True Nobility

by Lori Bates Wright

  “I’m fine now, Aurora. Really.” Tori cupped her cousin’s sweet face in her gloved hands and smiled into her brimming eyes. “I’m home now. No need for tears.”

  She waited for Aurora’s nod of agreement.

  “Good. Now, I want to hear all of the latest news. Start from the beginning and tell me everything that has happened while I was away.”

  Nicholas helped her off with her satin shawl. The duchess’s brooch lay amidst the creamy froth of lace at her throat.

  “My, oh my. I can see you haven’t been using your parasol. You look like a little gingerbread man with rosy cheeks.” Aunt Charlotte led them back into the parlor, chattering all the way. “Considering the hideous ordeal you’ve been through, I’m just happy you’re home where you belong.”

  Accepting Zach’s kiss to her cheek, Tori smiled up at him, patting his arm. Eventually, looked back at her father who still had not moved from his watch in the doorway.

  Without a word, he turned back into the parlor.

  She knew it was his way of expressing his displeasure at having been put off from seeing her for nearly a day and a half. After Josie had been put in the care of a nurse, Tori had practically fallen into Nicholas’s oversized bed and slept for twelve hours straight.

  Once awake, she’d needed time to think—and pray—about what she would say to her father. So much had changed. So many lives hurt. She wouldn’t make things worse by casting careless accusations without at least hearing him out.

  Except now she was beginning to wonder if he intended to speak to her at all.

  Tori would have smiled at his familiar petulance if she’d been able. She was thrilled to see him here and alive. But his haughty air only caused her immense sadness.

  “Come along you two. Have a seat. You must conserve your strength.” Aunt Charlotte met Tori at the parlor door and took her by the arm. “Move aside, Zachery. Give them some room.”

  Zach cleared his throat at being caught off guard as Aurora beckoned him to sit beside her. Nicholas gave his wife a lop-sided grin that went straight to her heart.

  Aunt Charlotte’s outlandish pumpkin-colored room was awash in afternoon sunlight. Tori watched each one glance over at the earl who silently gazed out of a long window, leaning heavily on his cane.

  Tori knew she should, but she couldn’t make herself go to him just yet. Part of her wanted to pretend the awful things she’d learned had never happened. Yet, another part of her wanted to demand the truth.

  It had taken her most of the morning to convince herself to see him at all. And were it not for Josie lying so gravely ill, Tori wasn’t certain she would be here now. With all the wrongs done to Lucinda and her twins, she was determined to make him acknowledge Josie as his own flesh and blood.

  All in good time.

  The instant she’d seen Aurora with her pale blond ringlets and Aunt Charlotte in her frightful green dress, she’d realized how terribly important the two had become in her life.

  At school, the other girls came and went with each passing year. Tori had learned early on not to get overly attached to anyone in particular.

  The highlight of each term was her visits to Wrenbrooke, where the servants politely did their part in making her holiday comfortable. Yet something was always missing.

  Looking about at the smiling faces of her newly acquired family, Tori knew that each one, in their own individual way, truly cared for her.

  That was the difference.

  Her eyes were drawn to Nicholas as he studied her from across the room. A familiar delight gripped her heart. Tori had felt a change in him. He’d admitted his love for her. A casual mention to him, but one that meant the world to her. The mere thought of it settled about her like a warm cloak on a frosty winter’s day.

  “Oh, Tori! What a commotion you missed over at Widow Harrington’s garden luncheon on Tuesday.” Aurora sat on the edge of her seat, between Ian and Zach. “You’ll never guess who had the nerve to show up.”

  “Felicity Jenkins Duff!” Aunt Charlotte provided, with a pert nod of her head. “Uninvited I might add.”

  “No sooner had she arrived when Constable McAllister and four of his men barged right there into the Widow’s courtyard and arrested her!” Aurora quickly rushed on, before her mother had a chance to take over her story.

  Tori’s eyes widened.

