Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Why is she here? What does she need from me?” Daphne asked, looking slightly bewildered.
In Wilhelmina’s townhouse, the atmosphere was tense. The Dowager Countess of Grisham had requested a private audience with her daughter, Daphne.
Wilhelmina looked at her, pain in her eyes.
They both knew that their mother would not come to provide reassurance or to soothe frazzled nerves.
It had never been her way. She had been away for most of their childhood, letting them survive their father’s cruelty.
She only returned to insert herself into each child’s attempt at a marriage.
“She’s come to gloat, hasn’t she?” Daphne asked, her heart in her throat; she was also unsure if she’d be as patient with her mother as she usually was.
“It may be the case. She has most likely heard everything,” Wilhelmina said honestly.
Daphne’s shoulders sagged. She knew that she’d have to brace for the kinds of words she’d get from her mother.
Public humiliation. Disgrace. Criminal husband. I told you so.
“Very well. I will meet her. It’s not as if I have a choice. I cannot imagine the commotion she would cause if I refused to sit with her for a few moments,” she said in a resigned voice.
Wilhelmina nodded as if to agree, her brows knitted with concern. “I will be nearby if you need anything. Gerard will be, as well.”
“I will storm in if you need me to,” the Duke of Talleystone promised.
Daphne smiled at her sister and her brother-in-law gratefully.
“You don’t have to do that, Your Grace,” she said softly.
“I know. However, I will still walk in if I hear her abusing you. Someone must stand up to that woman. Mina, forgive me.”
Wilhelmina sighed and shrugged. “I know my mother well enough to know she deserves such condemnation.”
Straightening her back, Daphne held her head high as she strode forward to meet with her mother. A maid served them tea and quickly retreated. She could not blame the young woman; her mother was a deplorable person.
The Dowager Countess of Grisham sat with her back stiff on an armchair. Daphne could not stomach the grim satisfaction on her mother’s face.
When will this woman finally learn to love her children?
“I am here for reasons you may already suspect, Daphne,” her mother declared regally.
“Why are you here? Why would you not be upholding your duties as the Duchess of Wolfcrest? Surely you know that whispers have begun circulating among the ton. I will not tolerate your attempts to ruin the family name. Do think about your unmarried sister, Victoria, your twin no less! How will anyone want to marry her if the supposed better behaved of the two of you is toeing the edge of scandal?”
“Mother…”
“I am also here for another reason. Briarwood is dead. I don’t know if you have been reading the news.
I hope you are. You need to look out for your name, which is in danger of being mentioned at some point.
A husband who might have owned a gaming hell.
A former suitor burning alive. Then, you are here away from your husband. ”
Daphne did not know what to say about that. She felt numb. There had been no reason to suspect anything had happened to Lord Briarwood. All her siblings knew better than to mention his name in her vicinity and she had most dutifully avoided reading the newspapers.
Was she relieved he was gone? Yes! Did she want him to die? No. She was not that kind of person. She’d rather he was alive and ready to atone for his sins to humanity.
“How did you know I was here, Mother?” she asked, instead. “We told nobody where I was going. My siblings would not reveal my secrets so willingly.”
Of her siblings’ loyalty she was certain. None of them liked the Dowager, but the woman did not really care.
Her mother made a derisive sound. “Are you truly asking me that question? I’ve been here in this world for more than forty years, navigating Society.
I know everything that happens in my own household, Daphne.
My own family. Everything. I know of every whisper, scheme and even attempts to sneak around,” she said haughtily.
Daphne could not help but feel a chill. Her mother had always been calculating and manipulative, but did she really know everything?
“I knew when you plotted to head off to the vicar’s cottage to escape Briarwood. I knew where you were and what you were planning to do.”
Daphne stared at her own mother in disbelief.
What does she think I planned to do? Is this a fresh attempt to accuse me of luring the Duke into a false marriage?
