Page 87 of The Duke's Second Bride
Vincent was an excellent friend, but the last thing Christian needed was to look at Vincent—happily married, deeply in love with his wife, a loving father to his children—and compare his own failings against his friend’s success.
“Well. We should bring the families together again sometime soon. My wife was asking after yours the other day. And how goes your continued wedded bliss?” Vincent asked.
Christian tried not to react, but he could not help the way his entire spirit seemed to wilt at the question.
It was clear Vincent noticed. His ever-present smile dimmed a bit, but he soon plastered it back into place. “That bad, eh? What, is she nagging you to spend less time drinking? You’re hardly likely to win her over, stuck here.”
It was clear that he was intending to cheer Christian out of his gloom with jests. It was an easy joke. Christian rarely drank at all.
But he could not bring himself to even dismiss his friend’s joke in his usual surly manner, let alone laugh. Instead, he just shrugged again.
“Hm.” Vincent patted his shoulder. “It seems you need to be alone, old chap. That’s all right. I’ll owe you a drink next time you’re out, all right? It’s time I headed homewards to Sophia and the children. Take care of yourself.”
Christian appreciated his friend reading his silent bid for silence. But he could not deny that he felt worse off for his loneliness.
“You do realize, my dear, that this is the third time you have visited in as many days?” Edith inquired, bringing a cup of tea to her lips.
After sipping, she smacked her lips delicately.
“Not that I am not pleased to see you,” she continued. “As you know, you are always welcome here. And I am pleased that you are healthy enough to visit, now that your sickness has passed. But I would have expected you to be otherwise occupied.”
“Otherwise occupied?” Ava said levelly. “How so?”
Edith gave her a look. “With your husband, for starters,” she replied.
Ava shrugged. “He has been … busy,” she said, trying to evade the question. “And I simply wanted to come spend some time with my closest friend. Is that so wrong?”
Edith put her cup down on the table firmly and then turned an unforgivingly sharp gaze on Ava. “You cannot fool me into thinking nothing is wrong, Ava,” she said.
Ava sighed. She had been coming to see Edith because she wanted to be distracted from her heartbreak, not because she wanted to be reminded of it.
But it was clear from the look in Edith’s eyes that she would not drop the subject easily.
“Things are over between Christian and me,” she said.
Her eyes pricked with tears as she tried to find the words to explain.
“We are returning to our former dynamic,” Ava continued. “One of practicality, not passion. We discussed the matter a few days ago and reached the same conclusion.”
“What?” Edith looked entirely shocked. “What on earth do you mean, things are over?” she asked. “You were so happy barely a week ago.”
“I thought so, as well,” Ava said.
“What happened?” Edith demanded to know.
“When I was ill last week,” Ava began, “the doctor had suggested that a pregnancy might be the cause.”
Edith nodded enthusiastically.
“Oh, of course. Because of the sickness after dinner. I am so sorry, Ava. I know you had hoped for such a thing. Was Christian disappointed there was no baby? But that should be no reason to distance himself from you,” she said, almost talking to herself at this point, before Ava could chime in. “If anything, I should think it is an encouraging sign. You are young and healthy, you could have a baby at any moment, were you to keep living as husband and wife.”
“That was what I thought at first,” Ava agreed. “But Christian does not feel the same way. Isabel—his first wife—Luke’s mother—she died in childbirth.”
Edith raised a hand to her mouth. “Oh,” she said, her voice bursting with sympathy. “Oh, that is horrible. Poor Luke. And poor Christian.”
“He is convinced that a pregnancy would bring death with it,” Ava said, frustrated. “And now he wants nothing to do with me. He discarded me as easily as a piece of paper with ink spilled all over it.”
Hearing tears in her friend’s voice, Edith leaned forward, placing a sympathetic hand over Ava’s. “Oh, Ava. Surely you must see that it is entirely the opposite? He cares for you immensely. He is merely afraid to lose you.”
