Chapter 11 #3
He was too much like his father in that respect; he gave much of his fortune away to the poor, and what he didn’t give away, he lost to bad investments because he believed the people who told him they would work out.
During this time, he sold off a lot of his estate and his assets to pay off debts.
Your father was one of the people who would occasionally pawn items for him.
But Henry was too trusting and too na?ve, and he allowed Lord Norish to pawn the pocket watch for a fraction of its value in his desperation, intending to buy it back. ”
Julia remembered what he’d told her before, the night of the ball. It was only a few days ago, but it seemed like a lifetime. “He kept the watch.”
The Duke nodded.
"In his desperation, Henry sold the watch to your father.
He used the money for his medical bills.
When I found out, I went to Lord Norish myself and paid him a fair price to buy it back so I could return it to Henry.
Norish took my money, shook my hand, and disappeared.
He kept the payment and the watch both." He paused.
"Henry's illness grew worse after that, past the point where any doctor could do anything to help him.
By the end of his short life, he was bed-bound and had nothing left. "
The Duke stopped, and Julia unconsciously reached out a hand to comfort him. He looked down briefly at their joined hands, then continued.
“His last request to me in his final days was to track down Lord Norish and get back his pocket watch. He wanted to see it one last time. But I couldn’t do it.
Your father is a slippery man, and by the time I thought I’d found him, it was already too late.
I rushed to Henry’s bedside, but he died believing he’d lost the most precious thing in his life.
I have to set things right. It’s up to me to fulfill his last wish, no matter how long it takes. ”
After his speech, he let out a long, slow breath.
Julia felt tears coming unbidden to her eyes.
She had never had such a friend, but she couldn’t imagine how she would feel if the same thing happened to Poppy.
She knew instinctively that she would scour the whole country if she had to, and she admired the Duke’s loyalty to his friend.
He hadn’t been lying when he told her that he’d do anything for someone under his protection.
Still, though, she hesitated. She knew exactly why.
Her father was many things. He was careless, selfish, ruinous most of the time, but he was still her father.
Besides, she could not ignore the direct plea in the letter.
Beyond that, a smaller, more stubborn thought had taken root: if she knew where he was, perhaps she could get to him first. Perhaps she could retrieve the watch herself and hand it to Leander without her father ever having to face the consequences.
It was probably foolish. She knew it was probably foolish. But it was there.
The well of guilt bubbled over as he looked at her gratefully with red eyes.
“Thank you for listening. I haven’t ever told that story to anyone other than Anthony. With you, I feel as though I can say it,” he admitted. “Something about your presence is very comforting, Julia .”
“It’s my pleasure,” she answered, hating her own weakness.
But the line of text in her father’s letter was there in her mind like a barrier. Do not tell anyone else where I am, especially not your betrothed.
She thought about telling Leander. She had been turning it over since the letter had arrived, picking it up and putting it down again, the way one manages something that might be hot.
He deserved to know — she understood that.
They had an arrangement built on a specific kind of trust, and withholding information that was directly relevant to his plan was not nothing.
But she also knew Leander well enough by now to know that the moment she handed him her father's location, the situation would leave her hands entirely.
He would act decisively, and whatever form that took would be his decision rather than hers.
He had promised her legal consequences only, and she believed he meant it when he said it.
But belief and certainty were different things, and her father, for all his failures, was still her father.
If something went wrong — if Leander moved too quickly, or her father panicked, or the whole arrangement collapsed before the dowries were secured — there would be no recovery.
She needed to be sure first. She needed to handle the initial contact herself, understand what her father actually wanted, and establish enough ground before she brought Leander into the matter.
Then she would tell him everything. She would tell him the moment she was certain it would help rather than detonate.
It is not a betrayal, she told herself. It is a precaution.
She was not entirely convinced, but it was the best she had.
“We’ll find my father one day soon and get back your friend’s heirloom. I’m sure of it.”