Chapter Eleven #4
Matthew dropped his hand from Trenton’s arm. He wasn’t going to lie to the man’s face about it.
“It is true that your duties for the king are not something I would do,” he said. “That does not mean I judge you for it, but you are correct in stating that I do not want an assassin for my daughter. Even if it is you.”
Trenton lifted a dark eyebrow. “I fully intend to resign my post,” he said. “I have other properties I can retire to. I will take Lysabel and the girls, and we shall live there in happiness and love. That is something none of us has ever known.”
“But they will eventually,” Matthew stressed. “They will know the happiness of a family, and with a man who can be a husband and father to them. You cannot be either of those.”
In that statement, Trenton saw an opportunity to press his case even more. Matthew was bringing up another man, any man, who would be both a husband and father to Lysabel and her girls. It was a faceless, nameless man who threatened everything Trenton wanted.
But it wouldn’t just be the three of them at some point; soon, there would be a fourth.
“Any man you find for Lysabel and the girls will be taking on an instant family,” Trenton said.
“Lysabel is pregnant; did you know that? The night I killed Benoit was the night her child was conceived. It was conceived in the most brutal way possible. I am more than willing to overlook her pregnancy. I do not care in the least and I will love that child as if it were my very own. Do you really think you can find a decent man to take Lysabel, her two girls, and an infant? It is not as if she doesn’t come with great wealth or titles, you know.
She has much to offer, but to a discerning man, her liabilities will outweigh her assets and any other man will simply be desperate for what she has to offer.
Is that what you want? Another Benoit who is just looking for an opportunity to dig his claws into the Wellesbourne name? ”
Matthew looked at him in shock as he finished what was a rather strong tirade.
Lysabel hadn’t told him of the child in her belly and he was not only feeling foolish about it, he was feeling a great deal of astonishment.
What Trenton said wasn’t unreasonable; a woman and two small girls was one thing, but now with the added burden of an infant, it would be increasingly difficult to find her a desirable husband.
Most men simply weren’t that accepting, and it would be far worse if that baby was a girl.
A son, a man could assume as his own, but three girls…
It complicated the situation.
Still, Matthew couldn’t give in to Trenton’s argument.
“Pregnancy or no pregnancy, it does not change the situation,” he said.
“Trenton, listen to me. If you love Lysabel as you say you do, then you will not want to condemn her to a world of shame. Of course she has fallen for you; you saved her from Benoit. It is natural that she feels something for you. But when the shock of Benoit’s passing fades away, she will realize that she jumped from one bad situation to another if she goes with you.
As her father, I must protect her. Even from you. ”
Trenton could see that Matthew was coming to the heart of his opinion on the situation and Trenton could feel everything slipping away from him faster than before. Even the pregnancy revelation hadn’t swayed the man. And if that didn’t do it, nothing would.
He could feel his heart beginning to pound.
“Then what are you saying?” he finally asked. “Are you telling me that there is nothing I can say to change your mind?”
Matthew was firm, but there was sorrow in his eyes as he spoke. This wasn’t any easier for him than it was for Trenton, but he had to do what he felt was right.
“Nay, there is nothing you can say,” he said quietly.
“I am asking you to leave, Trenton. I want you to go. Lysabel deserves better than what you are offering her, and I want you to leave and never come back to Wellesbourne as long as she is here. If you do not leave voluntarily, I will have you escorted out.”
Trenton knew he would, too. Rather than rise to the man’s threat, he did something he’d never done before – he began to plead.
“Please do not ask me to do that,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I do not want to leave her or the girls. I love them, Uncle Matthew. I cannot leave behind something I love.”
It was rare when he called Matthew by the name he’d called him when he was young. It was indicative of his level of emotion and Matthew, a naturally emotional man, was fighting off the extreme pain of this decision.
But he knew it was for the best.
“I cannot approve or condone what you are asking,” he said.
