Page 116 of Of Fate and Phantoms
"Yes," Lincoln said with a measure of frustration unlike I'd heard in his voice before. No doubt he regretted not taking care of the situation himself. "I'll have a word with him later and see what I can learn."
"I do hope Harriet's all right and he hasn't locked her away again."
"We can visit her after we leave the palace, if you like."
I shook my head. "I don't wish to be turned away. I'll write to her."
We fell into silence, and my mind wandered to the task at hand, and to my recent conversation with the prince. I plucked at my skirts as I considered how best to broach the subject with Lincoln.
"Something's on your mind," he began. When I nodded but didn't go on, he moved to sit beside me. He gripped the edge of the seat. "Tell me, Charlie. Please, just get it over with."
"You seem very earnest. Very well." I blew out a breath. "The Prince of Wales talked about you last night."
"The prince?" he echoed, dully.
"Yes. You and Leisl. Perhaps he felt he could talk to me about your relationship more easily than he could talk to you, and knowing how close we are, he trusted me."
"I don't wish to hear it." His face shuttered, as it did when he was determined not to show any emotion.
"You have to. They're your parents, Lincoln, whether you like it or not. The prince told me that he was captivated by Leisl's beauty at a fair where she told fortunes." It wasn't quite how he'd put it, but I thought it a reasonable explanation for his actions.
"He regretted it later, I assume," Lincoln said.
"In a way." He had nothing to say to that so I added, "He was very interested in your welfare and upbringing."
"How much did you tell him?"
"Only that you had an excellent education but your childhood was somewhat lacking in affection. I mentioned that you had never met Leisl until the night of the Hothfield's ball."
"And I have no plans to see her again."
I sighed. "Lincoln, don't be so hasty with your decision. She's your mother. You may not feel any connection to her, but I doubt she can set aside thoughts of you so easily. She must have wondered how you fared over the years. I cannot begin to know how she felt when she saw you at the ball."
He had turned to look out the window as I spoke, presenting me with his hard profile. I turned the other way, not prepared to sympathize with him on this. Ididfeel for Leisl. I may never have been a mother, but I'd seen women forced to give up their children because they were too poor to keep them, and it had devastated them. Most never recovered.
Fog hung low over the skeletal trees of St. James Park, a canvas of ominous clouds behind them. It would rain later, perhaps even snow. I tried to think about that, and the book I'd curl up with by the fire, and not the man beside me.
"It's possible that she did not want me," he said quietly.
My concentration shattered. "Leisl?"
He nodded, although he still did not look at me. "I think she saw me in a vision, before my conception, and knew what her role had to be. I think she sought out the prince not because she desired him but because she knew he was the piece needed to bring the vision to life."
"You think her that calculated?"
"Only she can answer that."
"Let's say it's true," I said. "Let's say her vision made her aware of what needed to be done…that doesn't mean she never cared for you, and has no interest in how you turned out."
"It's best left the way it is. There's no point in pursuing a relationship with her if we've got this far without one."
I gave his point careful consideration, but in the end, I couldn't agree. I took his hand in mine, but when he still didn't look at me, I touched his jaw. He finally turned my way and gave me the full force of his frostiest glare. It used to chill me, but no more. "Lincoln, you never knew you wanted a relationship with me in the beginning, and look how that's changed, in time. Don't dismiss her yet."
He sighed. "Next you'll be telling me to call the prince Papa."
I smiled. "One step at a time."
We arrived at the palace and a footman led us to the queen's private apartments where we'd met her last time. The Prince of Wales was with her, standing by her side. They looked as if they were an ordinary mother and son sitting for a portrait, her in widow’s weeds and he in a modest charcoal gray suit and tie.
