Page 50 of My Ruthless Duke

Lavinia huffed. “Oh, is that all? I could have told you that already. Most of the things that man does vex me. He did leave me here–”

“All alone. I know, Mama.” Cordelia leaned forward, letting herself sway in time with the carriage. “I have learned that he did not take his own life after all.”

Now, she had her mother’s complete and utter attention. Lavinia seemed to sober instantly and was more the mother that Cordelia had known her to be.

“Do you remember the night that I got lost in the hedge mazes in the rain? I could not have been more than eight or so I believe. It was night, and I was wandering in the maze for hours…”

Lavinia nodded. “And you had nightmares for months after that.”

Cordelia was not going to dispute that or inform her that in truth, she had been afflicted with nightmares as a result of that night even to this day. “I always wondered how I had found my way back inside. There has been this gap in my memory frombeing terrified in the maze and then I remember being in a warm bath, and then in my bed.”

It was so strange to see Lavinia so still and quiet these days.

“All morning I have not been able to get the memories out of my head. I just keep thinking about it over and over again.”

“What did you find out about your father? Who has come forward with information?” Lavinia asked flatly.

“On that night, he died because someone pushed him, and he hit his head. It was done in defense of the woman that he was attempting to force himself upon,” Cordelia said quickly, fresh tears starting to swim again.

Lavinia scoffed and shook her head. “No, I do not pretend to know your motivation for such lies but–” and then Lavinia looked at her, really looked at her, saw the distress on her face and the unshed tears in her eyes and silenced herself.

“Recently… I have come to remember some parts of that night in the maze that I had been choosing to forget all of this time. It was not because of how scary the thunderstorm was, or at least it was not completely that, but it was because I saw Father with another woman. My governess with her bodice ripped and Father behind her… I was too young to understand what I was seeing. I did not know how to process it… Father had to let my governess go so that he could attend to me, and she ran…”

Lavinia’s eyes widened. It had been a topic of heated debate in their house as to why Cordelia’s governess had simply disappeared overnight. They had blamed her for why Cordelia had been out of bed in the first place. They thought that she had run away due to shame for her actions. Her father had claimed that.

Her mother switched over to where she was sitting, and pulled her into her arms, holding Cordelia tightly against her chest while she finally released everything that she had been keeping trapped inside of her chest. Every emotion that she had been attempting to repress since speaking to Rebecca seemed to overflow as she allowed herself to be held. She did not move until the carriage had stopped.

When the footman opened the carriage door, Lavinia squeezed Cordelia’s shoulder, gathered her skirts in a huff, and stomped off toward the front door.

“Mama? Mama, where are you going so quickly?” Cordelia called after her, hurrying to catch up.

“I need to speak with the housekeeper. There is not a single thing that has happened under this roof that she is not aware of. If your father was being sly, then she would have had to hide it from me,” Lavinia seethed through her teeth.

How long had it been since she had seen her mother in quite a tizzy like this one?

Up the stairs and through the house, Lavinia hunted until she could corner the poor housekeeper, the one that had been with them for nearly Cordelia’s entire life. The woman was working on changing the linens out in one of the many spare rooms.

“My lady! Your Grace! What an unexpected pleasure!”

Lavinia was having none of it. Her hands were firmly planted on her hips as she narrowed her eyes. “You and I have some talking to do, Agatha. Do we not?”

Agatha cast an almost panicked glance from her to Cordelia and back again. “Is something the matter, ma’am?”

“I should say so! I find out that my housekeeper has been keeping things from me about my husband. How many years have you served this family, Agatha? I know that I can be a handful but you are more than fairly compensated! What reason could you possibly have to keep such things from me?” Lavinia nearly shouted.

Cordelia knew that, since the duke had taken over the day-to-day affairs, nothing had been anything but fairly compensated, if not generously. At least Agatha had the decency to look embarrassed over it.

“I am not sure… that I know to what you are referring,” Agatha started, her voice far softer now.

“My husband is dead! You have no reason to defend him! I demand to know the truth!”

Cordelia wanted to assure her that they merely needed closure and confirmation. She wanted to tell her that that was all there was to the story but she was not certain what her mother was going to do after she learned more.

Agatha clearly was reluctant to speak.

“Please, we just need to put the pieces together, Agatha. Any information that you might have that could–”

“Tell me!” Lavinia yelled.

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