Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Victor’s glowering gaze swept across the theater.
It was fueled with so much anger that it might well have set the stage and seats alight.
He seethed and boiled, and his hands were clenched by his side.
His face was twisted into a bitter scowl, and this frustration only continued to grow as he bumped into the tide of people who were blocking his way.
He peered over them all, trying to see Lydia because if his suspicions proved correct then everything was going to come undone, and all his hard work would be ruined.
The last thing he needed was to have Juliet Fane back in Harry’s life.
“Will you get out of my way,” Victor blustered as he pushed through a cluster of people. They wore offended looks and gasped, shaking their heads with disapproval as Victor swept through them like a battering ram splintering the entrance to a castle.
Damn them. Damn their chatter; damn their judgment.
Nothing mattered to Victor in that moment aside from finding Lydia before she could do something foolish. She was such a romantic person she would probably try to reunite Harry and Juliet, bringing yet more scorn onto the family.
Everything was falling apart piece by piece, and it seemed impossible to hold everything together. Perhaps they would have to retreat up north or to Ireland, or, and he shuddered at this thought, to France.
Even though the show had finished, there were plenty of people still in his way.
Instead of throttling them all, Victor decided to take a more direct route.
He marched between the seats and stomped up the stage, his heavy footsteps thudding against the wide floor.
He stopped suddenly as he saw a ghost of movement in the wings.
“Lydia,” the word cut sharply through the air.
She stopped.
She turned.
She walked across the stage gracefully. Her hands were clasped; her head was held high. He could see in her face that his worst fears had come true.
“What have you done?” he snarled as she came to join him in the middle of the stage. She took a moment to gaze out at the seats, perhaps never having imagined herself standing on a stage like this. The curtain had fallen and offered a scarlet wall beside them.
“I know the truth, Victor. I know everything,” she said.
Victor’s fear gnawed at his heart. “You think you do, but you don’t.
I know what you must think of me. You have cast me as a monster in this romantic little fantasy, and you must think me an ogre for separating them, but you must understand what would have happened had Harry pursued this dalliance with that kind of woman. I mean an actress…” he spat.
Victor had another hundred words loaded, ready to fire, but Lydia took all the energy away from his storm.
“John is Lord Harry’s child, Victor,” Lydia said.
The words were simple and bare although they were difficult for Victor to comprehend at first. For a few moments, he stood there, staring blankly at Lydia.
She offered no other words but let them settle between herself and Victor. Victor blinked eventually.
“What?” he gasped. He was overcome by a feeling of bewilderment.
“I had a most illuminating conversation with Juliet. She stayed away from Lord Harry as you wished. I think that the two of you had more in common than you might have believed,” Lydia said although Victor certainly baulked at this declaration, feeling unease crawl beneath his skin.
“You were both concerned with his wellbeing. Juliet did not wish to bring him into disrepute, so she stayed away and made the best of it. However, when it came time to bring John into the world, she thought that he would stand a better chance of happiness raised in the world that Lord Harry could offer, rather than the one she could. So, with the help of a maid, she arranged for John to be left in the house. She intended him to be left in Lord Harry’s room, but there must have been some misunderstanding. ”
Victor listened to the words, but they didn’t quite sink in. He put his hand on his chin and looked from side to side. He sputtered before he spoke, as though for a moment he had quite forgotten the fundamental skill of speech.
“She… she wanted to leave the child with Harry? You say she thought of his wellbeing, but to me, it seems as though she wanted to shirk her responsibility and place it all at my brother’s feet,” Victor said, growing ever more incensed.
He was trembling all over now, and his cheeks were flushed crimson.
“No,” Lydia said. The word was blunt and strong.
She wielded it like a hammer, and for a moment it stunned him.
Lydia had been forthright with him on a few occasions when it suited her.
At first, he thought this quality was disagreeable, but now, he saw the determination shining in her eyes and the bold quality of her body, angled towards him as though willing to stand before an onrushing tide.
A strange sense of arousal and attraction passed through him.