  Both Haverwood ladies began talking at once. Tori looked from one to the other, trying to piece together the fractured story as best she could.

  From what she gathered, Felicity’s driver had attended a card game where he proceeded to drink a bit too much. By the wee morning hours, he was bragging about his part in setting the entire riverfront ablaze. With a little encouragement and a few more drinks, he implicated Felicity as the main instigator, citing her plan to get even with Nicholas as the motive. Unfortunately for the both of them, not only was Constable McAllister’s driver in attendance, but the mayor’s stable keep and Judge Hale’s foreman.

  Tori’s gaze flew to where her husband stood near the mantle. Nicholas could have been killed.

  When she’d mentioned the burns on his arms earlier, he had downplayed the fire and its damage. She’d been so happy to be home, that it hadn’t occurred to her to question him further. The magnitude of Felicity’s need for revenge hit Tori full force, and she rose to stand by his side.

  Nicholas gave her a characteristic shrug and slipped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her close and placing a kiss of reassurance to the top of her head. The steady sound of his heart beat satisfied her that he was alive and well, and that neither Felicity, nor anyone else, could ever take him from her.

  Momentarily overwhelmed by her feelings, she felt as if she would burst if she didn’t say what was in her heart. She lifted her head to look into his warm gaze. “I love you.” Her voice was raw with emotion.

  “It’s a good thing,” came the confident answer from lopsided lips. “Because I’ve decided to keep you.”

  Smiling, she rested her head against his chest until she caught a glimpse of her father still standing at the window. Slowly, she raised her head. She glanced up at Nicholas for support, and he nodded, releasing her. Tori wasn’t sure she wanted him to.

  Gathering her courage, she slowly made her way over to him. “Father?” Her tone was intentionally void of emotion.

  He didn’t bother to turn.

  “You can’t ignore me forever. We both know it’s best to say what needs to be said and have it done with. Though, I prefer that we speak privately.”

  He turned abruptly, stamping his cane in the process, startling them all.

  “Dare you come here and presume to reprimand me in front of these good people?” He assumed his most daunting parliamentarian tone. “Have you forgotten your place?” His r’s dramatically rolled off his tongue.

  Tori’s eyes filled with tears, but her gaze did not waver. She knew he was trying to intimidate her into submission, thus escaping her inevitable questions—a tactic he’d used well over the years.

  This time, however, she would not allow him to push her aside so easily. He must learn he couldn’t treat people with the cold indifference that had already ruined so many lives.

  Conversation around the room quieted as the others stopped to witness the earl and Tori’s unpleasant reunion. Nicholas’s eyes narrowed.

  This was an important stand she was taking, one that went against every well-bred fiber of her being. Yet, her determination to right the situation far outweighed the consequences of his anger.

  “I’ll see you in the study, Father.” She calmly caught up her skirt and walked from the room.

  She heard the earl clop noisily behind her as she headed down the hall to the study. Her father remained a half pace behind her, and Tori nibbled her lip for just a moment before entering into what had once been her uncle’s study. Waiting for her father to pass, she pulled the heavy door closed.

  Bleak from lack of use, the richly paneled room was dark except for a na
rrow ribbon of early afternoon sunshine that splayed across the burgundy carpet through a split in the gold velvet draperies.

  Tori opened the curtains and tied them back on either side. The full view of the gardens was beautiful. Her mind returned to the perfectly manicured gardens at Wrenbrooke, teeming with magnificent hues of every color. Her memory settled on the small white cross and headstone set just above the rose garden, protected there by a large marble angel.

  “Rachelle Marie Haverwood.” She repeated the name that was engraved in stone there. She had studied that angel so often as a child.

  “Blast and confound it, Victoria!”

  Tori was startled out of her reverie.

  “At least have the decency to speak to me directly. Don’t stand there muttering out the window.” With an exaggerated twitch of his mustache, the earl chose his brother’s large leather chair facing an empty hearth. “Now explain yourself. At once.” He didn’t look at her as drummed his fingers on the hilt of his cane.

