CHAPTER 15
Josephine returned from her brother's burial and sank onto a chair in the nursery with a heavy sigh. Little Edward ran to her with a big smile and a squeal of delight. “Anjo!”
She leaned in to kiss his rounded cheeks. “How is my little lamb doing today?”
The child spoke some gibberish that she was surprisingly beginning to understand.
Something about his toy horse and a bunny.
She smiled, nodding encouragingly, and nuzzled his soft curls.
Inhaling his sweet baby scent, the knots of tension caused by the unpleasant task she had just discharged began to unravel.
It had just been her, the family retainers, and cousin Titus and his wife. But the latter had been enough to exhaust her social tolerance for a month.
She had spoken little to them, and they seemed equally disinclined to engage her. Their side eyes and disdainful smirks and whispers had bothered her a lot less than they probably thought, but it was still exhausting dealing with them.
Not even a month after her arrival, her brother had already departed the mortal realm.
She got the impression he was simply hanging on until he felt confident he could entrust her with his son.
When he saw how she loved the child, he simply…
let go. The doctor said it had been the disease, and it might have been.
He certainly never got better. But she couldn’t shake the suspicion that her brother had taken a bigger than usual dose of the opium he used to manage the pain and had simply… not awakened.
It did not matter, in any case. The result was the same.
He was dead, and she couldn’t say she was truly saddened by his demise.
Maybe she had turned into a horrible person, but she couldn’t mourn the death of her brother, just as she had been unable to muster up any emotion when she learned about the death of her parents.
Had all the tender feelings been extinguished in her, then? She had only to look at the child playing at her feet to know it was not so. She ruffled his curls and got a squeal, and a toy plunked down on her lap. It was amazing how much she had come to love this little cherub.
From the moment she met him, the day after her arrival, the little one had grabbed her pinky and tugged at her with all the ferocity of an angelic two-year-old.
And it was as if instead of grabbing her finger, he had grabbed her heart, and now he held it in his pudgy little hands to do with as he wished.
All the apprehension she had felt prior to meeting her nephew, her doubts as to whether she could love the child or the resentment she felt toward her brother would overshadow her feelings, had evaporated upon meeting him.
One look at his blond curls, ruby lips, and rosy cheeks, and she was in love.
She did not see her brother in the little one.
She saw the child she could have had if fate had been kinder. The child she would never have.
Her brother had seen her reaction. Much to her chagrin, she had been unable to conceal her emotions. Thank goodness he had signed the documents before her meeting little Edward, because, after that, he certainly would have had more bargaining power over her.
As if summoned by thoughts of bargaining, a knock sounded on the door and a maid came to announce that her brother’s solicitor wished to see her.
She groaned internally, foreseeing a long and tedious conversation about estate matters and inheritance.
Couldn’t this wait a few days? They had just buried her brother, for God’s sake.
Leaving the nursery and her nephew in the care of his nursemaid, she trudged down the stairs to the study, where the solicitor was waiting for her.
“Milady,” the old man said, standing at her entrance. “Thank you for agreeing to see me in this time of bereavement. This matter is of the utmost importance, or I wouldn’t have bothered you.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Cheswick. Have a seat.” She sat behind the desk and folded her hands in front of her. “Please tell me what matter brings you here.”
“As you know, your brother wished for you to have full guardianship of his child and expressed it in his will.”
“Correct. That is why I’m here.”
“Yes, yes. Of course. But you see… Mr. Everleigh is contesting the validity of such provision.”
“How can he do so?” She could feel her brow furrowing with tension. “You yourself wrote my brother’s last will and testament, didn’t you? Isn’t it legal and binding?”
“Indeed it is, milady. But anyone can contest a will. They have lodged a caveat in the Chancery Court.”
She felt a lead ball lodge in her chest. “On what grounds?”
The solicitor looked decidedly uncomfortable. His fleshy cheeks turned a bright pink, and he tugged at the knot of his necktie. “I beg your pardon, milady, but they are claiming unsuitability due to immoral character. They are also citing financial incompetence.”
Despite her effort to control her emotions, indignation got the better of her and she shot up from the chair.
“That is absolute balderdash!” But deep down, she knew it wasn’t. Her past would definitely play against her, as would being a single woman. “What are their chances of winning?”
