Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Yvette limped into her bedroom, very much looking forward to lying down and resting. Not only was her ankle still hurting her, but she was tired from having not slept properly for two days.
Lucinda was the reason for this, not that Yvette blamed the woman personally.
Since having her child, Yvette had made it her mission to help where she could, and the last two days were spent looking after Lucinda in any way that she needed.
The trade-off to this was having no time of her own and almost no sleep.
Not that Yvette minded. Truthfully, she was more than happy to help, and with each hour spent looking after Lucinda and her child, Yvette’s personal resolve, where having a child of her own was concerned, strengthened.
It’s funny how quickly things can change. A week ago, the idea of having a child terrified me, and I knew beyond question that I would never want such a thing. Whereas now…
Yvette wanted her own child, and she was no longer in denial. Despite her past trauma, despite a lifetime convincing herself otherwise, she knew now what she needed to make herself feel complete. Just as she knew who it was that she wanted this child with.
Of course, that only made things more confusing.
So it was that, when she limped into her bedroom, she fixed her attention on her bed, needing to feel its softness so that she might get a few hours of sleep.
It was mid-morning, the sun shone brightly outside, but that made little difference.
Even before she reached her bed, her eyelids began to droop, and she almost salivated at the thought of a much-needed rest.
Typically, it wasn’t meant to be.
“Yvette…” A soft knock at the door came just as she sat herself down.
Yvette saw the Duke standing in the doorway, and she smiled.
Yes, she was tired, and yes, she wanted to be alone… but for the Duke, she was happy to delay. Just the sight of him had adrenaline coursing through her veins, so she probably would not be able to sleep now anyway.
“Your Grace.” She perked up, not wanting to look like a disheveled mess. “Do you need something? Is Hugh…”
“No, nothing like that.” He stayed in the doorway as if there was a barrier stopping him from entry. “I just wanted to see how you are feeling?” His gaze drifted to her swollen ankle. “Is there anything…”
“Oh, I am well enough.” She waved him down. “My ankle still throbs, but there is little I can do to help it. Time is what I need. Time and rest.”
“I hear that rest is the exact opposite of what you have been doing.”
“True enough,” she laughed. “I have gotten a little carried away with Lucinda and her babe. But can you blame me? You saw how cute he was…” She allowed her smile to grow because she wanted the Duke to see how much she cared for the newborn.
“I even considered stealing him at one point. Running away and never looking back.”
“With that ankle, you wouldn’t have gotten far.”
She laughed again. “Which is what stopped me. Lucinda is asleep now, Mrs. Fletcher is looking after the baby, so I thought…” She gestured to the bed. “It is time that I take my own advice and rest.”
“Lucinda is lucky to have you,” the Duke said. “We all are.”
That single comment made Yvette’s chest feel suddenly tight. And the way that he looked at her certainly did not help. His smile was soft, his eyes glimmered in the sunlight, and he watched her as if she were the center of the world and nothing else in it mattered.
The way he looks at me, it almost makes me wonder… no, Yvette. Do not waste your time. Do not dare dream it.
“Yes, well…” She looked away as her cheeks flushed. “It is my job.”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “But you do it anyway, and for good reason. You have a natural affinity with children, Miss Norleigh. Any child would be lucky to have you as their parent.”
It was an innocuous comment, but with everything that was on Yvette’s mind, it sounded far more purposeful. As if he somehow knew what she had been thinking about these last two days.
Obviously, that is impossible, Yvette. And do not dare say anything!
“Thank you,” she managed, still unable to look at him.
The Duke stayed in the doorway and continued to look at her. He wore that same soft smile, that same knowing look in his eyes, and she felt that he had something else he wanted to say to her.
The silence between them grew… the tension mounted…
Yvette dared to glance at him again, noticed the look in his eyes, and looked away as if he could read her mind.
Should she tell him that she had changed her opinion about children?
But why bother? What good would that do?
What could he possibly do with that information?
Yet there he stood, watching her, his expression now serious, and she was certain that he had more to say. Whatever it was, it troubled him, and there was a battle raging behind his eyes on whether or not he should say it.
