Page 234 of Modern Romance Collection February 2025, 1-4

Eventually, she called her Your Girl Friday friends in a video call, and told them what had happened, baring her heart in a flood of words that left everyone silent for at least five minutes afterwards.

‘So,’ Lyanna said at last. ‘Let me get this straight. You slept with a strange man in the forest at a midsummer bacchanal, found yourself pregnant with his baby, and then the strange man turned out to be your boss and one of the worst playboys in Europe. Then he asked you to be his wife and so you married him, and now he’s gone, yes?’

‘Yes,’ Maude said, grabbing a tissue from the nearby box and dabbing at her eyes with it. ‘That’s pretty much it.’

‘Well,’ said Auggie, clearly miffed. ‘You kept that very quiet.’

‘Dominic Lancaster’s midsummer bacchanal, hmm?’ Irinka was all curiosity. ‘And with Dominic Lancaster himself. Is he as good as everyone says he is?’

‘He’s better.’ Maude blew her nose into her tissue. Then she took a deep breath. ‘And I’m in love with him.’

There was a silence.

Irinka frowned—she had her background blurred so Maude couldn’t tell where she was. ‘You married the man, so how is being in love an issue?’

‘Because our marriage was a business agreement,’ Maude explained. ‘It was for the baby. He told me love wouldn’t be a part of it and I agreed. And then...’ her chest ached ‘...I actually fell in love.’

‘That was poor timing,’ Lyanna muttered.

‘Extremely poor,’ Irinka added.

But Auggie, newly married to her own wonderful ex-playboy husband, only gave her a clear-eyed stare. ‘So what are you doing about it, Maude?’

Maude stared back. ‘What do you think I’m doing? I’m not crying for fun, and, before you say anything, it’s not pregnancy hormones.’

‘What I mean,’ Auggie said patiently, ‘is did you just let him go?’

‘Of course, I let him go.’ Maude pulled out another tissue. ‘He had a terrible childhood and his father was basically the devil, and he was very clear he doesn’t want love. In fact...’ she swallowed as another bubble of anguish rose ‘...he walked away rather than stay with someone who loved him.’

Lyanna frowned. ‘How could he not stay with you? You’re pregnant with his child, for God’s sake.’

‘It’s not his fault,’ Maude said, instantly wanting to defend him. ‘I’m the one who fell in love with him. And I...refused to compromise about certain things. He’s...just such a wonderful man. Yes, he has his flaws, but he accepted me in a way no one else ever has.’

‘Hey,’ Auggie muttered, along with various protestations from Irinka and Lyanna. ‘We accept you.’

‘I know you do,’ Maude said, thinking of Dominic standing in front of her, his dark eyes haunted as he told her he was giving her Darkfell, that it was hers more than it had ever been his. Giving up the last piece of himself to her. Telling her that he didn’t want to let her go, but he had to, and then walking away.

Alone. He was so alone. At least she had her friends, but who did he have? Perhaps he had friends too, but she was sure there was no one who loved him the way she did, with every part of her.

‘But I’m not sure he has anyone,’ she said into the silence, her chest sore. ‘I... I wish he could feel what it was like to be loved. Just once.’

‘So?’ Auggie said. ‘Why don’t you go show him?’

Maude took a breath. ‘He told me that—’

‘Oh, who cares what he told you?’ Auggie interrupted impatiently, provoking startled looks from Irinka and Lyanna. ‘Men say all kinds of stupid things that they don’t really mean. You’re a wonderful person, Maude, and you deserve happiness. If you love him, don’t let him walk away. And don’t accept whatever silly excuses he chooses to throw at you, either. You go after him and you tell him that you can’t live without him.’

Everyone else fell silent.

Maude stared at her screen, feeling her friends’ words echo in her soul.

He didn’t love her and he wouldn’t, he’d made that very plain. And yet, regardless of that small part of her that was desperate for his love and had been hurt terribly by him walking away, she couldn’t bear the thought of being apart from him either.

But he’s gone and he’s not coming back.

Yes, he had, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t go after him. She didn’t go to the city, she didn’t like it, she never had, but she couldn’t leave him there alone amongst all that metal and concrete and glass. His father had left him like that, had made him negotiate for everything he’d wanted, but she would never do the same. She’d go to him, tell him that she loved him still and then she’d find somewhere to stay. And if he didn’t want her, then at least she’d be close by with their child.

She would be his little piece of home, a little piece of wild Darkfell, in the vast city.

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