“Trenton, I love you as much as if you were my own son, but at this moment, you are a threat to Lysabel and her future happiness. If you love her, then you will let her go. You will put her future over your wants, and if you do not do that, then you are not the man I thought you were.”
That which was slipping away from Trenton was now gone.
Trenton could feel it. He ran a weary hand over his face, struggling to keep his composure, made worse when Brencis shouted to him as William took the girl over the tiny barrier he’d made for Cynethryn’s pony.
His gaze was on Brencis and that happy little face, now something he was destined never to see again.
It was tearing his heart out.
“You want me to leave her?” he asked, pointing to Brencis.
He had a lump in his throat. “How can I leave her? She has a love for life that I shall never have, and it is glorious. And Cynethryn… she is such a serious child and she is now coming to warm to me. It is one of my best accomplishments, gaining her trust. And Lys… the woman is glory personified. And you are asking me to leave this all behind, Uncle Matthew? Are you truly asking me to do this?”
Matthew could hear the pain and it ripped at him, like great claws. He hated seeing Trenton so shattered, but he could not go back on his request.
He would not.
“They were never yours to begin with,” he whispered. “Trenton, you cannot ask me to approve of what you want. In your heart, I think you know how wrong it is but you are blinded by this infatuation you have with Lys and her girls.”
Trenton’s head snapped to him. “It is not an infatuation,” he said, his eyes blazing. “I love them. I have told you that. How dare you diminish my feelings?”
Matthew hung his head for a moment. He didn’t want a battle but if they continued this conversation, that was going to happen.
“I will say this one more time and this will be the end of it,” he said.
“If you love my daughter, then you will let her have the life she deserves in an honorable marriage, not a life as an earl’s mistress.
It is a cheap and tawdry thing you are asking and while there is breath left in my body, I will never approve of such a thing.
You are unsuitable for her in so many ways, only you do not see that through your own selfishness.
I want you to gather your things and go, Trenton.
I will give you an hour. You will not speak to Lys or the girls before you go, and I will remain with you until you ride from these gates. Is this in any way unclear?”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then this will get ugly. Do you truly want Lys to see that?”
He didn’t. The longer Trenton looked at Matthew, the more he realized that this was really over.
The life he wanted for him and Lysabel had slipped through his fingers, dashed to pieces by a man who only saw the morality of the situation, not the heart of it.
He couldn’t fight Matthew, nor would he, so the only thing he could do was obey the man.
But, God, it was killing him.
“I do not,” he muttered, feeling dead and hollow inside. “But I will say this; you have always been the wise and understanding one, but I see now that you have lost those qualities. Since I am not allowed to speak to Lys, what will you tell her? That you ordered me away?”
Matthew was honest. “I will tell her that you have gone and why. If it makes you feel any better, I will shoulder the burden in this situation. I will tell her that I forced you to leave.”
It didn’t make him feel any better to hear that, and he didn’t like the idea of leaving and not being able to tell Lysabel farewell, but he could see by Matthew’s face that no amount of pleading would change the man’s mind.
“I see,” he said. “When you tell her that, you can also tell her that you have put your pride above her own happiness. Make sure she knows that.”
Matthew had heard the same thing from Lysabel, but he wasn’t going to respond to Trenton. In truth, there was nothing more to say.
And his heart was breaking.
In silence, Matthew followed Trenton as the man went to the knight’s quarters to collect his property, and then back to the stables where Dewi was having a lovely nap.
As Dewi was brought out and saddled, Cynethryn was still in the stables, watching a groom put a mustard poultice on her pony’s leg, and she smiled at Trenton and her grandfather when she caught sight of them.
Matthew smiled, but Trenton was focused on Dewi, too distraught to even look at the little girl who was now looking at him quite curiously. She was still looking at him as he mounted his steed and thundered off in the direction of the gatehouse.
The last anyone saw of Trenton, he was riding from the gates and disappearing into the village beyond.
When Matthew told Lysabel the truth behind Trenton’s departure a few hours later, she wept uncontrollably.