Hope filtered through Yvette, daring to dream…
“Miss Norleigh,” he started finally. “There is something I need to –”
“Your Grace!” From nowhere, a valet suddenly appeared. He was out of breath and wore a look of panic. “I am sorry to disturb you, but you have a visitor.”
The Duke sighed. “Who is it?”
The valet hesitated, glancing nervously at Yvette. “Perhaps you should… I directed him to the drawing room, Your Grace. He was rather irate, insisting on speaking with you at once.”
The Duke frowned at the valet’s strange response. Something was clearly wrong, and whoever this visitor was, the valet did not wish to say the name out loud. Stranger still, it seemed to Yvette that he did not want her to hear it specifically.
“Very well,” the Duke sighed again before looking back at Yvette. “Rest up, Miss Norleigh. I will check on you later, if you do not mind.”
“I would like that,” she said.
He smiled once, held it for a moment, then turned and strode from the room and down the hall.
Yvette remained where she was as she thought back through that conversation.
It was perfectly benign, nothing at all to fret about, yet there was a sense to her that it was more than it seemed.
And not just the Duke checking on her well-being, which itself was something to covet.
But there was something on his mind that he wanted to discuss, something that clearly made him uncomfortable.
Don’t worry about it, Yvette. If it is important, he will tell you. Likely, it is nothing, and you are just letting your imagination run away with you.
She exhaled and laid down, determined to get some rest.
Of course, her pulse had since quickened, and she was feeling nowhere near as tired as she should be. She just couldn’t stop picturing the look in the Duke’s eyes, how nervous he had been… and that wasn’t to mention the tension that hung between them.
It was commonplace now, that tension, and the air often cracked and sparked when they were together. It went beyond mere familiarity, and while Yvette knew what it meant on her end, she doubted very much that the Duke felt the same. There was just no way…
She closed her eyes, desperate to sleep, but that was when she heard it.
Shouting, coming from downstairs. Raised voices. Heavy stomping. Whoever was visiting the Duke was no friend… just as it was not her business. She grabbed a pillow and covered her face to drown out the raised voices, but there was something about that voice that niggled at her brain.
It might have been her imagination, but she could have sworn it sounded just like…
Yvette tossed the pillow, widened her eyes, and sat up quickly. Then she turned toward the door, still able to hear the arguing coming from downstairs. She knew who that voice belonged to now, even if she could not fathom what he was doing here. Nor why he was so angry.
Leave it be, Yvette. It is not your business…
Before Yvette could stop herself or talk herself out of it, she was out of her bed and limping across the room. Then she was doing the same down the hallway, down the stairs, across the foyer, and toward the drawing room.
The sound of arguing grew with each step taken, and she now had no doubt who it was that had come to see the Duke. This was confirmed a second later when she approached the drawing room to find the doorway open.
Yvette slowed her pace, unable to comprehend what she was both seeing and hearing.
“… I do not see why you are so upset.” It was Yvette’s father, of all people. He stood in the middle of the room, and she noticed immediately the way his body swayed as if he struggled to stand.
“I am sure you do not.” The Duke paced the room angrily. “But I would not expect someone in your physical state to understand much of anything.”
“That is not…” Her father burped. “I am not here to talk about me.”
“Of course you are!”
“No…” Her father slurred with each word spoken, and his cheeks were blotched red. “I am here to speak of the boy. Which is what you wanted. Remember, Your Grace, you came to me. You were the one who sought my help.”
“That is less than half the truth.”
“It is most of it.” Her father burped again and then hammered his chest with his curled fist. “I might have come to you, yes. But you were the one who used me.”
“As you used me,” the Duke snarled. “We had a deal.”
“A deal that I still intend to honor.” Her father stumbled back and had to hold his hands out to keep his balance. He took a deep breath and exhaled. “I want to honor it, Your Grace. I yearn to.”
The Duke scoffed and started pacing again. “For a price.”
“Do not make it sound as if I am doing this for me,” her father complained as he stumbled forward and regained his footing. “Everything I have goes to my parish. That is what the money is for. All I ask is for a little more. Not for me. Never for me.”
