Page 100 of His Stolen Duchess
“I believe she will be gone soon. Abbington departed the country in shame after being abandoned at the chapel on his wedding day, and I am sure there are some additional problems he left behind, namely, children that he denies, but that won’t be the reason he remains over there as long as he has money. He is having far too good a time. I hope Lady Eastbeck finds her way to him, because she will surely put an end to Abbington’s fun.”
“And Georgina? Does she know about any of this?”
Lysander shook his head. “I don’t like to lie to her, but perhaps it is not a lie if I don’t ever speak about it. I only want to protect her. She doesn’t need to know she was ever at the center of all of this. I believe Eastbeck and Abbington will not return, and even if they do, I will take care of them, but Georgina won’t ever be at peace. She will forever be looking over her shoulder, even if there is nothing for her to worry about. Not when she is with me.”
“He would have liked her, Lysander.”
“Augustus?” Lysander asked. “You can’t know that.”
“Not truly, but I’m sure of it.” Thomas stood shoulder to shoulder with his friend, both looking down at the headstone. “From the little you have told me about your brother, and the little I know about Georgina, I understand they are both similar in many ways. They are both good, happy, and considerate of others. They are bookends to your life so far.”
Lysander looked at his friend, waiting for him to explain what he meant.
“You were a boy once, and I know you were happy and liked to skip through the meadow, picking up flowers and smelling them.”
“Do you know me at all?” Lysander asked.
Thomas laughed. “Perhaps you didn’t do that, but you were happy back then, back before it happened, right? Perhaps you didn’t pick flowers, but I’m sure you went hunting, ran around the halls with your brother, and got into mischief. Stole tarts from the kitchen. Caught frogs in the stream. Climbed trees. Does any of that sound familiar?”
“Perhaps,” Lysander admitted.
“Then, the accident,” Thomas pointed out. “You changed from that day on. Gone was your happiness, and you pushed everyone away.” Thomas pulled up his collar against the slight chill in the air. “There was only one who was strong enough to stand with you. A beacon of light in the darkness.”
“Yes, but he eventually left, and I was stuck with you,” Lysander pointed out.
“Ah!” Thomas waved a finger in the air. “He makes jokes on the anniversary of a tragedy while we stand in a cemetery. That brings me to the second bookend. She has changed you. Perhapsinto the boy you once were, or into someone else completely. Whoever that person is, he is a man who makes jokes, and I like him. We have two bookends of happiness and a long block of misery in the middle. Yet, the bookend at this end of your life has the potential to be enduring. If you will let it.”
“I know.” Lysander continued to stare at the gravestone.
Thomas put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It’s time to stop punishing yourself.”
“I know,” Lysander repeated.
“He would have wanted you to be happy, and I know you know that to be the truth,” Thomas said. “I didn’t know your brother, and you barely had time to know who he was and could be, but you know that much. He would have wanted you to be unconditionally happy, and it’s time to break free from the heavy chain tethering you to the past. If you don’t, then you are a dunderhead.”
Lysander didn’t respond to his friend’s words. He stared down at his brother’s grave as the words seeped into him. He knew them already, but it was good to hear them from someone else.
There was no way to know what his brother would have thought about anything, but he liked to think that most people would get on well with Georgina. She was a good woman.
When Lysander looked up again from the grave, the mist was dissipating in the afternoon sun. Everything was a little brighter.
He nodded at Thomas. “Thank you.” He then turned from the grave and walked away, but stopped after a few paces. He turned. “Did you ride here on your horse?”
“I did.”
“Might we switch? I can have my driver take you anywhere you like. I need to ride more quickly than the coach can take me. I don’t want to waste any more time.”
Thomas pointed to the east side of the cemetery. “My horse is tied to a tree. He is swift.”
“Thank you, Thomas. You are a good friend.”
Lysander took off at a run. There was no more time to lose.
Lysander knocked on the door of Emily’s townhouse. He waited for a moment before the butler answered the door.
“I need to see Georgina,” Lysander demanded.
“I’m sorry, Your Grace, but she is not here.”
