Epilogue
“Amoment, Your Grace…” Mr. Pembroke stood in the doorway of the morning room. “If you do not mind?”
Isolde sat on a chair by the window. Sitting on the floor at her feet was Thomas with a book in hand; he was learning to read, and Isolde was determined that he do so before the Season ended.
“Mr. Pembroke!” Thomas beamed when he saw him. “Do you want to hear me read? I’m better than the last time, I swear.”
Mr. Pembroke chuckled. “Perhaps another time, Master Thomas. If it is quite fine, I would like a moment alone with your sister.”
Isolde frowned at the steward, a touch confused by how he was behaving. He seemed reserved, almost worried, and she could not imagine the reason.
“Later, Thomas,” she said to her brother. “Go and find Marianne. I think she is in the garden.”
Thomas sighed and slowly stood. “Later then. Mr. Pembroke, promise.”
Mr. Pembroke laughed. “I will find you as soon as I am done here.”
Thomas laughed as he ran from the room, and Isolde smiled as she watched him go. He had grown so quickly into his new life, and she loved the fact that he was still so young that a time would come when his old life was little more than a dull memory.
But not forgotten. Never forgotten…
Mr. Pembroke hovered by the doorway, seemingly far more unsure and cautious than usual. He had his head bowed too, as if he had done something wrong. Naturally, this worried Isolde no end.
“Is something the matter, Mr. Pembroke?” she said. “Please, do not linger. Whatever you have to say, I am sure it will not be that much of a worry.”
He exhaled, nodded, and walked into the room. But he stopped short of her, his head still bowed and his shoulders still withdrawn.
“There is something I have been meaning to speak to you about,” he began slowly and warily. “Something that, to be honest, I should have done weeks ago.”
“Oh?”
He clicked his tongue. “It concerns when we first met.” He looked at her quickly and then looked away. “It has sat with me now for some time, and I know I will not be happy with myself until I speak it and remove it from my conscience.”
“Please, whatever it is…” She laughed. “You know you can tell me anything.”
“I wish to apologize,” he said, which made Isolde lean back in surprise.
“When we first met, and those first few days especially, I was not particularly kind to you. We might have landed upon a truce of sorts, but I did not trust you, and for too long I waited and watched, looking for the time when I might finally reveal who you were to His Grace so that he would remove you from his life.”
Isolde stared in shock, with no idea what to say.
She knew only too well what Mr. Pembroke referred to. Even after all this time, she could still remember the first time that they had spoken alone. She had lied to his face, while giving him no room to maneuver or to call her on such lies.
And while she had known afterwards that she needed to be cautious around him, she had never begrudged him of the fact. In her eyes, she was the one who should have been sorry, as she had put him in an impossible situation.
“Mr. Pembroke, that is…” She shook her head. “That is not necessary.”
“But it is,” he said to her. “I see now how good you have been for His Grace, and while I slowly came to accept it, I fear it took me far too long.”
“But I am the one who should apologize to you,” she said to him.
“What?” His eyes widened. “That is not—"
“I lied to you,” she spoke over him. “As I forced you to lie to Cassian. I put you in a position that was surely uncomfortable, and all you did was what you thought was right.”
“I should have trusted you.”
“No,” she said without pause. “You should not have. And that you did not trust me, that you always had Cassian’s best interests at heart…” She laughed. “Honestly, you should be rewarded.”
He grimaced with shame. “You are too kind.”
“Oh, stop it.” She stood up and crossed the room. Then, she took his hands, forcing him to give them. “Even if what you say is true, you have made up for it ten times over.” She looked at him, waiting for him to look up and meet her stare. “You were the one who helped me with my lie, remember?”
He winced. “For His Grace. Not for you.”
“And you were the one who helped me pretend to be a lady of the ton. If not for you, none of this would have been possible. You were there for me, and that is what I remember.”
“I did it for His Grace,” he pressed. “Your words, while kind, are false.”
She rolled her eyes. “As you helped to uncover my past…” A raised eyebrow that he could not hide from. “Cassian has told me that you were the one who helped uncover the truth about my mother. Yes, yes, you are going to tell me you did it for him, but that is not true. Is it?”
He started to argue but caught his tongue, choosing to look away instead.
“And on the day of Lord Montague’s drum, you were the one who forced me to attend.” She squeezed his hands and softened her voice. “You might think that you were acting in Cassian’s best interests, but I know that, deep down, you hoped that he and I would work things out. Tell me I am lying.”
His brow furrowed as he looked at her—an expression that suggested he expected a rebuke or for her to say something else. But she just looked at him with no anger or judgment. She believed her words, as she wanted Mr. Pembroke to believe them too.
“Well… maybe a little,” he said.
She laughed. “You see! You have always had Cassian’s best interests at heart, just as you have always known that I was the center of those best interests.”
“But I—”
“Did as you had to,” she cut him off. “And no more. Now, we can continue to argue, but I will not let you win. Or we can agree that we both erred when we first met, but such mistakes worked out for the best. Which one will it be?”
Mr. Pembroke exhaled with relief, and then he straightened and returned to his normal self. “I would very much like to hear Master Thomas’s progress, Your Grace. If there is time.”
“I told you he hates being called Master Thomas.”
“But that is his title,” he said firmly. “So, you might command me otherwise, but I will continue to use it.” He did not blink or look away.
Isolde just laughed. “And that is why we love you, Mr. Pembroke. I doubt Cassian says it anywhere often enough, but he does see you as part of the family. As do I…” She kept hold of his hand. “And truly, I do not know where we would be without you.”
“Such thoughts keep me up at night, Your Grace.”
She laughed, and then they walked from the room together. It had been a strange moment, and a stranger confession. But Isolde chose to see it for what it was.
Once again, the past and all that had happened continued to linger, threatening the paradise that was this marriage and this new life.
To move on, such past mistakes needed to be aired and forgiven, and then rightly forgotten.
All Mr. Pembroke was doing was what Cassian and Isolde had done the day they remarried.
And now that he had got it off his chest, she hoped that he would join them in this paradise. He was very much a part of their family, and she loved knowing that he would be there to see what their lives might become. He would be a huge part of those lives, just as he deserved.
The End?