Veil of Honor

by Cooper-Posey, Tracy

  The Great Family Gathering. Innesford, October 1870.

  Will still had moments when weakness would force him into a chair, or to stretch upon a sofa, for he insisted on pushing himself physically until he was well beyond the point where any other recovering invalid would have said ‘enough’. He hated the weakness and railed at it, so Bridget never mentioned tiredness or exhaustion. Instead, she would contrive to make it seem that she was the one in need of rest. Often, it wasn’t a lie, for the child she carried did limit her energy.

  She dropped into the canvas lounge chair beside Will with a deep sigh. “Oh, that’s better,” she breathed, turning her face up to the sun. “It is so warm!” she added.

  “Your face will burn, my love. I can’t love a woman with a pink face and peeling skin. Where is your parasol?”

  “I left it…oh, somewhere,” Bridget said absently. “Will,” she murmured in warning as Tor and Bronwen came toward them.

  Tor helped Bronwen settle in the lounge chair beside Will. His smile was strained as he looked at them both. Then, eschewing the next chair in the line, Tor folded up his legs and sat on the lawn in front of his wife, her muslin dress brushing his arm.

  “How are you feeling, Bronwen?” Bridget asked, taking in her cousin’s small, pale face.

  “Oh, I’m fine,” Bronwen said, smiling. “I just get tired. I’m told it’s perfectly natural.”

  Tor’s gaze stayed on Bronwen’s face. He didn’t smile.

  Bridget’s heart fluttered at the pain in his eyes. “How does Christina fare?” she asked, reaching for Will’s hand.

  “She thrives,” Tor said, the pride in his voice rich and sweet. He held up his hand. “Her tiny little hand doesn’t even reach around a single finger. When she grips it…” He shook his head. “I would slay dragons for her. The fierceness is almost…primitive.”

  “That feeling doesn’t go away,” Will assured him.

  “I hope not,” Tor said quietly.

  “What is wrong, Tor?” Bridget asked him, for the haunted look in his eyes seemed to intensify.

  Bronwen gave a soft sigh and closed her eyes. The sigh was sad.

  Tor rested his hand on her knee. “The doctors assure me…they say…there will be no more children. That there cannot be or…” He shifted his gaze back to Bronwen then dropped his gaze to the grass before him.

  Bronwen stirred. “You must have an heir!” she husked.

  Tor shook his head. “No. The duchy can move on to my cousin. I would not risk you, Bronwen, not to satisfy a room full of grumpy old men who have no idea what they are demanding.”

  Bronwen didn’t move or speak. The single tear that slid down her face said everything. Tor looked away, hiding his face from everyone.

  Will’s grip on Bridget’s hand was strong enough to hurt. She welcomed the pain, for it offset her own aching heart as she studied the wretched couple in front of them.

  * * * * *

  Emma found her mother and father sitting together, as they always were these days, under the shade of the canvas that Travers and his footmen had stretched across a part of the croquet court to cast a welcome shade.

  The afternoon breeze blew in from the sea, making it lovely and cool. A table had been set up beside them to hold a jug of iced tea and scones.

  “Emma, dear,” Elisa said. “You’re frowning again.”

  “Mama, Blanche just told me the most extraordinary story,” Emma said. “She says her father died in Paris last month, that he was a hero of the French Army, fighting the Prussians. Is that true?”

  Elisa glanced at her father.

  Vaughn stirred. “It is true, Emma. We thought Blanche should know. Rene Bonnaire was a dear friend of mine at Eton and Cambridge. We felt it was right that Blanche learn of his heroic end, as she was not given the chance to know him in life.”

  Emma gripped her hands together. “Then you knew all along who her father was?”

  Elisa sighed. “It was not our wish to withhold the information, my dear. Her father wanted Blanche to grow up as a normal child in a normal family. He could not provide that life for her.”

  “He always intended that one day, when she was an adult, he would make himself known to her,” Vaughn added. “Only, his time ran out before he could.”

  Emma hid her fists in the folds of her dress. “Then, do you know who my real parents are?”

  Elisa drew in a shaky breath, her gaze shifting back to Vaughn.

  “No,” Vaughn said, his voice strained. “We do not know that, Emma. We don’t care who your parents were. You are our daughter and always have been.”

