Chapter Fourteen
Lisbeth stepped out of the carriage and took a deep breath.
She’d been to this townhouse so many times over the last decade, and suddenly, she felt nervous.
Did Louise know? She would be ecstatic that Thomas was returning.
Lisbeth didn’t fault her. A part of her was as well, but the rest was terrified.
She walked to the entrance, and the housekeeper opened the door at the same time. Mrs. Donnelly gasped and curtsied. “Your Grace, you gave me a fright.”
“I’m sorry. I decided to call upon Louise today. Is she in?”
Mrs. Donnelly nodded. “I will lead you to her.”
Lisbeth shook her head, glancing at the basket in the housekeeper’s hand. “It isn’t necessary. You seem busy.”
The woman smiled at her gratefully. “She is in the drawing room.”
“Thank you,” Lisbeth said and stepped back, allowing Mrs. Donnelly to pass.
The housekeeper smiled, and she saw herself in. Her stomach clenched, but she wandered down the hallway. It wasn’t lost on her how comfortable she was in this place. Louise looked up as she entered the drawing room. A smile split across her face. “I had a feeling I would see you.”
Lisbeth plopped down into a wingback chair. Formality didn’t exist between them. They’d become friends so long ago. Louise, Nicholas, and her brother, Justin, were the only ones who knew her secret.
“I should have told him,” Lisbeth confessed.
Thomas’s mother sighed. “I agree, but I understand why you didn’t. He will be upset with you and me.”
Lisbeth twisted at her skirts, and Louise rose, moving to the sideboard and pouring them both a brandy. “You were forced to make a difficult choice, and it only became more complicated by your pregnancy with Alice.”
Lisbeth took a sip, enjoying the burn of the liquid flowing down her throat. Louise settled back in her seat. She silently sipped her drink but eventually said, “Maybe this is an opportunity for you to start anew.”
Her heart pounded at the thought. She looked away, sensing that Louise could read the emotions flashing across her face. She wouldn’t dare to believe it. Lisbeth had kept too many secrets from Thomas.
Louise insisted, “Look at me.”
She did, and the older woman said, “You aren’t a man, Lisbeth, and because of that, there were very few choices you had. You made the only one you could. My son will be hurt, but he will understand. He knows what it is like to be born into a certain lot in life.”
“I haven’t even told Alice yet. Nicholas and I both agreed someday we would tell her, but I thought it would be when she was much older.”
Louise insisted, “Tell Thomas right away.”
She wished she’d told him before she departed Latakia. Lisbeth bit her lip, pondering her next steps, and then she glanced at Louise. “I’m sorry you will become mixed up in this. Thomas will be furious with you as well. I know it.”
Louise nodded and took a sip of her drink. “He has every right to be mad, and I will accept his fury. Still, I plan to explain that you had no other choice, and he wouldn’t be the acclaimed Thomas Easton without your encouragement.”
She flushed, unsure if she felt comfortable with accepting any part in Thomas’s success. He’d done that mostly on his own. “He did that. Also, please don’t fight with your son because of my choices. You should enjoy his return, not worry about defending me.”
Louise snorted. “I love Thomas, but he was never naturally adventurous. Before the two of you ran off, he’d accepted that he was to be a servant in a household. It was you who encouraged him to seek something greater. He is a practical type. What did you use to call him?”
“Serious Thomas,” she provided. “We complemented each other. He kept us out of trouble, and I ensured we tried new things.”
The older woman nodded, agreeing with her. “Exactly. Thomas would be a butler right now without you. Not that there is anything wrong with that field, but I suspect, based on the allowance he gives me without any thought, he is richer than most lords in London.”
“I don’t think he understands how famous he is or how popular the serials about him are.”
“Well, he is about to find out,” Louise drawled.
What Louise said made sense, but she couldn’t imagine Thomas not being devastated about being kept from his daughter. She needed to tell him as soon as possible. The paper indicated he would return in the next few days.
“I imagine he will come here first; will you send word when he arrives? I want to speak with him as soon as possible.”
Louise nodded. “I think that would be best.”
Lisbeth shook her head. “I feel both relieved to tell him and terrified.”
“Do you still love him?”
The question startled her. She’d buried all her feelings for Thomas so deep that she’d not dared think about them.
Louise watched her intently. Guilt coursed through her again that she’d roped Thomas’s mother into all of this.
“Louise, I don’t want you to get your hopes up.
Thomas and I are not the same people as when we were young.