The Duke turned on him and curled his lip in disgust. “And what happened to the money I already gave you? No, do not waste your breath with lies.” The Duke sniffed the air. “I can smell well enough where the money has gone.”
“That is not true!” her father cried, only to burp again. “I… only a fraction of what you paid me… less than that. For my health!”
“You drank it away,” the Duke snarled at her father. “And now you come here begging for more.”
“Can you blame me?” Her father stumbled back, this time catching himself on the couch by the wall. There, he struggled to push himself up, his legs shaking with the effort. “I never wanted this. When I first sought you… I did not think you would do this to me.”
“To you?”
“My daughter,” her father pleaded. “Without her, I have struggled like you cannot know. As I told you that I would!” He scowled at the Duke, only to turn it into a bereaved pout. “But you would not listen. You were insistent.”
“I paid you for her services.”
“And now I require more.” Her father folded his arms, but the way he swayed and the redness of his face made the action appear far less assertive than he likely intended.
“Half what you paid me last time. For that, I will continue to keep your secret, and you can keep my daughter for as long as you require.”
Yvette was paused a few feet from the doorway, not willing to enter, and not wanting to be seen. Her heart raced, and her mind whirred as she tried to take in what was being said – as she tried to understand it!
The Duke paid my father so that I would be his governess? Why would he do this? And what secret are they referring to? What is going on?
She looked between her drunken father and the furious Duke, and a sense of foreboding steadily grew in her stomach because she knew that whatever it was, she would rue it.
The Duke groaned and rubbed his eyes; his anger faded, left instead with clear annoyance. “I am tired, Vicar. So very tired. Do you remember when I came to see you yesterday? Or were you so drunk that you have forgotten?”
“Of course I remember.”
“Did you stop to consider why I came to see you? No…” He snorted. “Likely, it just reminded you of what you think I owe you.” He looked flatly at her father. “I am going to tell her.”
Her father balked. “You are?”
“I am,” the Duke said. “I am sick to death of the lies. They eat away at me, wearing me thin. I…” He sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “She deserves to know the truth. As does Hugh. As does everyone.”
“What? No!” Her father rushed to the Duke, nearly tripping on his feet as he hurried. “Think of what that will do. To you. To the boy! Your reputation…”
“As if you care for my reputation.”
“Of course I care!” Her father slurred as he shouted.
“No…” The Duke scoffed. “Do not act as if you care for anyone but yourself. The only thing you care about is money, and once I reveal the truth, the money will be no more. That is why you panic.”
“I…” Her father’s mouth opened and closed like a fish on land. “She will be furious with me. With you! She won’t understand…”
“Perhaps,” the Duke sighed with regret. “But the point remains the same. I am not giving you another dime, Vicar. And once you leave here, I am going to go upstairs and tell your daughter everything.”
Yvette hovered just outside the doorway.
She considered turning and rushing back upstairs so that she could feign ignorance. She wanted to trust the Duke, because why would she not? Since she had started working here, he had been honest with her, kind even, and she never once got the sense that he meant her any harm. Only now…
There was something sinister about this conversation, secrets kept, promises made. And all concerning herself and Hugh.
Yvette could not fathom what any of it meant, just as she knew that she needed answers. Since the day that she had found out about Hugh, she had sensed that she was not being told everything. And now, it seemed, she was proven correct.
With that in mind, she firmed herself up and stepped into the room.
“I will save you the journey,” she spoke loudly.
The Duke started and spun about, his eyes widened when he saw her in the doorway. Her father gasped, stumbled back, and then looked away with shame.
“Miss Norleigh!” the Duke cried. “What are you… how much did you hear?”
“Enough.” She folded her arms and looked sternly at the Duke. “And I am not going anywhere until you tell me what is going on. And that means everything.”
The tension this statement left between her and the Duke was palpable. He leaned back and shame pouring from his body like bad cologne. But Yvette stood firm, arms folded, glaring daggers at him. Whatever he had to say, it was time he said it. She was done being lied to.