Page 59 of Loving a Beast of a Marquess
“Alive,” Lady Pevton said as though that was the only pertinent point. “He arrived alive.”
“Quite so,” the Duke said wryly. “I see now how wrong it was of me to leave, Evangeline. Can you forgive me the pain I’ve caused you and your sister?”
Evangeline blinked several times. Zachary longed to say something—to urge her to accept her father’s apology just as he had strived to move past his mother’s betrayal—but this was not the moment for him to speak.
“You are my father,” Evangeline said, her voice thick. “There is nothing I want more than for us to live in harmony.” Freeing her hand from Zachary’s, she rose and crossed the room to his side. Her father stood, and for the first time, they embraced.
Lady Emily let out an audible sob, and even Zachary felt his chest both tighten and loosen. The relief that had been held at bay by Evangeline’s hurt now swept through him, releasing him from the bond of obligation he had until now been forced to shoulder.
He would not be the Duke.
His father would never return, but Evangeline’s had, and that would be enough.
Zachary remained seated as the family reunited properly, the Duke kissing both his girls and embracing his sister. Although he had been invited in, and although he was part of the family, he had little place in the joy that blossomed through the room.
Eventually, as Evangeline and Emily clung to each other and Lady Pevton dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief, the Duke turned to him.
“So,” he said. “Marquess.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I have heard many things about you.” His gaze was stern, and Zachary bit back the frustration that arose from the statement. “Few of them good, save from this household.”
Zachary tucked his hands behind his back as he stood, preferring to be at equal height. “Believe me when I say I am aware of my faults, Your Grace, but I shall endeavor to overcome them with Lady Evangeline’s help.”
Evangeline appeared by her father’s side. She had almost entirely recovered from her tears, and there was a pink flush on her cheeks that bespoke happiness.
“If you are to dismantle the wedding arrangements now, I beg you would not,” she said. “Aunt Dorothea has bought me the most delightful dress, and I am rather attached to my future husband.”
The Duke chucked his daughter under the chin. “Do you love him, my dear?”
“I do.”
“Then I can say nothing other than I hope he endeavors to deserve you as much as he endeavors to repair his faults.” The Duke pinned him with another gaze, but there was less harshness there now. “All men have faults,” he said. “Those are not the things that define us; rather it is the things we do to counteract them.”
Zachary inclined his head. “Yes,” he said. “I’m starting to see that now.”He had thought he had needed the Duke’s guidance to find his path, but he had found without the Duke’s presence; instead, he had found it through Evangeline, who smiled at him with dancing eyes.
His shoulders relaxed as he took in the group before him. His family.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Evangeline’s wedding day dawned fresh and bright. There was a strange lightness in her chest, and it took her a few moments for her mind to catch up to her body.
Her father was back.
After so many weeks of believing him dead, of grieving him in the quiet moments she hoped no one would see, he was back. There was much to be talked through, much she wanted to know about why he left and where he went, but for now, she was content to bask in the joy of his arrival.
He would see her marry.
“Evangeline,” Dorothea asked, knocking on her door and poking her head around it. “Are you awake?”
“Can you really ask such a question on my wedding day?” Evangeline swung her feet out of bed and slipped a robe over her shoulders. “Come in.”
Although her aunt had been unable to quell her smile the previous day, she looked a little somber now, shutting the door behind her with a definitive click. “I don’t intend to take much of your time,” she said. “But there are certain things—better done by a mother, or indeed not by a maid—that you should know, and in the absence of another woman able to tell you, I believe it falls to me.”
Evangeline’s eyes widened. “Are you here to inform me what will occur on my wedding night?”
“I know this may not be a comfortable conversation for either of us, but I believe you should have some idea of what the union between a man and a woman… entails.”