I kept his child from him; he will hate me when he finds out. ”
Louise smiled softly. “He may be angry at first, but the two of you were always a team. I suspect you both still love one another.”
Lisbeth wouldn’t allow herself to hope for a future with Thomas. So much had happened. “I don’t want you to be optimistic.”
The older woman shrugged. “We’ll see.”
*
Thomas had finally arrived in London. He’d been startled to be greeted by so many people when he stepped off the ship.
How had so many reporters discovered he was in England?
He sat in the carriage, trying to decide where he should go.
When he’d been trying to escape the crowds, he’d told the hack driver to take him out of the area.
Now, he had to determine his next stop. The carriage raced down the cobblestone street as Thomas glanced out the window to see the London Docks drifting out of sight. He’d earlier bid Matthison goodbye. They planned to meet up in the next few weeks.
Thomas was intrigued to learn about Matthison’s new position. It involved building the Crystal Palace, the main area that would house the Great Exhibition’s displays.
The carriage came to a halt, and then the driver opened the door. “Where should I take you, Mr. Easton?”
Rationally, he should head to his mother’s, but the desire to see Lisbeth surged through him. He could at least stop there and see if she was in. Was that rash? Likely, but he found himself fixated on seeing her.
“Can you take me to Mayfair and locate where the Duchess of Lusby resides?”
The driver nodded. “Of course, I have associates in the area.”
Thomas nodded. “Thank you.”
He sat back as the carriage drove on. Was it reckless to go to her immediately?
Perhaps, but Thomas had to see her. She’d always haunted every aspect of his life, but now that he’d seen her, touched her, he couldn’t fathom waiting to see her again.
He leaned his head against the back of the seat, hoping he wasn’t being reckless.
Almost an hour later, the carriage halted.
They’d stopped before so the driver could obtain Lisbeth’s address, but this seemed as if they’d arrived somewhere.
He pulled back the window curtain. He was correct.
They were outside of an elegant townhouse in the heart of London’s most prestigious neighborhood, Mayfair.
His stomach clenched, feeling like he didn’t belong in the area where he grew up.
In truth, some might say that was correct.
His mother was a housekeeper in Mayfair, and as a child, he shared a room with her in the attic of the Earl of Adnin’s home.
It wasn’t a bad life, but now, being away for so long, he was aware it wasn’t wrong to aspire for more.
Still, this wasn’t the Earl of Adnin’s home, and in truth, he could buy multiple of these posh townhouses. His gaze fixated on the front door. His chest burned. This is where Lisbeth lived with her children. It was where her day began every day.
The driver opened the carriage, and Thomas handed him some money. “Please park farther down and wait.”
The man nodded. Thomas stepped out of the carriage and felt frozen in place.
He was about to declare his love for the woman who’d abandoned him years ago.
Was he a fool? He smiled likely, but he found that he didn’t care.
It was the only option he had. Thomas loved Lisbeth, and he wasn’t sure anything would ever change that. The carriage rumbled away.
Before he could cross the road and approach Lisbeth’s home, a woman opened the front door with two children in tow.
He suspected they were Lisbeth’s. It was a girl and a boy.
The girl appeared to be older. She turned towards him, smiling, and he gasped.
Her green eyes darted around the street, perusing what was taking place.
He didn’t seem to warrant any interest as her perusal moved quickly past him.
Yet, she held all his. His gaze roamed over her dark brown hair with reddish highlights, but what had him shocked was her green eyes.
They were so much like his own. No. He shook his head, stumbling backward.
Lisbeth had broken his heart all those years ago, but she would never do something so cruel.
The girl smirked, and Thomas realized that he was wrong.
Lisbeth had been keeping a cruel, devastating secret from him.
He spun away from Lisbeth’s home, deciding he couldn’t go there.
Hurt and fury coursed through him. Was he making an incorrect assumption?
He hoped so, but then the girl’s smirk flashed in his mind so much like his own.
He approached the carriage, and the driver’s brows shot up in surprise. “That was a fast trip, Mr. Easton.”
Thomas nodded and pulled an envelope from his jacket. “Please take me to the address on this paper.”
He stepped into the carriage and shut the door. Fury boiled in him. He had a daughter. One that had been alive for the last ten years. Rage made him want to scream and holler. Had he known she existed, he would have come to London sooner.
Lisbeth had kept this from him. All of the emotions he felt for her turned hard and cold.
Plans swirled in his mind, none of them soft and tender, but fixated on making sure he had all that he wanted and deserved.
Thomas never believed he could hate Lisbeth, but today, he discovered he was wrong. She would pay for her actions.