Chapter 17 #2
As he told the story, Lilly watched him. She didn’t quite smile, but her attention never strayed. “… and then the party guests found us. The end.” He ended the story there, not wanting to talk about Marina’s unintentional humiliation afterward.
Marina smiled at him before turning to the little girl.
“Your father continued to be a hero later by coming to my house and proposing to me. After I made such a public scene, my mother was ready to send me to America. Thanks to your father, I get to stay right here in England! See? Even though he did not save me from physical danger, he’s still a hero. ”
Heat stirred in Evan’s chest at her words, and he turned away. That’s not how she sees me, not really. She is just trying to make Lilly like me more. “I thought we were supposed to have a fishing lesson,” he said.
“Of course,” Marina said. She held out the fishing rod she was carrying to Lilly. “Here you are. You can probably teach her better than I can.”
Evan took the rod and walked next to Lilly, determined.
It had been a long time since his father had taught him how to fish, but he could still remember the basics.
“Here,” he said, handing it to her. “The first thing you want to do is make sure the rod is in good working order. You also want to hold it like this.”
He showed her the best way to hold it, while also teaching her where to look for signs of disrepair. “After a while, you will be able to see at a glance if the pole needs to be repaired or replaced …” he trailed off as he looked at Lilly, whose attention was already starting to wander.
He looked up at Marina, who gave him an encouraging smile that filled him with determination. He didn’t want to fail her any more than he wanted to fail his daughter. He turned back to his daughter. “Now it’s time to cast the line into the water. Here’s how to do it safely.”
He showed her how to use her wrist to flick the rod to cast the line. “Be careful not to let the hook tangle in your hair or get caught on your skin.”
Lilly watched the movements of his hands and wrists, captivated by the act of casting the line. When she tried to do it, her movements were clumsy, and the hook almost tangled in her hair. Evan caught it at the last moment, right before it hit her head. “Let’s try again,” he said.
As he watched her cast the line, he couldn’t help but be tense at first, worried that the hook would go rogue and get into her eye. He relaxed when it was safely in the water.
“What happens now?” Lilly asked.
“Now we wait,” he said. “Until a fish catches on the hook.”
“How long will that take?”
“That’s up to the fish.”
Lilly giggled at that, and Evan almost smiled at the sound of it. Maybe Marina was right. If I keep trying with Lilly, then we can find common ground.
They waited in silence for a few moments. Normally, Evan didn’t mind silence, but today, he wanted conversation. “Marina has told me that you are advancing in your lessons. I’m glad.”
Lilly made a face. “I don’t like them. They’re hard.”
He raised his eyebrows. “But they get easier with time, do they not?”
“As soon as they’re easy, the lessons change,” Lilly said.
“Well, yes. After all, you must keep learning.”
She huffed. “It’s boring.”
He felt almost indignant. How could anyone think learning is boring? He glanced at Marina, at a loss for what to say.
Marina smiled. “It can be fun sometimes, Lilly, can it not? You just learned how to cast a line. That was fun.”
“That’s different learning.”
“Education takes many forms,” Evan said.
He thought back to his school days. Even though he had been content to spend his days studying books in silence, many of his classmates did not, and his teachers sometimes found other ways to get them to learn their lessons.
“Like through song. Have you tried singing while spelling?”
She giggled. “How?”
He hesitated, feeling a little foolish. “Song can help you remember things. Like, cats are cute. C-a-t.” He sang out the last few words, feeling himself redden.
Lilly laughed, and even Marina chuckled. Feeling embarrassed, Evan was about to tell them to forget it, but then Marina spoke. “I think that’s a wonderful idea. Lilly, let’s try that tomorrow, all right?”
“Yes, please!” she said, sounding delighted.
Evan looked down at the ground and smiled softly, feeling content.
The fish must have been active that day, because they did not have to wait long. Soon Lilly got a tug on her line. She started to jump up and down with excitement. “I caught something! I caught something!”
“Keep both feet on the ground. I do not want you to slip,” he said. “Now, you’re going to reel it in slowly and steadily. You don’t want to let it get away.”
Lilly’s face twisted in concentration as she pulled in the fish. Eventually, she pulled it out of the water. She squealed in delight as she looked at the wiggling creature caught on the hook. The scales glinted in the sunlight, almost shimmering as the fish moved around.
Marina clapped her hands in excitement. “Good job, Lilly!”
The little girl beamed.
Evan smiled at her. “Very good,” he said. “You just caught your dinner.”
Her smile disappeared in an instant. She looked at him as if he had just kicked Prince William. Tears brimmed in her eyes. “Dinner?”
“Yes,” he said. “It’s a fish, after all.”
“No!” she shouted as tears started to stream down her face.
Before he could respond, Marina put a hand on Lilly’s shoulder. “Lilly, honey, of course we’re not going to eat the fish. We’re going to look at it for a bit and then toss it back.”
Lilly’s sobs turned into hiccups. “R—really?”
Evan watched the two of them, awestruck. With only a few words, Marina had managed to calm Lilly down, which was a skill he wished he could possess. All he could do was hope to remain a picture of strength that they could both depend upon.
“Yes! In fact, why don’t you give it a name?” Marina smiled at the girl encouragingly.