  A sadness she hadn’t expected tightened her throat when she began to speak. The leather creaked as Lord Haverwood shifted. Still he remained aloof while she fought to collect herself.

  “Why?” Tori asked in as reasonable a voice as she could manage.

  This gained his attention. He cast a wary eye at her but did not speak.

  Clearing her throat, Tori closed her eyes to begin again. After all she had been through, she refused to shy away from his disapproval. She needed some very direct answers, even if it meant asking some very direct questions.

  “Why was I never told about Lucinda Martin?” She took a shuddering breath, at the deep unfamiliar pain in her breast. “Nor of her two children?”

  The earl irritably waved off her question. “’Tis irrelevant.”

  “They were not irrelevant.” She snapped before she was able to catch herself. Her voice was so tense it sounded strange in her own ears. “And you owe me an explanation at the very least.”

  Coming to unsteady feet, her father glared at her with a look full of reproach. “He has done this to you! That libertine you married.” He came toward her, whipping his cane with each step, obviously forgetting that it was he who had practically forced the marriage in the first place. “I shall not stand for this, Victoria. We shall start with divorce proceedings at first light tomorrow morning. We shall send for your things this very afternoon.”

  Typical avoidance, but Tori was having none of it. “My marriage to Nicholas is not up for debate. And neither of us is leaving this room until you’ve answered my question.” She folded her arms in front of her and lifted her chin, meeting his incensed gaze without flinching. The mention of her husband had fueled her courage.

  “The devil you say?” He waited, challenging her to make good on her threat.

  “Were you in love with her?” Arms still crossed, Tori moved toward him in an unhurried pace, coming to rest on the arm of a side chair set directly in front of where he stood.

  He sputtered as she neared.

  “I found your copy of Lady of The Lake while you were supposedly kidnapped.” Tori met his eyes with calm resolve. “The marriage certificate was tucked inside.”

  Tori watched as the earl began to resemble a cornered fox. While it was his nature to put up a fight, he was clever enough to know when to make an escape.

  “Yes, well, the others will be wondering what has become of us, my dear. So, let’s you be a good girl now, and come along.” He started to turn, but Tori reached out and grasped his hand.

  “Did my mother know about them?” Her voice softened.

  “Good heavens, no.” It was the first genuine answer she had gotten from him.

  Encouraged, she gently pulled him down into the seat across from her, keeping his hand in hers. “Please.” She appealed to his father’s heart.

  Before he knew it, he spelled out all the sordid details that her endless questions brought about, in their entirety.

  “Yes, I loved Lucinda very much. Your grandfather threatened to cut me off completely if I didn’t end the dalliance with a colonial girl posthaste. It seems that news of it had reached the House of Lords and we’d become a laughingstock of sorts. A recognized smirch on one’s good name would never survive the rigid hierarchy of the ton.” His fingers caressed hers, though she was certain he wasn’t even aware of his actions.

  “It had since become apparent that Lucinda was with child. I’d felt an obligation to see her taken care of, and so we married. She’d known going in that it would be in name only and that neither she, nor the child, would inherit a ha’penny.”

  He sighed heavily.

  “A suitable marriage was hastily arranged between Lady Rachelle Beauchet and myself, and I was ordered to return to England at once—never to look back. Though I was nearly forty-three at the time, I knew better than to risk my standing in Parliament. It simply wasn’t done.”

  At Tori’s obvious distress, he added, “In spite of my father’s dictate, I did provide for Lucinda and the child. Set it up with a solicitor, since deceased. But once I’d returned to England, I vowed to put the past behind me. I simply had no way of knowing the solicitor had forged an addendum on his own, cutting off their funds upon the children’s second birthday. Though the funds were transferred in good faith from my bank in England once a year, they never got past the solicitor’s own pocket.”

  Tori sat silent throughout her father’s explanation, pained by the regret she sensed in his voice. Finally, she had to clear her throat in order to speak. There was something she needed to know. “Did you ever love my mother?”

