Page 77 of The Un-Apparent Heir

“So, moving back now, Luce?” George joked.

“If only,” Lucy said, voice low.

Someone knocked. “Your Majesty, The Duchess of Lauderdale is on the phone. She says it is urgent.”

Vanna looked at Lucy. “I will call her back. Lucy, why don’t you and I take a walk? Natalie, care to join us?”

“Must I part with Iona?” Natalie asked.

“Give her here. I miss baby snuggles,” Kiersten insisted.

“I don’t need to hear it, Kiersten,” Olav groaned.

“Thanks,” Lucy said.

She followed Natalie and Vanna into the hall and down the corridor to the music room. Vanna sat, as did Natalie. Lucy stood, confused and concerned.

“Lucy, I will ring Rita back, but what should I tell her?”

“I will get you a drink,” Natalie said. “Sit.”

Lucy plopped down in the spot she had many times while reading with George. It was odd being back under such different circumstances.

Natalie returned with a hefty pour of whisky while Lucy chewed her words.

“Lucy, I am concerned,” Vanna said. “Not upset. Concerned. You arrive here without announcing it and the baby has an ear infection. How did you get here? Sweetheart, aren’t people looking for you?”

“I don’t know. I took the train. I gave Winston a bullshit excuse and I don’t think he cares where I am. I think he’s relieved.”

“Lucy, don’t say that,” Natalie said.

Lucy took a long sip of whisky and sat her glass down. “Things are terrible between Tony and me. I’d rather we not relay that to Rita. I think he’s about to divorce me and with her firepower, I will quite literally lose my babies. I do not know what to do. I am so lost and so useless. I think they might be better off without me.”

“Lucy, don’t say that,” Natalie said. “No one would be better off without you. I don’t know what I will do with you. The minute Dad told me what was happening this afternoon, I had half a mind to bother you. I was dreaming of coercing you to come back. I need you.”

“I cannot. Winston will leave me.”

“Why?” Vanna wondered, confused. “Lucy, sweetheart, Winston loves you. You have three children together.”

“I cannot give him what he wants most which is a happy wife who is sexually available. Because Iona destroyed my body in childbirth, I cannot be the wife he needs. I am miserable in Scotland. I hate it there, but I’m the problem. I live this beautiful, privileged life and I’m not satisfied. I need to get over it, but I cannot.”

Vanna’s face went from concern to compassion. She popped up, sitting on Lucy’s other side, where George always sat.

“Lucy, sweetheart, he’s not owed any of that. Are you… are you safe? One time I ran off to Wales and Rita had to come get me. I was… not safe. I can relate to things you are saying in ways you do not know. Also, there is no way in hell Rita would allow him to take your children away. She lived through that with Winston’s father. It wouldn’t happen.”

“People say that, but they change.”

“Lucy, if Winston comes at you with that firepower, I swear to God I will finance your litigation so well he will see stars,” Natalie said. “No one is taking your children away.”

“No one. Absolutely no one,” Vanna said. “Lucy, have you told him this?”

Lucy shrugged and flatly said, “I told him that I was unfulfilled and unhappy. He, meanwhile, told me that my dearest friend there propositioned him for an affair and he avoided it out of obligation. He finds it hard to love me.”

While Lucy was broken, she was emotionless. She had no more fucks to give.

“Oh, darling, no,” Natalie said. She wrapped her arms around Lucy tight.

It was the first feeling of love and security that Lucy felt in weeks. She forgot what it was like to be loved for who she was rather than out of obligation.

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