she had felt, waking up alone in her bed.

There had been a disconcerting notion within her, something that whispered of how she had been tossed aside so easily. Although it had been her idea to live separately, she had found the solitude daunting. She had always longed for a partner, with whom she would share the rest of her days.

Yet, despite being bound to one in holy matrimony, he seemingly could not wait to get away from her fast enough. And when she had barely managed to convince herself that everything would be fine, even if she had to live out her days in solitude, despite the fact that she was married, she discovered that she was with child.

At first she was horrified and at a loss as to what to do. She was barely a sufficient wife. How would she raise a child? What could determine that she would not ruin the lives of her child or children, the way she had often found trouble and nearly ruined hers utterly?

But when the twins were born, she suddenly understood what Phoebe had said about never loving anyone or anything as much as she loved her daughter.

Her little ones were so precious, even as much as they differed from each other and occasionally pushed her to the verge of a heart attack. She wanted to love them with every breath within her and give them everything they would ever want, with hopes that they would never end up living anything close to the improvised life she had.