  Tori watched his face cloud over with emotion and just as quickly, he regained a tight hold on feelings long repressed. “She was young but a beautiful girl. You have her smile.”

  “But did you love her?”

  “Love matches were not the thing, Victoria.” The earl looked away from the tears shining in his daughter’s eyes. “We hardly had time enough to know one another. If we’d had longer… who knows? After Rachelle’s untimely death, I doted shamelessly over you trying to make up for the various voids I suppose, until several dowager matrons descended upon me insisting that I send you to a finishing school where you could be properly trained.”

  Tori realized how painful it was for him to relive those years and was grateful he was finally being honest with her. She felt utterly sickened at how so many had been hurt in all of this. All in the name of nobility.

  “So there you have it, my dear.” The earl was back to himself and standing in front of her.

  “Thank you, Father. I know this wasn’t easy.”

  “Rubbish. No point in going on about it. It is ancient hist’ry as far as I am concerned, so we will speak of it no more.” This time he made for the door in earnest.

  “I agree, and we shan’t. Just as soon as you come to visit Josie and acknowledge her as your legitimate daughter.”

  Tori rushed to his side when he stumbled over his cane.

  The music in my heart I bore,

  Long after it was heard no more.

  ~ William Wordsworth

  Thirty-Six

  “P-preposterous!” the earl stuttered with an undignified squawk.

  Tori lifted her skirt to make her way back down the corridor. Before this evening’s end, her father would come face to face with Lucinda’s daughter.

  “Victoria! Here, now, this is far from settled.” Lord Haverwood made a terrible racket as he swatted everything within reach with his trusty cane. “Come back here, I say!”

  “I wish you no disrespect, Father, but the matter is settled as far as I’m concerned.” Though her voice was raised a bit to offset his clamor, Tori remained remarkably calm as she summoned Gabe to bring her cloak. “Dinner will be served at eight. I’ll be expecting you by seven.” She accepted her wrap without even glancing back at her sputtering father.

  After a short pause, she heard him start noisily up the stairs. It was by no means gracious, but Tori found his surrender e
ncouraging nonetheless.

  Knowing from where her help had come, Tori lifted her gaze to the high ceiling and whispered her thanks. She found the others having tea in the parlor. Immediately, she spotted Nicholas and presented him with a most triumphant smile.

  “Aunt Charlotte, I’m afraid we’re not prepared to stay.” She knew her aunt was bound to be disappointed. “I know it’s rather short notice, but we would be honored if you and Aurora would join us for dinner this evening.”

  “Oh, my, yes.” Aunt Charlotte was quick to accept. “We’d be delighted. Will Edward be coming?”

  “Mother,” Aurora half whispered before curiosity got the best of her. “Is he, Tori?”

  “Certainly, father will be there.” Tori knew her next revelation would keep them twittering until dinnertime. “He has another daughter there to attend to, you see.”

  “Lord have mercy, child! You don’t mean to tell me you’ve brought that heathen girl into your home.” At Tori’s nod, Aunt Charlotte dropped her painted fan and closed her eyes, reaching for her throat. “We’ll all be killed.”

  “She has taken ill. But I expect it won’t be long before she makes a full recovery.” Tori fastened the toggle of her cloak, ignoring her aunt’s dramatics.

  “Yes, darlin’, but, I’ve heard she’s ferocious. Why, she could sneak in to murder you in your sleep and you’d never even know it.” Aunt Charlotte was clearly aghast. Turning to Nicholas, she tried to reason with him. “Nicholas do something, it is your home.”

  Nicholas shrugged.

  “She’s hardly as ferocious as all that, Aunt Charlotte,” Tori met her husband’s grin with one of her own. “She’s fairly tame without her knife.”

  Charlotte Haverwood gulped.

  “And once she is well, we can go to work on her social skills. You can help with that. She intends to take over the household at Wrenbrooke, you see. I’m afraid she has yet to learn that strangling the help is not an acceptable way to gain their cooperation.”