Before Daphne could voice her concerns, something niggled in her mind. A memory. She didn’t want to call for help, but she needed an answer, at least.
“Mina! Come here, please!” she shouted, wondering if her mother could hear the apprehension in that cry.
Wilhelmina quickly entered the parlor, her body rigid as if priming for a fight. She was telling the truth when she’d said she would be there for Daphne, and that made the latter’s heart soar.
“Did we ever tell Mother about the plan for me to stay at Reverend Nicholson’s?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm and even. “Did anyone give her the precise location of his cottage?”
“Never,” Mina said, looking confused. “Mother had already left before we’d come to that decision. Our family and Mr. Finch alone had an idea what we were up to.”
The truth dawned on Daphne. It struck her with so much force, she could not help but exhale sharply and straighten her body, almost lifting herself up from her seat.
The woman sitting across from her was supposed to be her protector. She was her mother! Mothers were supposed to be caring. They didn’t lead their children’s enemies toward them when they were hiding. But that was what she did.
“You,” Daphne spat, that one word filled with disgust and accusation.
Worse, she felt the horror surround her whole body, shaking her to her very core.
“You informed Briarwood of my location. You didn’t hesitate to point him toward the cottage.
I didn’t leave so I could wriggle away from a marriage to a decent man, Mother!
I escaped a scoundrel, but you made certain he’d find me. ”
Daphne wondered then what would have happened if Adrian were not there at all to provide her with an alternative. She was grateful for his intervention, even though she was still furious with him.
The Dowager tilted her chin up, proud of what she had done. This was not a woman who would admit to a fault.
“I did it for you, ungrateful girl! I was not going to let everyone whisper about my disgraced daughter. Imagine if they had found out that my daughter was hiding with a vicar’s family!
It was better for the Earl to find you and make you his wife rather than bring any further speculation to our doorstep.
You were rebellious, Daphne. I had to do something! ”
Wilhelmina shook with fury, her face turning pale. Even through everything, Daphne had not seen her sister like that.
Wilhelmina took a step closer to their mother, her hands curled into fists at her sides.
“You are a terribly twisted woman! You were willing to sell your own daughter to a despicable man to uphold your pathetic place in Society. You’ve been wrong so many times before, when you’ve gone against our own choices, but you never learn!”
Daphne was no longer upset. The outrage seeped from her gradually so that it disappeared entirely before long. She felt a strong resolve growing within her that allowed her to place a steady hand on Wilhelmina’s arm. She stared at her mother, feeling devastatingly cold inside.
“The more you act this way, Mother,” Daphne said quietly but firmly, “the more easily we will forget you when you pass from this world. You already made it too easy for us to hate you. You may truly believe you are protecting the family name, but you are merely ensuring that when we speak of our home, Grisham, we speak of the children, and not its mother. Not anymore.”
The Dowager visibly flinched but kept her head high. Daphne could swear her mother’s lower lip trembled. But she was not sorry and would not apologize. She was done being sorry.
“You may leave, Mother. I will soon inform Daniel of your behavior. He will decide what must be done with you.”
That was what made the Dowager Countess’ composure break. She glared at both of her daughters. Then she rose, picked up her gloves and left the house in a huff.
She left behind Wilhelmina and Daphne, who had to deal with the fact that their own mother could betray them so easily just like that.
Meanwhile, Adrian was still trying to recover from Caleb’s visit. He had another drink and went to the music room. It was a big mistake. His eyes went to the piano where the Cassandra piece lay.
A deep curiosity pulled him toward it. He sat and pondered the lines on the sheet music.
Then, he began to play.
He knew Daphne played the piano far better than he ever could.
The sound broke him, though. It sounded like how Cassandra was. Her whole essence. It was not just music, but a presence.
His mother and his sister would want him to live, not ruin himself. The truth had been there all along, and it hurt that Caleb had to be the first to realize that.
He ran out of the townhouse, not even bothering to take a coat with him.