Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Alice paced along the marble floor of the Duke of Fitzroy’s entry hall, doing short laps across the black and white squares at the bottom of the stairs.
The old Duke, as everyone below stairs called him, had been unwell for the last week and was quite likely dying.
Her mother, the housekeeper, was beside herself, but Alice had busied herself to her usual work as the cook’s help in the kitchen and was relatively unaffected.
However, her mother had been absent from her post for several hours this afternoon, and Alice had only recently been summoned upstairs.
She had been told to wait by the butler, so she did, pacing and worrying about what might happen.
Alice was well aware that her mother had been having an illicit affair with the old Duke for many years and hoped her transgression would not result in their dismissal.
She had no idea what they would do if the Duke kicked them out, and she knew her mother would be devastated if he abandoned her.
“He is ready for you,” the butler said, standing at the top of the stairs.
Alice was astounded that the Duke would want to see her.
She assumed he'd have the butler dismiss them.
But she knew she was his to command as a servant in his household, and she couldn't disobey.
She brushed the flour from her apron, and politely nodded as she climbed the stairs, conscious of her worn shoes on the beautiful walnut floorboards.
She'd never been to the manor's family rooms. Despite the fact that her mother had climbed the back stairs almost every night since Alice could remember.
She felt horribly exposed as she was led along a beautifully decorated corridor to a highly polished oak door.
When Alice realized it was the door to the Duke's bed chamber, her stomach lurched.
She was perplexed but stepped forward when the butler opened it and entered.
“Miss Proctor to see you, Your Grace,” the butler intoned, holding the door open.
“Thank you,” the old Duke rasped. Alice was disturbed to see that he was reclining in bed and even more surprised to see her mother seated next to him.
After all, it was one thing for her mother to have been his secret lover all these years, and quite another for him to openly have her by his bedside.
The old Duke’s face was wan and thin, his chest heaving with each breath.
She noticed that her mother held one of his hands on the coverlet.
Alice stood at the end of the bed and felt a sudden rush of awkwardness.
She dropped her head and dipped into a proper curtsey even though her mind was racing.
“Good evening, Your Grace,” she uttered, trying not to meet her mother’s eye.
She had no idea how to act in this situation.
Her mother stood by the Duke's bedside as if she were his duchess.
He wasn't treating her like she was once his late wife's lady's maid.
His seduction of that maid may have helped her rise to the position of housekeeper, but she was still a low-born servant, not the lady of the house.
“Thank you for coming, Alice. Please, take a seat,” the old Duke said, gesturing to the empty chair at his bedside, near her mother.
Alice shuffled uncomfortably. As a servant in the house, the rules dictated that she could not sit in the Duke’s presence.
Yet he had asked her, and she could not disobey a command.
Without meaning to, she caught her mother's eye.
“Take a seat, darling,” her mother said gently, with a soft smile. Alice nodded and sat down at the Duke’s bedside; his yellowed eyes following her. The cook seemed correct in her suspicions – the Duke appeared to be dying. He took an unsteady breath and turned his head to fully look at her.
“Alice,” he began, his voice croaking. It was bizarre for her to hear her employer call her by her name as he had rarely spoken to her directly before. “I have things I must say before I die, and time is now of the essence.”
“I am at your service, Your Grace,” Alice said awkwardly.
It was surreal to sit there, listening to the Duke speak frankly about his coming death while he held the hand of his long-time lover.
Her mother’s eyes filled with tears and Alice felt sorry for her.
She knew her mother genuinely loved the man.
Even without the uncertainty of her future position in the household, his death would be difficult for her.
“No, please. You do not need to use my honorific,” the Duke said. Alice tried not to show her amazement. She looked up at her mother, unsure what she should do, but she only smiled tremulously.
“It is all right, my dear,” her mother said.
Alice nodded, thinking that she had never felt so uneasy.
How could she possibly navigate such a strange situation?
She was sitting with the man who had single-handedly ruined her childhood.
Everyone in the Duke of Fitzroy's household knew of his affair with his housekeeper.
As a result, Alice had been ostracized by the other servants for as long as she could remember.
The staff either resented her mother's position or looked down upon her for having inappropriate relations with the Duke.
These feelings trickled down to Alice. Her lot in life didn't improve until the duchess passed away about six years ago, and Alice had won the respect of the cook during the elaborate funeral preparations.
Being the cook's assistant had given her a modicum of power that she had relished.
“I have made many mistakes, and I must make them right, even if it has been too long in coming,” The Duke whispered.
“We all make mistakes, my love, but you are rectifying them now, and that is what matters,” her mother murmured, making Alice almost reel back in shock to hear such an endearment.
While she knew her mother loved the Duke, she never understood why she let the affair go on for so long.
Except if it was to ensure their continued employment.
But Alice had never thought it was worth the harm to their reputations.
She despised the fact that their livelihood was tied to the whim of the man who used her mother for his own pleasure.
She had always believed that it was preferable to have a lower position in another household and be respected than to stay in her there and be scorned.
But, no matter how much her daughter begged, her mother was too in love to leave.
“I have been unkind. I have made decisions that have destroyed the joy of others, but I hope that I leave this earth at least making one thing right,” the Duke said.
He leaned his head against the pillow and looked at Alice.
She was surprised to see tears welling in his weak eyes.
She had no idea what to say, for how could she comfort him?
He had a ruthless reputation. It was one of the reasons she had always been so frustrated with her mother’s decision to continue their relationship.
Alice had never once looked at the Duke of Fitzroy and seen anything in him that was worthy of admiration.
“It is… important to make amends for past wrongs,” Alice said hesitantly, feeling as if they were both waiting for her to say something. Surely a clergyman should be here to hear his confessions and not the daughter of his mistress.
“Yes it is,” the Duke sighed and looked toward her mother. “And as part of doing that, I have finally married your mother, Alice.”
Alice just stared blankly at the absurd announcement.
Her thoughts returned to a time when she was younger.
Alice had immature thoughts of a new life when she first learned that the gentleman her mother had been in love with for so long was, in fact, their master.
She expected the Duke to divorce his wife and marry her mother.
That they would live above stairs and be content.
That she might have a real father. Of course, these childish fantasies were swiftly dashed by the reality of their world.
A duke had his duchess for status and appearances and his mistress for pleasure.
It was then that Alice understood men's selfishness and the world's cruelty to women.
She was brought back to the present when her mother began speaking.
“The Bishop of Coventry, an old friend of the Duke's, came today with a special license and performed the ceremony before witnesses,” her mother said gently. Seeing the look of incredulity on her daughter's face, she added, "We are indeed married, Alice."
“Should have done it years ago,” the duke coughed out, his face turning red with the effort to speak. "But at least now you will both be able to live the lives you deserve."
What does that mean? Alice wondered, unable to process his words. She couldn’t fathom what other life a servant could deserve than the one they led.
“Isn’t it wonderful, Alice?” her mother gushed. “Finally, we can be together, as we always should have been.”
Alice smiled tightly. Of course, she knew she should be happy for her mother.
She was now, if only for a short time, the Duchess of Fitzroy.
After the Duke died, she would presumably be looked after by whoever the Duke's heir turned out to be, though she had no idea who that could be because he had no son.
But Alice could only think about the attention this action would bring them.
They would be avoided by both the servants they had previously worked with and the ton.
Society would never accept a former lady's maid, no matter how high her position had risen. They would not fit in either world.
“You do not seem pleased, Alice,” the Duke whispered, fixing his eyes on her with shrewdness.