Chapter 7 Dietrich
Chapter seven
Dietrich
Dietrich paced anxiously as he waited to hear from Beatrice.
He would need help to teach Ella how to be a duchess, and who better to do it than his friend, who had suddenly become a lady when she married Lord Dunham in a marriage of convenience that had turned out to be a love match unlike any he’d ever seen.
Beatrice would be able to help him—he knew it.
He just had to get her to see that he needed help, without putting important details into a letter that could be read by someone else.
His fingers twitched, and he stopped pacing long enough to reach for his pocketknife and a scrap of wood from the pile he kept near his desk. He never knew when they would come in handy, and perhaps carving would distract him for a moment.
He had always loved wood carving, ever since he was a boy watching his father carve. When he had become old enough to get his first knife, he had been so excited to practice.
But then the girl that he’d given his first carving to had disappeared, and with her, his enjoyment of it.
Now he only did it when he was trying to avoid thinking of how Eliana was still missing, or when he desperately missed his father. And at this moment, it was both of those.
If only his father was here. He would have some advice for him and would help him know what to do.
The problem was that Dietrich was fairly certain that Ella was actually Lady Eliana Vaughn, but with her refusal to meet the duke, his hands were tied.
He didn’t want to say anything to the duke and get his hopes up only for him to be disappointed, and he didn’t want to delay their meeting. But if Ella was anything like the duke...she would be stubborn enough to not do anything she wasn’t ready for.
His knife snicked away at the wood as he started carving mindlessly, not sure what he was making, but it didn’t matter. He just needed to make something, something to keep his hands busy while he waited.
He should probably go check on his horses, but the idea of facing his men did not seem appealing when he was so discombobulated himself. So he stayed in his office, carving away at the block of wood until it was no longer a block but a little wooden pumpkin.
He stared down at it, his jaw tightening. Of course he’d made a pumpkin—as if he needed one more thing to remind him of the girl he’d watched walk away all those years ago.
He swore under his breath, set the little wooden pumpkin down on the edge of his desk, then opened the door and strode out of his office.
That hadn’t helped, so maybe he should check on the animals after all.
It couldn’t be worse than hiding in his office and thinking of her.
The barn was blissfully clear as most of his men were at lunch. The duke had come through with additional hires, bringing his staff from three to a veritable army of seven, all reporting to him.
Sometimes he wasn’t sure what to do with them. He didn’t feel prepared for managing that many men.
He’d thought that the duke’s arrival would give him less free time—and yet, with the four new men, he was even less hands-on in the barns than before.
Which was fortunate, because while he didn’t mind working—in fact, he would have preferred to work more—he’d been a little preoccupied the past three days since realizing who Ella was.
It was good to know that his men were taking care of everything while he was distracted.
He approached Turnip, his favorite gelding, and began scratching his nose.
“Hi, buddy,” he said quietly. “I don’t suppose you want to help distract me.”
The horse let out a whicker, rubbing up against him as if asking for more attention.
Dietrich took a deep breath and leaned in, resting his head against the horse’s neck.
It was peaceful here with all the men at lunch and only the horses and their noise to distract him.
But there was another noise, and he looked down to find Jay prowling around his feet, asking for attention.
Dietrich laughed and leaned down to scratch under the old cat’s chin.
“Should have known you would be here,” he said to the cat. “You never could turn down attention.”
The cat let out a meow, and Dietrich continued to pet him.
“What do you think, bud?” Jay had been around when the duchess had gone missing. He had been a very young kitten, but he had been there. “Do you think it’s her?”
He was showing signs of his age. His dark black fur had faded and was becoming mottled with brown, and his whiskers were beginning to lose their luster. But he was still the best barn cat around.
Dietrich took a deep breath as Jay continued to purr.
“I think so too,” he said. “The question is, what are we going to do about it? And how do we convince her?”
Someone strode into the barn, and Dietrich turned to see the groom that he’d sent to his mother’s.
“That was fast,” he said.
“Your mother had a message for you,” the groom said.
Dietrich’s eyes widened as he took the note his mother had written. She’s staying with me, it read.
So she had decided to leave her stepmother. Did that mean she had confronted her and knew something now? Dietrich’s jaw tightened.
“I must go to my mother,” he said. “If a groom comes from Eldenwilde, please send him there with the response.”
Dietrich hurried out of the estate toward his mother’s home, and it did not surprise him when an Eldenwilde groom caught up to him only a few moments later.
“Dietrich,” the man called, holding out a note.
Dietrich took it, his eyes quickly skimming Beatrice’s flourishy handwriting. I would love to meet your friend, the note said. Can you bring her here?
Dietrich sighed. Going to Eldenwilde had not been his plan, but perhaps it was for the best. They would be able to teach Ella there without prying eyes.
Dietrich sent the groom back with a message for Beatrice and made his way to his mother’s home.
She was waiting outside, with no sign of Ella.
“Where is she?” he asked as he opened the gate.
“Hello, Mother, nice to see you too,” his mother said pointedly.
Dietrich sighed. “Hello, Mother, nice to see you again.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Where is she?”
His mother laughed. “Thank you. She went to town to see Thea.”
“She did what?” he asked, his eyes widening.
“You can’t keep her in a box because you’ve realized who she is. She deserves her freedom for however long she has left.”
“She needs to be careful,” Dietrich said sharply. “I’m taking her to Beatrice. She’s going to help us, and I think I’ll see if she can stay there. She’ll be safer.”
“If that’s what you think best,” his mother said.
“What do you think about all of this?”
His mother looked out into the distance. “I think that she is very blessed to have found you, because I know that you will do everything in your power to take care of her and ensure that she is provided for.”
Dietrich’s jaw clenched for the hundredth time that day.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said.
“But you are trying,” his mother said quietly, “and that is what matters.”
The lump in Dietrich’s throat tightened as he nodded in acknowledgment. Yes, he was trying, but would that be enough? It seemed like they could hardly change anything for her, and perhaps he would only make things worse. But he had to try.
“You are a good man,” his mother said, “and I know that you want her to be happy. But Dietrich...”
He looked up at his mother, who surveyed him sadly.
“Don’t forget to put your own happiness at stake too.”
Dietrich shook his head. “My happiness is not tied to hers.”
“I don’t think you believe that anymore,” his mother said quietly. “If you did, I wouldn’t be as worried.”
What was she talking about? Even if she thought he and Ella were well-suited, she was a duchess. He’d had no interest in her as anything other than a new friend to replace Beatrice–but even that was no longer an option.
Ella needed to rejoin her family, and that would not be accomplished if she was distracted by him.
The thought was bittersweet, because he’d started to think that they could indeed be friends.
Once she found her family, he would walk away because she deserved to be happy.
He would not hold her back.
But first, he had to go to the café and find her before someone else realized the missing duchess was wandering around town.