Page 84 of Suddenly a Bride
“What do you mean? Surely ’tis God’s will what sex the child is,” he said, feeling a growing sense of unease.
“It is not easy for my family to have sons.” She frowned. “In fact, all of my sisters had girls, who have since birthed daughters.”
He opened his mouth, but he could think of nothing to say. That foolish clause in his marriage contract seemed to emblazon itself on his brain.
“But surely you, my son, will easily put this silly family curse to rest.”
Family curse?
Edmund knew he smiled at her, knew he somehow took his leave, but he remembered little of it. He found himself climbing higher up into the castle until he was out on the battlements, overlooking the whole valley. The brisk wind chilled him and blew the last of the colorful leaves from the trees. The encroaching winter matched the bleakness that hovered over his soul.
Gwyneth’s family only had girls. No wonder they were the poor branch of the Langston family. All their money had been given away in dowries generations ago.
It explained why Earl Langston had been almost cheerful as he handed over another wife and dowry to a man he hated. In his arrogance, Edmund had thought they could do nothing to harm him except damage his estate, and even then he would catch the culprit eventually.
But when he wouldn’t sell them Castle Wintering, they had made sure it would come back to them someday.
He refused to believe that Gwyneth had known of this, not his innocent wife. She would have told him. Howcouldshe have known—surely the earl hadn’t shown her the contract.
But he found himself striding down through the levels of the castle until he reached his bedchamber. He didn’t have to worry that Gwyneth would find him. She was in the weaving room, off her feet, as he’d requested, but unable to keep her fingers idle. Pushing away his guilt at pawing through her things, he made himself look through her trunk.
At the bottom, he found a copy of their marriage contract. Since she was not the kind of woman who’d ignore such a document once it was in her possession, she’d certainly read it and knew the clause about having a son. How could she not know that her family only birthed girls? And yet she’d said nothing to him.
He got to his feet, letting the papers drop to the table and staring blankly at them. Why had she withheld the truth?
Edmund had always known that Gwyneth was desperate to become a true wife to him, and that she needed his help for her family. After all, hadn’t he married her for the money and the land? Perhaps she was just afraid to tell him. But that would mean she didn’t trust him, yet she’d promised that she did.
And now he knew how she had felt that night so many weeks ago when he’d told her he didn’t know if he could trust her. He had taken Gwyneth’s trust for granted, and now it broke his heart to know she felt she couldn’t confide in him about something that could damage their future.
The door suddenly opened, and he saw Mrs. Haskell give a start and put her hand to her chest.
“Do forgive me, Sir Edmund,” she said. “I came in to change the bed sheets.”
He nodded distractedly and looked back at the table.
“Sir Edmund, did Lady Blackwell ever find out who gave her those papers?”
He glanced at her sharply. “Thesepapers?”
“Aye. A few days ago, she asked me if I knew who had slipped them beneath the door.”
“Did she say what they were?” he asked, feeling tension crackle through him.
“She had not read them when we spoke. Is it something important, my lord?”
“No, ’tis nothing. But I have work to do here. Could you change the bed later?”
With a nod, she left the room.
Edmund stared down at the papers again. So Gwyneth had only seen them for the first time a few days ago. Though he was relieved that she hadn’t known from the beginning, why hadn’t she told him the truth about her family when she read the contract? He saw now that he’d been right, that he couldn’t trust this closeness between them. It was better to reserve a part of himself than to give it all to her.
He couldn’t confront her; he needed to know if she meant to tell him the truth. He decided to wait and judge her by her actions. But her sadness was one answer, and he didn’t know how to make it better without revealing his own.
He would keep some distance between them. But that proved very difficult to do. He was drawn to her like a frozen man to a fire. She had brought his entire castle to life, filled it with people who no longer feared him. She joined in every task, whether it was herding pigs out of the woods, or helping hang the meat for smoking. She made him realize that success with the land was not as rewarding as success with his people.
Yet even that was melting away. When he could not find his unseen enemy, the mill was targeted next. People were forced to grind grain by hand over the week it took to fix the problem. The worry in their eyes only made his frustration and rage grow. Everything—including his marriage—seemed to be falling apart, and he couldn’t stop it.
But nights were the worst. He had not made love to his wife since he’d discovered the truth about her family. Always there was a reason: her sickness, his exhaustion from the harvest. Because when Gwyneth lay in his arms, the pain he tried not to feel became unbearable. Did it hurt so much because he was falling in love with her and had sworn not to?
