Chapter Twenty-Eight
Lisbeth sat at Seely House, reviewing the club’s finances.
In truth, she was hiding. Her fight with Thomas the previous day had been atrocious.
He’d been so angry, and the feelings he’d been keeping bottled up exploded.
Her heart ached as she remembered him saying that he blamed them for foolishly falling in love.
She scoffed quietly as if they had any say in that.
Lisbeth gulped, wondering if they could be together without making each other miserable.
There were so many hurtful things between them.
Still, she wasn’t completely faultless. Why had she said no right away about the country estate? The request wasn’t that unreasonable.
Her thoughts had been focused only on Alice and Jeremy.
She didn’t want them to go through more change after enduring Nicholas’s death and her and Thomas’s shocking wedding.
Still, it was a lovely property. Had she reacted without really considering it as an option?
Jeremy would love the small lake, and Alice would adore the Manor ruins. She sighed.
“What’s wrong?” Rose said from the door.
She shook her head. “Thomas and I had an awful quarrel yesterday.”
Her eyes started to water, and Rose rushed into the room. “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
“He bought some land outside of London as a surprise. It is beautiful, but then he suggested we could split our time between there and the townhouse. I told him no, and it went downhill from there.”
“Why did you say no?”
Lisbeth sighed. “I was thinking of Alice and Jeremy. I was worried about how it would affect them if we were to move. Truthfully, my response and reaction were not well thought out.”
“It sounds like a valid point,” Rose said.
“I wish we had discussed it more. Instead, I refused to consider it, and he became angry. It wasn’t a good moment for either of us.”
“Talk with him. All lovers fight.”
Lisbeth added, “I’ve feared that he was keeping all his emotions bottled up. Our fight confirmed all my worries.”
“It isn’t good for him to do that,” Rose said, concerned.
Tears started to run down Lisbeth’s cheeks.
“In minutes, we went from discussing the land he’d acquired to everything he’d lost or been denied.
Thomas isn’t wrong. He was cheated out of so much, and I wish I could make it right, but I can’t.
I worry he will never be able to let go of his resentment. ”
Rose squeezed her hand. “I care for both of you. Thomas can be a bit of an ass, but truthfully, he needs to admit that he is still grieving and angry. The only way the two of you move on is if you talk to each other.”
Lisbeth wiped away her tears. “How did you become so wise?”
Her friend grinned. “It is a new thing. Remember, I tried to set up my husband with another woman because I assumed she would be a better fit for him. He traveled all the way to Syria to retrieve me.”
A giggle escaped Lisbeth. “It was rather romantic.”
Rose grinned. “I agree.”
Addie walked into the room and stared intently at Lisbeth. She frowned at her in return. “Is something amiss?”
A guard entered the room. Addie asked, “Did Benson travel with you today?”
Lisbeth nodded. “Thomas has been receiving some strange letters, so he asked Benson to escort me whenever I leave the house.”
Addie and the guard looked at each other. Rose frowned. “What is it?”
Addie pulled a letter from an envelope decorated with hand-drawn flowers, and Lisbeth’s stomach dropped.
“This was addressed to me,” her friend said, handing her the paper.
Lisbeth unfolded the message and read.
Lady Hawley,
You have a strumpet on your board. The Duchess of Lusby is fornicating with my husband.
I insist she stop, or I will have to fix this situation myself.
Perhaps the threat of losing her position there will be a motivator.
I insist that you offer an ultimatum—either she leaves my husband alone, or she will be removed from the board of the Historical Society of Female Curators.
C
Lisbeth blushed at the horrible letter. “Thomas has hired someone through Sebastian Devons to find the lady. We suspect it might be some young woman with an overzealous but innocent crush.”
“It doesn’t seem innocent but threatening,” Rose remarked.
“I will make sure Thomas gives this to the investigator.”
“Please do. I don’t want anything to happen to you. The whole kidnapping debacle with Rose was more than enough.”
“It all ended fine,” Rose insisted.
Lisbeth supposed. The situation had been frightening, with Rose being kidnapped by thieves seeking to make a quick profit.
It also had strange ties to the British Secret Service.
She shivered. Not once had she thought the letters could be as serious as Rose’s kidnapping.
Lisbeth needed to talk with Thomas about this.
She stood. “I’m going to depart for the day. I need to prepare for Rose and Sinclair’s ball.”
Rose shook her head. “We can all be honest. It isn’t my event. I adore Augustus’s mother, but the ball is her masterpiece, not mine.
All the ladies laughed.
*
Thomas walked into his mother’s drawing room, happy to see her. She was sewing the hem of a dress. He frowned. “Can’t you hire someone to do that for you?”
She looked up and smiled. “I could, but I can also do it myself, and I enjoy sewing. It is one of the few tasks I miss about being a housekeeper.”
He sat in the wingback chair across from his mother, who was seated on the sofa. “What else do you miss?”
She smiled softly. “Taking care of a family. The Adnins were good to us. Even after you and Lisbeth left, they made sure I had a good reference.”
Thomas often wondered how his and Lisbeth’s choice to run off when they were young impacted his mother. He knew she’d found new employment. “They fired you?”
His mother shrugged. “My son ran off with the Earl’s daughter. I didn’t find it unreasonable.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
She shrugged. “Sometimes we have no control over what happens to us. Life and other people’s choices make it that way. We can only make the best of those situations.”
Guilt coursed through him. His mother loved her job at the Earl of Adnin’s townhouse. “I’m sorry.”
She put her dress aside and dramatically said, “An apology after all these years.”
He flushed. A smile filled his mother’s face. “My point is sometimes all we can do is survive what fate hands us.”
He nodded.
“It seems fate has given you and Lisbeth another chance.”
Thomas sighed. “I may have messed that up. I blew up on her.”
She frowned, concerned. “What happened?”
“I bought a piece of property right outside of the city and proposed that we move there. She was hesitant, and then it became about everything that happened between us.”
His mother gave him a stern look. “The two of you need to be open and honest with each other. Thomas, you can’t keep things bottled up, or that will continue to happen.”
“I know.”
“You two will find your way,” she said, smiling encouragingly.
“How do you know? I forced her to marry me.”
His mother shook her head. “I don’t believe you could have made Lisbeth marry you.
It may have felt forced, but a part of her has always loved you.
She and her husband were good friends, but there were no romantic feelings between them.
To be honest, I think they both felt fortunate when Lisbeth became pregnant with Jeremy so quickly. ”
The thought of Lisbeth in bed with any other man made jealousy flare in him. His mother reached over and squeezed his hand reassuringly. “My point is that you have always been the only one for her.”
“I’ve not been a saint.”
His mother snorted. “I’ve read the serials. You were in a different spot than her, and you didn’t know why she left you. Would you betray her now?”
Thomas flushed, somewhat embarrassed to be having this conversation with his mother. “Of course not.”
“Talk to each other. Don’t keep things bottled up. It will only cause more harm.”
She was right, and even Lisbeth had mentioned that.
He needed to be able to grieve everything he’d missed but also find a way to accept it and move on.
He still believed they shouldn’t dwell on the what-ifs of the past, but he couldn’t continue to act unaffected—not if he didn’t want to lose the family he and Lisbeth were trying to build together.