That’s irrational. Why would you name a fish only to toss it back into the river? But he kept the thought to himself. Lilly was no longer crying, and that was what truly mattered.
“I want to call it Princess Delphinium the Third,” Lilly said matter-of-factly.
“The Third?” Evan raised his eyebrows. “Who are the first and second?”
Lilly giggled at him. “The mama and grandmama, silly.”
Silly? He had been called many things before. Silly was not one of them.
Marina covered her mouth with her hands. “Yes, he is a silly goose, isn’t he?” she said while clearly holding back laughter.
He felt a small smile tug at the corner of his lips as a warm feeling spread through him.
He did not understand why either of them saw fit to call him silly or why they were laughing at him, but at the same time, he did not care.
He was just happy that both of them were having fun.
Maybe I’m having fun, too. Certainly more fun than I was expecting.
Marina turned to the fish. “We don’t have a lot of time before we have to throw the fish back. But look at the fins. They help the fish swim in the water. And do you see the lines right there, behind the head? That’s the fish’s gills. It’s how they breathe underwater.”
“They breathe through the side of their neck?” Lilly asked, sounding perplexed.
“In a way, yes.”
“How?”
Marina smiled at the signs of the child showing interest. “I don’t know how. But perhaps we can find out.”
“There are some books about fish in the library,” Evan said. “Maybe one of them talks about anatomy.”
“Excellent!” Marina said, grinning at him. “Then you can read those books to her.”
He looked at Lilly, who smiled excitedly at him and relaxed. Could she really want me to read a book to her? “I am amenable to the idea,” he said carefully.
“What’s amen’ble?”
“Amenable. It means I want to read a book to you.”
Lilly started to jump up and down with excitement.
“Both feet firmly on the ground, please,” he said, looking at the wet, slippery rocks so close to her feet.
Marina helped Lilly take Princess Delphinium the Third off the hook and threw her back into the river. Lilly was smiling and grinning at her the entire time. Evan remembered how his wife had smoothly covered up his mistake and saved his child from tears.
She knew exactly what to do to make Lilly smile, and thanks to her, the day was not ruined. As Marina brushed a patch of mud from Lilly’s skirt and smoothed out the child’s hair, she was anything but invisible.
Marina watched with happiness as Lilly and Evan talked about the fish.
It seemed to physically pain Evan every time he said the name “Princess Delphinium the Third”, but he did it because it made his daughter giggle.
She could have sworn that she saw a hint of a smile on his face a time or two as well.
Good. Evan will realize his daughter does not hate him, and Lilly will realize her father is not as scary as she thinks he is. All it took was catching one fish.
She loved the sight of his smile. If only I could bring it out more.
She winced a little, thinking about how he told her why he didn’t smile much after his wife’s death.
He must have loved her to be so affected, even if he does not always show or acknowledge his emotions.
It must have been horrible to have his wife’s death be the talk of the ton for so long.
But now that he and Lilly were spending time together that did not involve him waking her up from a nightmare, he might have reason to smile again.
She picked the abandoned fishing pole off the ground before turning to look at the river. I cannot believe that it was almost two weeks ago when I jumped into this river to ‘save’ Prince William. It feels like an eternity.
Her life had changed so much since then.
She went from facing complete ruin to taking care of a sweet child, whom she was quickly beginning to love.
Her husband was far from perfect, but he was kind to her, and he was at least trying to improve his relationship with his daughter, which was more than what her parents ever did with her…
She still did not know how to feel about Evan—she was still trying to figure him out. He confused her at times, which sparked her curiosity. Other times, he made her feel flustered, especially when he got so close to her or revealed just how much he paid attention to her.
But he’s also endearing. And he makes me feel safe, especially after the care he showed me when I fainted at the wedding.
Even though her feelings still confused her, her affection for him was quickly growing. Sometimes she wondered if his feelings for her were growing as well. She did her best not to indulge those thoughts. There was no point in giving herself false hope.
Lost in thought, she did not notice when Prince William jumped on the back of her leg from behind.
The force of his little body was enough to make her lose her balance on the slippery rocks, and she started to tumble forward.
Her hands shot out in front of her as she braced for her impact with the riverbed.
But before she could hit the water, a strong arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her up.
Evan pulled her close, so her back was against his muscular chest. She shivered, feeling the heat radiating from beneath his suit.
His arm held her protectively, which made her feel flustered and safe all at once.
Her cheeks burned as she turned around in his arms to face him.
The corners of his mouth were turned up in a smirk that took her breath away.
She stifled an urge to bury her face in his chest and breathe in his scent.
“You seem to need a lot of rescuing, duchess,” he said.
“Perhaps it would be best if you avoided the river from now on.”
If she did not know better, she would think there was affection in his tone.
An impulse to tease him and provoke him welled up inside of her with the need to cover up her fluster.
But she pushed the feeling back down. She returned the smile as butterflies fluttered in her stomach.
It was unfair how handsome he looked when he smiled. It easily scattered her thoughts.
“Let’s go back to the manor,” she said. “We can go to the library and find those books about fish.”
As she pulled away from Evan, she thought she caught a glimpse of a frown on Lilly’s face before the little girl turned to look at Prince William, but she could not be sure.