Chapter Fourteen #2
Trenton nodded. “Everything would be perfect but for her.” He shook his head sadly.
“I have never felt married to her, Dane. You know this. You know how it has been with her. She is a stranger who bears my name, a stranger who only wants the de Russe name and the Westbury money. I do not even feel welcome in my own home; I haven’t since I married her.
It wasn’t that I was content with my terrible marriage more than I was simply resigned to it.
Then I met Lysabel and all that has changed. ”
Now, Dane could see the sorrow. It ran deep. “What will you do?”
Trenton shook his head. “She wants to be with me and I want to be with her,” he said simply.
“I told Uncle Matthew what we wanted and he banished me from Wellesbourne Castle. I came to Deverill in the hopes that Da could talk to Uncle Matthew about it. I do not need the man’s approval, but I would at least ask that he not interfere.
We are two people who make each other happy and we wish to be together. It is as simple as that.”
In spite of the way Trenton made it sound, it wasn’t a simple situation at all. Dane scratched his head, thinking on a tragic situation for his brother and wishing he could do something about it.
But there was also something else on his mind, something that Trenton wasn’t aware of. He hated to tell the man in the midst of all of this, but it was important that he know, now more than ever. Once Gaston was brought into the conversation, Dane felt compelled to speak on it.
“Trenton,” he said, reaching out to put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “I know that Da is glad to see you and it is unfortunate that it took a situation like this for you to visit, but there is something you should know about Da these days.”
Trenton looked at him, curiously. “What is it?”
Dane patted him on the shoulder. “I am not even supposed to know this, but Mother confessed to me one night because she could not deal with it alone,” he said.
“In fact, I was going to send word to you about it but I am glad you have come to me first. It’s Da – the physics think he has a cancer in his throat.
He has had a bad cough this past year, something he could not shake, and two physics from London came and diagnosed him with a tumor in his throat. His health has been deteriorating.”
Trenton was looking at him in horror, the first strong emotion Dane had seen on the man’s face in a very long time. “My father is sick?”
Dane nodded seriously. “I am sorry, Trenton,” he murmured.
“Mother knows, of course, as does Cort, but no one else. Da does not even know that Cort and I know, and now you. You must not let him know that you know. It would wound his pride if he knew that his sons knew of his health issue. To him, we must always believe he is strong and invincible. He is The Dark One, after all. He has a reputation to uphold.”
Trenton stared at him. Then, in a shocking move, his lower lip began to tremble and he slapped a hand over his mouth, looking at Dane with eyes that were growing moist. That reaction from Trenton brought out Dane’s emotional response and he put both of his hands on him, a comforting gesture, but one that put a lump in Dane’s throat.
It was like a dagger to his heart to see Trenton so upset.
“Nay, Dane,” Trenton said through his hand. “My father is not dying. Tell me he is not dying.”
Dane’s eyes were moist and he drew in a long, steadying breath. “He is getting old,” he said frankly. “He will see seventy years next year, Trenton. He is not a young man any longer. That is the truth. He has lived a long and full life, and he has been very happy. You must remember that.”
Trenton still had his hand over his mouth. “But he has been unhappy with me,” he muttered. “I have brought him a great deal of disappointment.”
Dane shook his head. “You know that is not true,” he said. “He always wanted great things for you. You had to follow your own path and it was difficult for him to accept it, that’s all. But he has accepted it. He is proud of you, I promise.”
Trenton blinked and tears splattered onto his dark eyelashes, tears he quickly wiped away. Drawing in a long, deep breath, he labored to keep his composure.
“And I have come, asking him to ride to Wellesbourne and fight my battles for me,” he said, clearly devastated. “He should not be making such a trip. He should not be burdened with this.”
Dane agreed with him, but he wasn’t going to say so. “But he is going to go,” he said. “If you have asked it of him, he will go. And you cannot tell him not to; he will wonder why. If he knows that you know about his cancer, it will destroy him.”
Trenton nodded, wiping at his nose, slowly regaining his poise.
“You are correct, of course,” he said. “But I feel so terrible that I have asked this of him when his health is not good. I remember thinking when I saw him last night how much he had aged, but I did not know it is because he has been ill.”