It was quite inexplicable because on an intellectual level he would have disregarded this kind of attitude as obstinate and unbecoming of a lady, yet deep inside, where intellect held no sway, he felt liable to fall at her feet as though she were a goddess.
“This was no selfish act, Victor. When she left John behind, she cut out her own heart. I was ready to resent her too, but there was no malice in her actions. And if you are looking for anyone to blame, then you should find a mirror.”
“How dare you speak to me like that,” he thundered, his words rolling off the stage.
He noticed movement near the wings with an ardent stagehand making savage gestures with his arm, urging them to get off the stage.
In the distant shadows, he could see all of the people who had blocked his way turning, their attention drawn by what they must have thought was a second performance of the night, one that was far more real and visceral than the rehearsed play.
“We must leave. I do not wish to make a public display again,” he said and grabbed Lydia’s wrist. He marched off the stage, dragging her away.
Lydia protested, trying to wrench her hand free, but in this matter, he was determined.
There had been too much humiliation already, and he would not brook more.
In his mind he saw flashes of history repeating itself—all the whispers, the glances, the toll the rumors had taken on his father. The damage to the family name. Victor’s heart palpitated and sweat beaded on his temples.
“Let go of me you brute!” Lydia cried out as he ushered her into a carriage and ordered the driver to take them home immediately.
Lydia’s arms were pressed wide against the seat.
Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were wide, looking at him with complete hatred.
The intensity was unreal, and again there was something about it, something that touched the innermost reaches of his heart.
“How dare you treat me like that!” Lydia said, the words rushing out of her in an angry exhalation, her breath so hot that it warmed the air. Victor could feel the temperature rising.
“Did you want to create a scene so that everyone could mock us again?”
“That does not give you the excuse to treat me like this, nor to lie to me.”
“I have not lied.”
“You knew that Juliet was here. You knew that you could have ended Lord Harry’s unhappiness.”
Victor rolled his eyes. “Lord Harry doesn’t understand what he needs to make him happy. I am doing what’s best for the family.”
“For the title, perhaps, but not for the people, Victor. You have been a callous brute, and I will not have John suffer for it.”
“Suffer? I would never make John suffer.”
“You would, by sending his mother away. If you had not interfered in their affair, they would have been able to resolve this matter themselves. Instead, this whole dark comedy has unraveled because you could not bear for your brother to marry a lowly actress.” Lydia shook her head.
Victor stared at his hands. When he spoke next, there was less anger in his voice and more self-reflection.
“Can… can it be true? Is all this my doing?”
“You wanted to keep a tight grip on your family, Victor. I understand. I know you only wished to protect yourself and honor your family name, but instead of listening to Lord Harry and Juliet, you condemned them. Did you ever try to like her? Did you ever try to see what captivated Lord Harry?”
“No…”
“No, you condemned him and judged her, and in the end, she did what she thought was right for her child. And now, we must do what is right for him too.”
Victor blinked as his head shot up. His thoughts were a confused haze.They had both calmed down by now, although the frustrating tension was still in the air.
The carriage rolled and trundled. A few strands of hair had come loose and brushed against Lydia’s cheek and neck.
Victor was filled with a compulsion to reach over and push them back, but he resisted the urge at the end.
“What do you mean?”
Lydia arched her eyebrows and placed her hands in her lap. “I have invited Juliet to come to the house tomorrow so that we may resolve this situation before we return to Brighton.”
Victor went apoplectic. “What? You can’t do that.”
“I am the Duchess of Nightford. Of course, I can,” Lydia replied coolly. “And when we return, we must tell Lord Harry the truth, and you must bear any arrows that are slung your way. You owe them both an apology, Victor.”
“I owe them nothing,” he muttered and looked out of the window to avoid the pinched expression she wore.
In the window, he saw the ghost of his reflection staring back at him, a miserable man with hollow eyes.
He’d only ever tried to do the right thing, but in this instance, he was less and less able to justify his decision.
In seeking to protect his family he had caused direct harm to three individuals—five if he and Lydia were counted as well.