Chapter Fifteen #3
Gaston looked away, a pensive expression on his face.
He coughed a few times, something that sounded wet and rough.
“I do not know,” he finally said. “But we are not speaking of one of them. We are speaking of my son and your daughter, who happen to love each other. Trenton is married to a woman he despises, and the feeling is mutual. Do our children not deserve to find their happiness together? I would like to see Trenton happy just once in my lifetime. I would like to know that the pain I have caused him has been healed.”
Matthew was once again reminded of Gaston’s frail health.
As the fire in the hearth began to blaze, he reclaimed his seat across from Gaston, his manner moody and subdued.
He wasn’t usually moody by nature, but being confronted with a situation he felt strongly about, and a dear friend’s illness, had him off balance.
“You are asking me to condone an affair,” he finally said. “Whatever feelings Trenton has for Lysabel, his intentions will never be honorable.”
“What do you mean?”
“He cannot marry her. Do you not think people will know that? They will talk and her reputation will be ruined. Is that what you truly wish for Lysabel?” He threw up his hand in exasperation.
“And what of my granddaughters? Do you think I can find suitable and honorable husbands for them when it comes time, knowing their mother is a concubine to a married man? Would you ruin their chances, too?”
Gaston heard the passion, the distress, in his friend’s voice. “Of course not,” he said. “Matt, all I am saying is that they are two people in love who should be permitted to make their own decisions. I loved a married woman, once, and I refused to let her go. Trenton has that same tenacity.”
Matthew cocked an eyebrow. “What are you saying? That he is going to defy me?”
Gaston hesitated. “I am saying that love will find a way, with or without your approval.”
Matthew didn’t like the sound of that at all.
Frustrated, he sighed heavily. “Gaston, you know I love you and you know I love Trenton, but I will not let him carry on a dishonorable relationship with my daughter. I do not want to say he is unwelcome here; I do not want to say that any de Russe is unwelcome here, but I must protect Lysabel and my granddaughters.”
“From what?”
“From something that can never be!”
There was that passion in his tone again. Gaston and Matthew had never been at odds and, frankly, Gaston couldn’t remember if they’d ever had an argument, but this conversation was one of the most volatile they’d ever had. Considering the subject matter, that was understandable.
“I can see your point of view, my friend,” he said quietly. “But in matters of love, there is no easy answer. You think that Lysabel will forget about Trenton if they are separated, but is that really true? Would you have forgotten about Alix so easily if your love for her had been denied?”
Matthew sighed once again. “I did not fall in love with a woman who was already married,” he said. “Though I fault you not for the circumstances with Remi, because surely, they were complicated to say the least, this situation is different.”
“How?”
“Because it is happening to my daughter.”
Gaston could see that there was no budging the man.
In truth, he wasn’t sure he had really been trying to.
He was merely pleading Trenton’s case. But he had hoped that Matthew would be a little more reasonable.
Still, given that the man felt tremendous guilt for the marriage to de Wilde, it was understandable that he was extremely protective of Lysabel’s future happiness.
He had to ensure his daughter found a happy and honorable life.
Not a life as the mistress of a married man.
“And it is happening to my son,” Gaston said after a moment.
“Your path with Alix was different, so you do not know what it means to love a woman who is legally bound to another man. You have no idea the pain of such a thing, so I do not expect you to understand. But I would hope that you would at least understand that not all things in life are clear cut, and not everything is as easy as you make it out to be.”
With that, he stood up, weary and somewhat disheartened at the course of the conversation.
Matthew was defensive, and probably had every right to be, but Gaston realized that he’d been looking for more understanding from the man.
The White Lord of Wellesbourne was a man of great compassion and wisdom, and he’d hoped that would carry over into Trenton and Lysabel’s situation.
But Matthew was only seeing it from a father’s perspective and nothing more.
Matthew didn’t let him get very far. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“To rest.”
Matthew blew out a deep breath. “Come back here,” he said. “Gaston, you and I have never had harsh words between us and I do not intend to start now, but this is something too important for you to just walk away.”
Gaston came to an unsteady halt somewhere over near the hearth.
“What point is there in me remaining?” he said.
“Your mind is made up. I cannot change it. But I will tell you that you may be headed towards heartache if you do not put love above the Wellesbourne reputation. It seems to me that is all you are truly worried about.”
Matthew stood up and looked at him. “That is not true and it is not fair,” he said. “I am worried for my daughter.”
“You were wrong the first time you chose her a mate. Why not let her make the decision the second time?”
It was an unfair dig, but it was the truth and they both knew it. Matthew eyed him a moment. “She is still my daughter.”
“And you are telling me that you know what is best for her better than she does? She is a grown woman with two children, Matt. She’s no longer the foolish young maiden you evidently think she is.”
“I will not let her be Trenton’s whore, Gaston.”
“Nobody is asking you to. They are not looking for your blessing, simply your understanding in the matter.”
Matthew was starting to feel cornered and, truth be told, irritated at Gaston.
It was true that he had no experience in loving a woman who was legally bound to another man, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know what was right and what was wrong.
As he stood there, pondering how to reply, the door opened and servants appeared with trays of food and drink.