“Not great, milady. But reasonable. The court may also decide to place the child under someone else’s temporary guardianship while the case is decided.”
“This is an outrage! How is this possible? My own brother, his father, expressed in his last will and testament that he wished for me to be the child’s guardian. Are the child’s father’s wishes not valid?”
“They are, milady. But the court will take into account, first and foremost, the child’s best interest. If they can convince the court of their claims…”
The solicitor trailed off, leaving the rest implied.
Cold dread settled in the pit of her stomach.
She knew her position was vulnerable. She was an unmarried woman with a scandalous past. Her own brother had smeared her reputation when he claimed she had eloped with the pasha.
And now she returned after all these years, alone, unmarried.
An unknown enigma these narrow minds could not comprehend.
She had no friends that could vouch for her character other than John and Alice. Unless…
“I could go to the queen. My brother asked for her help when he decided to ransom me, so she knows my case. She’s the one who assigned John and Alice to negotiate my release.”
“If you will permit my advice, milady, I would only involve the queen as a last resort. She is known for being conservative and may side with the challengers in this case.”
Josephine sat down, deflated. Cousin Titus and his odious wife definitely presented a better picture of respectability than she did.
“What are my options?”
“There’s one chance… We have an old document, drawn up at the time of your engagement to Lord Montfort, that grants mutual guardianship of the heirs of each family to the head of the other family in case of the children’s parents’ deaths.”
Josephine’s heart twisted at the mention of Lord Montfort and her engagement.
Michael.
But then her brow furrowed in confusion. “But surely such a document would be invalid, since the marriage never took place.”
“Not necessarily.” The solicitor adjusted his spectacles.
“That was the intention, no doubt. But the wording of the document doesn’t specify such a condition.
It only says that, in the event of the death of both parents while the heir is still a minor, the guardianship of the child would fall to the head of the other family. In this case, the Duke of Aycliffe.”
“What makes you think he will be an ally? If he believed my brother’s lies, he thinks I willingly eloped with another man, breaking my engagement to his son and bringing ridicule and scandal to both of our families. He would be the last person on this earth willing to help me.”
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Maybe you are unaware of this, but the current duke is not your erstwhile fiancé’s father. Lord Montfort, as well, sadly passed away a few years back. The title was inherited by the second son, Lord Michael.”
Oh good God. Just hearing his name aloud produced such a pang of longing that she was momentarily paralyzed. And then dread followed quickly behind. Ask Michael for help? The solicitor thought it was an advantage but few people knew about her and Michael’s history.
If he turned against her, as he was likely to do, he would be a formidable adversary. But it was worse than that. He had the power to destroy her fragile peace with one cruel word.
This was a terrible idea. What did he think of her? She had been snatched away, torn from his side, without a chance for an explanation. What did he make of her disappearance? Did he suspect foul play? Or did he believe her brother’s lies?
“No. That would not do, Mr. Cheswick. The current duke is not likely to harbor any goodwill toward me.”
“Are you sure, milady? I’ve dealt with His Grace on a few occasions, and he seems a fair and reasonable person. With all due respect, this is the best chance we have. With the support of the duke, no court would dare overrule your brother’s will.”
“And what are our chances without involving the duke?”
“I would say it could go either way, milady.”
There was no need to ask what her chances were if they involved the duke and he turned against her. It was a daring move. All or nothing.
The irony would make her laugh if the situation was not so tragic.
To ensure she could protect the child she had come to love, she would have to face Michael, the man she had loved and lost. Look him in the eye and see his hatred and disdain for her.
She would have to talk to him. Perhaps learn about his wife and the children he probably had by now.
And face the fact that he forgot her long ago.
That he’d moved on with his life and she was nothing but an unwelcome ghost from his past.
He was the only person with the power to destroy her, and she feared facing him with the same intensity she yearned for him.
But endangering little Edward for her cowardice was out of the question.
He might hate her, might even take the child away from her, but she trusted him to protect her nephew better than she could against scheming relatives.
In the end, that was all that mattered, so there was really no other choice.
“Should I contact His Grace myself?” Her voice trembled slightly.
“No need to inconvenience yourself, milady. I will visit the duke and present him with the guardianship document. You should probably expect his visit in the next few days.”
A few days. She would see Michael in a few days.
God help her.