Chapter 30
Once Isolde’s family knew, Thaddeus could not wait to return home and tell his own family. He bid Isolde goodbye with a promise to return the next day and hurried back to Hartington.
He found both his mother and sister in the parlor. His mother looked up and smiled at him.
“You look happy, my dear,” she said as he bent to kiss her cheek.
“I’ve been to see Miss Fairchild.”
“Ah, yes, the funeral was today!” Tatiana exclaimed, then frowned. “But why should you look happy after that? I admit Miss Fairchild’s father seemed to lack a great deal, but to be happy over his death …”
Thaddeus laughed.
“Surely you do not think me so unkind, Tati? No, I am happy because I have very good news, the best news.”
Both women gave him their full attention, Tatiana looking eager and his mother nearly expressionless, reserving her emotions until she heard the news.
“As you know, the engagement between Miss Fairchild and me came about in an unconventional and unfortunate way. We proceeded with it as an arrangement that might be mutually beneficial, but this afternoon we ended that arrangement.”
Tatiana gasped, and he held up his hand to let her know he was not finished.
“We each admitted that we cared deeply for the other, and I asked her to marry me properly, for love this time, and she accepted.
Tatiana gave what could only be described as a squeal and leaped up to hug him.
“Oh I knew it! I knew you were falling in love with her! Oh Thad, congratulations!”
He laughingly accepted her hug and congratulations and then turned to their mother. He was alarmed to see her looking serious.
“Mother?”
She shook her head slowly.
“I’m sorry, Thaddeus, but I cannot allow it.”
Tatiana gasped.
“But Mother …”
Thaddeus squeezed Tatiana’s hand to let her know he would fight this battle and sat down next his mother.
“Why not?” he asked softly.
She patted his cheek, her gaze softening.
“This whole business is best left in the past. It was a reckless choice to intervene and tie yourself to a woman you don’t know, and now I fear she has used your affections and kind heart against you.
You must understand, Thaddeus, what some people would do to have the kind of position being your wife affords one. ”
His mother frowned.
“How could I think her affection for you was genuine? She didn’t even look in on you when you were sick. And she was always eager to dance or walk with other men when you weren’t around. I simply cannot give my blessing.”
She set her mouth in a firm line, and Thaddeus knew she could be stubborn, but so could he, and losing Isolde now that he knew she cared was unacceptable to him.
“Believe me,” he said, taking his mother’s hand, “I’m very aware of what people might do because of my title. And you’re wrong about Miss Fairchild. It’s not your fault, but you’re very wrong.”
And then he told them everything that had happened, the whole long story.
“This is a true love match, Mother,” he said in the end. “Plain and simple. And I hope you will accept it because, forgive me, but I will marry her regardless.”
His mother rarely looked shocked, but she did now. After a moment, she composed herself.
“Very well,” she said. “If you are that determined, I will not speak against the match anymore.”
Thaddeus grinned. It wasn’t total acceptance, but he knew in time she would come around.
“Thank you, Mother,” he said, and took her hand to kiss it as Tatiana practically jumped on him to congratulate him once more.
He returned to Isolde’s home the next day as promised and was shown into the drawing room. A few minutes later, the door opened, but he was surprised to see Thomas enter instead of Isolde.
“Isolde and Cornelia are out on a walk, getting some air. You’re welcome to wait, of course. I just thought I would come in and greet you.”
“I appreciate that,” Thaddeus said as he grasped Thomas’s outstretched hand. “And actually, if you can spare a moment, I’d like to speak with you alone.”
“Of course,” Thomas said, sitting across from him at once, his brow wrinkling in concern. “Is everything all right?”
“Yes, don’t worry. I just wanted to discuss your father’s debts with you. I believe between the two of us, we can devise a plan to take care of them, and also be sure you and Cornelia are taken care of, as well.”
Relief bloomed in Thomas’s face.
“Thank you so much, Lord Hartington,” he said. “Isolde and I have been going through everything, but some your assistance would be so appreciated.”
“You have it – my assistance in sorting through the debts, and in any other way I can help.”
Thomas reached out his hand once again, shaking Thaddeus’s own with gratitude. He invited Thaddeus into his father’s study, and they began looking over the books, talking intermittently.
“I heard Lord Crowley has of late left Oxford and gone north,” Thaddeus said at one point. Thomas tried and failed to suppress his smile.
“Indeed. It seems the fortune he kept dangling in front of my father was not what he claimed, and some even say he’s gone to Scotland to avoid the bailiffs who will soon come to collect.”
Thomas’s face turned dark for a moment.
“Thank goodness neither Isolde nor Cornelia was ensnared by his designs in the end. We would have been worse off than before.”
Thaddeus wholeheartedly agreed.
After a bit more working, Thomas glanced cautiously at Thaddeus.
“Isolde did not say much of what happened between you and Lord Cassian, but I admit I’ve drawn my own conclusions from the few tidbits she’s shared. Have you … heard from him, or his cousin?”
Thaddeus shook his head. He felt a twinge of regret but knew that he could never trust Cassian again after what he’d done.
“You have good instincts,” he told Thomas. “Lord Cassian was not who I believed him to be.”
“I’m sorry to know that,” Thomas said, and Thaddeus shook his head. “Better to know the truth, always.”
Thomas nodded.
“I agree. And so does Isolde, especially,” he glanced at Thaddeus with a grin, “since knowing the truth has meant knowing your true feelings.”
Thaddeus could not help grinning back.
After they had a good sense of the numbers, he laid his full plan out to Thomas – and insisted he be allowed to loan Thomas the money to cover the debts, to be paid back slowly and without interest.
“That is too much, My Lord,” Thomas protested.
“It is not,” Thaddeus replied, “because Isolde will not be happy unless her family is safe and doing well. So this is not a loan in my eyes, it’s an investment in my future wife’s happiness, and therefore, the success of my marriage. So I’ll thank you to let me make it.”
Thomas could hardly argue with that, so he simply nodded with a bashful smile and then said quietly, “I am glad Isolde found someone worthy of her.”
Thaddeus thought his heart might burst with pride.
***
They had just finished reviewing the books when Isolde and Cornelia returned.
Isolde came to find him in the study and took him to the drawing room so they could speak privately. Once they were alone, he could not help stealing a quick kiss. Isolde blushed, and he thought he could get very used to that.
“I came to let you know that I have told my family. I spoke with my mother and Tatiana last night and wrote to Henry in London as well.”
He took her hand and laid it over his heart.
“It will be agony to wait, but I promise you, we’ll be married as soon as your mourning period is over.”
She smiled up at him.
“You’re wrong,” she said. “It won’t be agony. I shall dream of the future every day, and every day shall be beautiful.”