Diamonds of the Marquess: Season of Brides

by Alec, Joyce

  And then his wife drew in a long, sharp breath and let out a soft moan – before falling completely silent.

  The wet nurse hurried away, the servants by his wife’s bed gasped, and Matthew hurried to her side.

  Taking her cold hand in his, Matthew tried desperately to find a pulse, but there was nothing there. A sheen of sweat was on her brow, and as he wiped it away, he felt the coolness of her skin beneath. Her eyes were closed, purple veins showing through her almost translucent skin.

  “My wife is gone,” Matthew said quietly, reaching for the blankets and pulling them up around her shoulders, as though to warm her. “Send for the coroner.”

  The servants left the room at once, the wet nurse with them. Matthew was left alone with his wife, the blackness tugging at his heart and mind all over again. He was alone. His mother had gone some years before his father, and now his wife had left him alone in this world. With only a brother to speak of – a brother who was something of an adventurer and currently traveling the world – Matthew felt more isolated than he had ever done before.

  “I am sorry, your grace,” the butler murmured, as he came into the room to stand next to Matthew. “She was so young. It was not her time.”

  “It appears it was, Jenkins,” Matthew replied heavily. “Have you maids to dress the body?” The words were torn from his lips, his heart so heavy with a sudden grief that he felt as though he could barely stand.

  The butler nodded. “The maids are ready, your grace. Just whenever you wish it.”

  “Now is as good a time as any,” Matthew muttered, taking one last look at his wife. “I shall be in my study.”

  “Very good, your grace,” came the quiet reply, and on legs that felt like blocks of wood, Matthew walked from the room and made his way to the solitude of his study.

  Once there, he poured himself a stiff drink and sat down by the fire, his eyes looking deeply into the flames. His mind thought of nothing, his expression blank and eyes distant. It was not as though there had been any love between himself and his wife, but yet there came a sadness with her passing. It was as if he had hoped for them both to find a way together, as though sometime in the future they might grow closer. He had perhaps thought that the baby would be the reason for such a change, that the child could draw them closer. That, somewhere in the distant future, there might be a true friendship and even an affection between them.

  All that was gone now. His hopes shattered. His dreams in pieces at his feet.

  “I shall be both mother and father to you, Sarah Elizabeth,” he said softly, half to himself, as he continued to watch the flickering flames of the fire. “No matter what we will face, we will face it together. I will never leave you. I will always be by your side.”

  Lifting his glass to the flames in memory of his wife, Matthew drank deeply, but the liquor took none of his pain away.

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