Alixandrea was leading them in, smiling at her husband and his best friend.
“Gaston, I brought you mulled wine,” she said gaily. “I know how much you like it.”
Gaston’s gaze was on Matthew. It took him a moment to reply and when he did, he turned away.
“I am not thirsty,” he said. “Is there a place I may rest?”
The smile faded from Alixandrea’s face. “Of course,” she said. “The chamber you always use when you are here is being readied.”
Without another word, Gaston lumbered through the door, heading for the stairs that led to the upper floors. When he disappeared from sight, Alixandrea turned to her husband.
“What happened?” she asked, her eyes wide.
Matthew was feeling defeated. So very defeated. He didn’t like quarreling with his best friend.
“He has come on behalf of Trenton,” he said. “He does not want me to interfere in Trenton and Lysabel’s affair.”
Alixandrea watched her husband as he went over to the wine she’d brought and started drinking from the pitcher.
He didn’t even take a cup. She knew how torn he was about this; she, too, was torn, but she also understood a woman’s heart.
She understood that Lysabel was in love for the first time in her life and she was desperate and miserable without Trenton.
“Matt,” she said quietly. “I am your wife, but I am also the one who knows you best in this world. And I can be completely honest with you without being judgmental.”
He looked at her. “Well? Let’s hear your honesty, then.”
She put her soft hand on his arm. “Your daughter is in love,” she murmured.
“I have tried to tell you this, but you have not been listening to me. She is in love with a man who has treated her better in just a few days than Benoit treated her in twelve years. She is not going to forget about Trenton so easily. You have mentioned betrothing her to Ranse, but even if she marries him, it will be with Trenton on her mind and in her heart, and that is not fair to her or to Ranse.”
Matthew gazed into those hazel eyes he loved so well. “And you think I am wrong in this?”
Alixandrea lifted her shoulders, turning away from him. She couldn’t honestly look him in the eye and tell him he was wrong.
“Nay,” she said. “I know you are looking at the moral aspect of it. You are looking at Lysabel’s future and the future of her girls. But you are not looking at the condition of her heart. The heart wants what the heart wants, and you cannot break that bond if it has been formed.”
Matthew pondered her words. “Then what should I do?”
Alixandrea looked at him, then. “I know you do not want to do this, but you must trust your daughter to make her own decision. Trust her to make the right one. She has her father’s wisdom, after all. You must give her the chance to choose her own destiny this time.”
It was difficult for Matthew to accept that, but his wife was wiser than him in all things. He had to trust that she was correct. Gaston had tried to tell him the same thing, but coming from Alixandrea… now he had the two people he loved best in this world telling him the very same thing.
He didn’t like losing control like this.
“Then I shall go and speak with her,” he said, resignation in his voice. “I do not want my daughter to end up hating me, but she must understand that I am only thinking of her future.”
Alixandrea stopped him as he tried to walk away. “Not now.”
“Why not?”
“Because Trenton is here.”
Matthew’s eyebrows flew up. “Trenton is…?”
Alixandrea nodded, pulling him over to the chairs in front of the now-blazing hearth. “I saw him come in through the postern gate when I was in the kitchens procuring your refreshments,” she said. “He must have ridden in with Gaston. Did he tell you?”
Matthew’s expression tightened with displeasure. “He did not.”
Alixandrea gently pushed her husband into a chair. “It is possible that he did not know,” she said. “Trenton could have followed him from Deverill.”
“And it is equally possible that he knew and did not want to tell me.”
Alixandrea sat down next to him, holding his hand. “Mayhap he was planning to tell you,” she said. “Do not think Gaston was being subversive. You know him better than that.”
Matthew did, but Trenton’s presence at Wellesbourne still didn’t sit well. “Where did Trenton go?”
Alixandrea turned away, her gaze moving to the lancet windows of the solar as if she could see the activity beyond them.
“Lysabel is in the garden with the girls,” she said. “I suspect that is where Trenton is going. Matt… stay here with me. Trust that your daughter will do the right thing, whatever that may be. Have faith that everything will work out as it should.”
Matthew wasn’t so certain, but he didn’t argue.
He kept thinking about his daughter, so vulnerable he thought, and Trenton, who wanted something very badly.
Then he thought of Gaston, closer than a brother, and knew the man was hurting, too.
His estranged son had come to him for help, and Matthew had shut him down.
Perhaps, Gaston had some fear of losing Trenton for good over this.
It seemed that both Matthew and Gaston had fears for their children.
Lifting his wife’s hand, he kissed it.
“I think I shall go to Gaston,” he said. “It would seem that we have some waiting to do. You will understand when I say that I should like to wait with him, with your permission.”
Alixandrea smiled at her husband. “Go to him.”
Matthew kissed her hand again before letting it go, making his way from the solar and up to the chamber on the second floor, the smaller one that overlooked the bailey, where Gaston usually stayed when he visited.
Matthew knocked on the old oak door, waiting in silence until it was opened and Gaston stood in the doorway. But no words were spoken between them.
No words were necessary.
They threw their arms around each other and hugged. And then, they sat and waited.