Dane nodded faintly. “No one else knows, either, although I suspect Uncle Matthew might. My mother doesn’t keep much from him with regards to our father.”
Although he was calmer now, Trenton was feeling hollow and weak. He and his father had a turbulent relationship, but he wasn’t ready to lose him. He was still that little boy who loved and admired his father greatly, and the thought of losing his father made him feel absolutely lost.
“What do I do now?” he asked. “I have asked father to intervene with Uncle Matthew and I should not have. I have a wife who lives off of my money and my name, who has taken everything from me right down to my self-respect, and when I find a woman I love, I cannot even have her. God, I wish I’d never even heard the name Adela of Brittany. It is a curse I can never be rid of.”
They were all questions without answers, statements with no resolutions.
With that, he touched Dane’s cheek in a brotherly gesture and walked off, wandering away to contemplate what his life had become and further contemplate the very real possibility of losing his father in the near future.
It was all too much to take for him and, at the moment, he needed to be alone.
It’s a curse I can never be rid of.
Dane watched his brother walk away, feeling so very terrible for him. He hated to see him so distraught, with so many problems to deal with. It simply wasn’t fair, and Dane wished with all his heart that he could help him.
… and perhaps he could.
Dane was brilliant, that was true, but he was also crafty. He wanted to help his brother badly enough that he would do almost anything for him, even help him with a problem that, by law and by God, the man could do nothing about.
Adela.
She was the core of the issue, that bitch who lived in Trenton’s house, spent Trenton’s money, and spoke horribly of the de Russe family in general.
She made it no secret that she hated the family, and Dane had heard about the terrible things she’d said.
So had Gaston, and Remington to a certain extent.
All rumors and gossip floating around Wiltshire, the French wife of Trenton de Russe who couldn’t stand anything English, especially her husband or his family.
It was a situation that had never really concerned Dane until now.
Now, he felt as if his vision had cleared and could see that there was one thing standing in the way of his brother’s happiness.
His father was going to Wellesbourne to try and convince Matthew to allow their children to enter into a clandestine and dishonorable relationship, which would be one more thing for Adela to lament over and point out how terrible the de Russe family was. Dane wasn’t going to let that happen.
For Trenton’s sake, he would pay Adela a visit.
Lost in thought, Dane turned back for the training field.
In the distance, he could see his younger brother, Cort, as the man ran some new troops through their paces with swordplay.
Cort was animated, yelling at the men, but then calling everything to a halt so he could speak patiently with the group.
Cort was a fine man, with a tremendous grasp of what was right and what was wrong. His moral compass was a strong one.
Dane needed to speak with the man.
In days of old, it was Trenton that Dane would always drag into his schemes.
Dane had gotten Trenton into more trouble than he could recall but, in the end, it had bonded them like nothing else could.
Partners in crime, partners in brotherhood.
Now, Dane was looking for Cort to be his cohort in crime.
He had Trenton’s size and skill, but Dane’s conniving traits.
He was fearless, and even reckless, in a way Dane could never hope to be, and if anyone would be willing to help Trenton in this situation, it would be Cort.
Dane knew he could count on that.
Therefore, he pulled his younger brother away from the men and into a private corner of the yard where he explained the situation with Trenton, with Lysabel, with Matthew, and with Gaston. Before Dane had come to the conclusion of his story, Cort was already formulating a plan of action.
“You know what we have to do, don’t you?” Cort asked, interrupting his brother. “We have to go to Penleigh House. We cannot stand for this any longer, Dane. We must get rid of Adela once and for all.”
Dane knew that he and his brother thought very much alike, in most instances.
“My thoughts exactly,” he said. “This cannot go on any longer, Cort. Trenton cannot do anything about it, and Da will not do anything about it, so it is up to us to solve the issue once and for all, especially now that Trenton’s happiness is at stake and Da is being pulled into the mess.
You know he’s not well enough for to deal with any of this. ”
Cort nodded eagerly, his copper curls glimmering. “I know.” Then, he looked at Dane curiously. “So Trenton is truly in love with Lysabel de Wilde, then?”