Chapter Fifty-Seven
A few weeks after their stay in the hunting cabin, Frances woke up to the sun streaming in through her windows, and the sounds of birds outside. But more importantly, she woke up happy.
“Happy birthday, wife.”
She could feel the smile in the words Nathaniel whispered into the back of her neck before pulling her closer.
“I am certain I never told you—”
“I asked Mrs. Brown,” he informed her. “And it’s a good thing, because I don’t think there’s a single member of the extended Sutton household that hasn’t asked me at one time or another.”
“Does that mean—”
“That you will be showered with love and gifts and more affection than any human can handle? Why, yes, yes, it does.” He kissed the sensitive patch of skin behind her ear, as if to demonstrate.
“We have a party to prepare for,” Frances argued.
“We have time,” he argued, pulling her closer, so she could feel his hardness against her back, one hand tracing lazy circles around her breast, while the other ventured to the wetness between her thighs.
“Today, I am entirely at your service.”
Nathaniel kissed her, deep and purposeful, then went under the sheets and worshipped her.
There was a card on the floor outside her room, signed by all the Suttons, with the promise of more to come.
“Would you prefer I bring you breakfast in bed?” Nathaniel offered, taking her hand in his.
“No.” She sighed. “If I truly have you all day, there is much to be done in the garden.”
He shook his head and smiled at her, both like she was a lunatic, and the most precious creature he’d ever seen.
“Of course there is. If it’s hard labor, I can enlist more muscle, but if it’s frolicking, I’d much prefer to keep you all to myself.”
He kissed her on the landing before they continued down the stairs.
“Mama.”
Frances stopped at the sight of her mother in the entrance, announcing herself to the footman, her father just behind.
“Clearly she is home.” Mrs. Plimpton didn’t even attempt to disguise her irritation.
Nathaniel would have told the staff not to bother her today, especially not with people who might upset her, but if her parents had come to wish her well on her birthday, to reconcile, then she would not turn them away.
“We were about to break our fast. Would you care to join us?” Frances invited them through her teary-eyed smile.
She looked to Nathaniel, to see if he’d had anything to do with this visit, but he looked as surprised as she was, and slightly apprehensive, which meant it must have been one of her sisters.
It was curious they hadn’t brought Daisy.
“We shouldn’t be too long,” Mama assured her.
“Though I wouldn’t say no to a brandy,” her father added.
“I’m glad you came at all.” Frances couldn’t help but smile at them as Nathaniel went to get her father his liquor.
“We didn’t have much choice, considering I was denied entry to White’s.”
“And we never received our invitation to the Sutton ball. I would have assumed an oversight, but we didn’t even hear about the Wiltshire soiree until Daisy returned the following day.”
Daisy had come to get ready with Rebecca at Sutton House and had stayed over that night, but Frances had assumed her parents couldn’t attend, not that they hadn’t been invited.
She would have felt terrible about it if it weren’t for the sinking feeling as her stomach dropped.
Her parents hadn’t the slightest idea that today was her birthday.
“That is why you came?”
“It’s reason enough, don’t you think?” Her father took the glass from Nathaniel without so much as a thank you.
“When you stayed away this summer, I thought perhaps you were giving me time to recover after our last interaction, and a lifetime being made to feel worthless.” Frances shook her head at Nathaniel’s concern, but she could feel the tears falling, and they were no longer from the joy of her parents’ timely arrival.
“Then I told myself you were keeping your distance because you feared you might say something in anger that would be hurtful, and wanted to spare me. But now it seems my mother has been using me for invitations and my father has been…what? Charging his memberships to my husband’s accounts?
Using his name for credit and extensions on his gambling debts?
” Neither of them denied it. “You never cared about my feelings, or preventing an argument. You simply had no interest in speaking with me. Not unless it could benefit you.”
The warmth from Nathaniel’s hand on her shoulder was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.
“You have to understand—”
“I do,” she cut off her mother, who at least had the decency to look guilty.
“I stopped being your daughter and became a burden the day I was born with that mark. And I am terribly sorry for your loss, because I have been told that I am brilliant. And I do have quite the influential friends who allow me to secure invitations for those closest to me, but I’m afraid that doesn’t include you.
” She took a breath to calm herself before looking pleadingly to her husband. “Could I—”
“Whatever you want is yours.”
“Nathaniel and I will settle all your debts and replenish the accounts.” Having taken care of them for her father, she knew that the amount needed was a fraction of what the ball would cost. “But you are no longer welcome in my home, my heart, or my life. I want nothing more to do with you.”
“You don’t mean that,” Papa spluttered.
“She does.” Nathaniel stepped between them.
“We did the best we could,” Mama said indignantly.
“No, you did not. Nathaniel was tricked into marrying a stranger, and he has treated me better than either of you ever have.”
“And who do you have to thank for that? You would be nothing without me, young lady. I did what had to be done to ensure you’d have this life you so willingly cut us off from.”
“If you wanted to be a part of my life, I would gladly let you. But you don’t. You never have.”
Frances stared her father down, saw the anger and indignation in his eyes, as her mother gently pushed him out the front door. Frances stood tall, letting the tears fall silently down her cheeks until the doors closed and she came undone, sobs escaping as she collapsed into Nathaniel’s arms.
“I’m sorry,” he told her. “I’m so sorry.”
“I thought they came for my birthday. How stupid of me.” She felt like such a na?ve little child.
“Not stupid,” he argued. “It’s brave, the way you give your heart so willingly and see the best in people. How you don’t give up on us easily.”
“You’re grouping yourself with my parents?”
“I would be nothing if you hadn’t given me many more chances than I deserved,” he said.
“Are you saying I was too harsh?”
“No, my love. If you hadn’t severed ties, I am quite certain I would have ended them for that look on your face alone, kin or not.”
He kissed her forehead softly. She took a moment to compose herself, then followed him to the back terrace, where a long table was decked with breakfast foods. Nathaniel’s siblings were waiting with a pile of wrapped parcels.
“Happy birthday!” they all exclaimed.
“Iris and Mary sent their gifts ahead, but Daisy will be here for dinner,” Grace explained. “Mine’s the blue one.”
Frances smiled. She could easily let her parents ruin today, as they’d ruined most of her childhood, but she didn’t need them when she was surrounded by a new family who loved her just the way she was.