  Emma allowed her father to kiss her temple and pretended she believed the lie. In her heart she knew Vaughn and Elisa had withheld the truth. In that moment, her determination to learn who her real parents were was formed.

  * * * * *

  Will woke gradually, as the sounds of people laughing and talking impinged upon his consciousness. Croquet mallets thudded softly against balls. Cricket bats scraped the crease and knocked against the ball. Players exclaimed as the ball flew…somewhere.

  The sea breeze was blowing at last. The cool air bathed his face and lifted the hair off his forehead. He opened his eyes. Tor and Bronwen had left while he slept. It was just him and Bridget in the lounging chairs.

  He was conscious of Bridget, curled up against his side, her head on his shoulder. She might be asleep, or perhaps not. She liked to pretend she was weaker than she was, to spare him the humility of not being as strong as he had once been. He was growing stronger every day although it was slow work. Her little pretense made him love her all the more.

  He kissed the part of her head he could reach and her hand pressed against his chest.

  “I was thinking that this Gather could not have happened as better time,” she said, lifting her head. “Now the Farmer’s Society hall is ours, there is such a lot of work to do. We both needed the rest, after this summer.”

  Will examined her dear, sweet face. “The babe troubles you?” he asked, pressing his hand to her still flat belly.

  “Not at all,” Bridget admitted. “I was just thinking that being among the family for a week, before beginning again, is just what we both need.”

  “‘Beginning again’. I like that.”

  She bit her lip. “There will be lots of starting over for us,” she said. “We’re both…rash.”

  “And selfish and stubborn and far too prideful…although I have every reason to be proud considering who is sitting in my lap right now.” He kissed her. “I don’t care how many times we must start over, Bree, if you are by my side. I’ll beggar myself, work my fingers to the bone, follow your every instruction. I don’t care what the future holds, or what I must do to make it happen, so long as you are there. I’m stronger when you are there. Say you will. Say you will always be there.”

  “I will always be there,” she whispered against his cheek and kissed him. “Right by your side, my husband.”

  Special Offer

  Learn the origins of the Great Family!

  The Great Family was not always a great family.

  In October 1843, Anna & Rhys, Natasha & Seth, Elisa & Vaughn all face problems, their hearts heavy with the challenges of life.

  This is the origins story of the Scandalous Scions series—the first great family gathering, where traditions that will last a generation are born and Anna & Rhys, Natasha & Seth, Elisa & Vaughn meld into a single, united family.

  Find out how the couples of Scandalous Sirens learn that together, they are stronger.

  This novelette has not been commercially released for sale. It is only available as a gift to readers of the series, who subscribe to Tracy’s Newsletter.

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  The next book in the

  Scandalous Scions series.

  Season of Denial, Book 7

  He’s a rake, she’s a not quite a spinster. Life is interesting when they’re together, but…

  When her twin sister, Bridget, betrays Lady Mairin’s trust by marrying a man within the Great Family, Mairin determines she will find a suitable husband elsewhere, no matter what.

  Iefan Davies, the family rakehell, who has rejected both the family and society, introduces Mairin to the Duke of Gascony, then teaches her to woo the duke. Between seduction lessons, Iefan shows her the world beyond the ton.

  Neither considers the other suitable marriage material, for Mairin has a duke in her sights, while Iefan has no intention of curtailing his bachelor ways, although life is certainly interesting when they’re together.

  ___

  Thanks once again, Tracy Cooper-Posey, for giving us another great story and for giving me back my love of historical romances.

  Get your copy of Season of Denial now:

  https://books2read.com/SeasonOfDenial

  About the Author

  Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes science fiction and romance. She has published over 90 books since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favorite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.

  She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year and Byzantine Heartbreak was a 2012 winner. Faring Soul won a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught writing at MacEwan University.

  She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, reading science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.

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  Copyright Information

  This is an original publication of Tracy Cooper-Posey


  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

  Copyright © 2018 by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Text design by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Cover design by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs

  http://wickedsmartdesigns.com

  Edited by Mr. Intensity, Mark Posey

  All rights reserved

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  FIRST EDITION: May, 2018

  Cooper-Posey, Tracy

  Veil of Honor/Tracy Cooper-Posey—1st Ed.

  Romance—Fiction

  Historical—Fiction