Page 73 of The Duke and the Hellion Bride

Her mother’s eyes widened in rage, and she very nearly turned to direct said rage onto Diana. But she stayed firm, keeping her gaze fixed firmly on Evelyn. “Evelyn, will you please tell my daughter that I do not appreciate being spoken down to in my own home, and that if she does not agree with what I have to say, she is welcome to leave. In fact, I would prefer that she did.”

“Diana, did you catch all of that?” Evelyn sighed. “Or shall I repeat it.”

Diana glared at her mother. “Oh, I caught it well enough.”

Sometimes, I wonder which of us is the adult and which is the child? The way my mother is behaving, one would think she was fresh out of the womb, as immature as a babe able to do little more than cry to hear her point made.

Why Diana had expected anything different from her mother, she really had no idea.

At least, Diana decided, her mother had past the point of yelling directly at her, as she had spent most of the previous evening doing – and screaming, and shouting. Compared to that, this little demonstration she was putting on was a welcome change that was almost pleasant.

It was a shame that her mother was even more obtuse than Diana could be during her worst moments. Last night, when Diana had come home in tears, she had hoped to be greeted with a loving embrace and compassion. That her mother, seeing how utterly shattered she was, would take her in her arms and listen when Diana told her that the marriage was over and there was nothing to be done.

Laughable, Diana now knew. Her mother had been furious, unwilling to listen. Even hostile, such that if Diana had anywhere else to go, she just might have. Worse that she couldn’t tell her mother the truth, for fear of what Lord Herrod would do if he found out. All Diana had been able to do was give vague excuses about the failed marriage, knowing full well it would not be enough.

She had hoped that a night to herself would provide her mother with perspective. Alas, her hostility might have dimmed but her tolerance for Diana’s actions was as dismissive as ever.

“Evelyn, will you please ask my daughter what she is still doing here,” her mother started up again. She sat at the head of the table, her chin pointed in the air as she spoke directly to Evelyn. “I am at a loss to understandwhyshe thinks that she can waltz into this home after sabotaging a marriage that I worked so hard to --”

“Enough!” Diana erupted before she could help herself. On her feet, she was shaking with a rage that was a day in the making. “I understand Mother, that you are upset with me. Really, I do. And I understand that you cannot see how such a travesty as this has happened to you – because that is how you see it. Is it not? Who cares how I feel? It is you and you alone who you care for! Such that you would treat your youngest daughter in this manner, because you cannot for one second comprehend that I did what I did because I had no choice! I did not want it! I did not ask for it! But it has happened and acting this way, like a child, will not change anything!”

Her breathing was up. She could feel her face turned bright red. Eyes wide and wild, she bore them upon her mother, daring her to retaliate. Dammit, she wanted her to. Best that they have it out now and be done with it.

Her mother, however, looked upon her coldly. A curl to her lip, a warning glare to her eyes. The cold look held, and Diana braced herself, only for her mother to turn and address Evelyn once again.

“Evelyn, will you please tell my daughter that I am not to be spoken to like that in my own home. If she wishes to raise her voice, she has a home of her own in which she is free to do as she likes. Kindly tell her she may return there, if she so wishes.”

“Oh, for the sake of --!” Diana threw her hands in the air in frustration and stormed from the breakfast room. When she reached the door, she turned back and fixed her mother with a final dispassionate look. “I am hurting, Mother. Hurting more than I thought possible. When I came home as I did, my hope was that my mother would be there to support me – that she would understand what I was going through.” She locked her eyes onto her mother, silently praying that this might see the woman break finally. Rather, her mother continued to ignore her, which broke Diana down even further than she already had been. “I guess I was wrong...”

With that, she bowed her head and slunk from the breakfast room. No longer angry. No longer disappointed. Sadness was what overwhelmed her in that moment. A broken heart, no one to help mend it, crushing loneliness that she guessed would be with her for some time to come.

How had things ever come to this?

* * *

There was a soft knock at the door which Diana didn’t respond to. She was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling, doing what she could not to cry as she imagined the walls crumbling, the ceiling collapsing, and how simple things might be if she was just buried where she lay.

“Diana...” Evelyn spoke softly from across the room. “Might we talk? If you are up for it?”

“My mother isn’t with you, is she?” Diana asked, not bothering to look.

Evelyn chuckled. “Oh, no. After the way you spoke to her...” Another chuckle. “I don’t think she’d used to being attacked like that.”

“That was nothing,” Diana sighed. “I was holding back.”

“Do me a favor, will you?” Footsteps crossing the room. “Make sure I am there if the two of you go another round. I would very much like to see it.”

Despite how she was feeling, Diana laughed. “So long as you don’t mind being caught in the middle? I worry if it is to happen, the house might literally catch on fire.”

“Well, wouldn’t that be something to see.”

Diana sighed and sat herself up so she could better see Evelyn. The moment she did, an unexpected pang of guilt struck her. She loved her cousin and always had. Evelyn, forever playful and uncaring, liking to pretend that she cared not for romance or courtship or any of that nonsense, had been caught in the middle of this calamity for no reason that was her fault.

She watched her cousin for a moment, wondering how much she knew and how much pain she too was feeling. Diana was yet to tell her mother why she had ended the marriage so suddenly, and she wasn’t even certain that Evelyn knew what was coming.

“How are you feeling?” Diana asked cautiously.

Evelyn frowned. “Me? Compared to you, I imagine I could just about fly.”

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