Page 7 of A Duchess to Fight For
She easily agreed that the man she ended up with also had to be aware that Percy would be part of the deal. A package deal.
Curiously, he wasn’t jealous of Jack. The man accepted him and his relationship with Louisa where he wasn’t sure other men would. He was more grateful to Jack for accepting him than jealous of him. Jack was a nice man, and Percy knew he would never do anything to make her unhappy. But heaven help him if he came between him and Louisa.
*****
After his bow, Percy sat in his chair until Louisa passed him some tea.
“What has you restless today?” she asked.
Percy blew out a long breath and shrugged. “I don’t know. I woke up this way. I think I had a nightmare, but I don’t recall.” He shrugged again.
Louisa offered him a plate with cookies and biscuits, but he waved it off. “Something troubling you? Your father? Your health? Nora?”
He shook his head. “No, I’ve mentally gone down the list, and there is nothing out of the ordinary.
“I do have a question I’ve been rolling around in my head, however. I’m not sure why it even matters, but I’d like to solve it.” Percy turned to the Duchess.
“Duchess, what is your philosophy on love? I see so many different relationships on the dance floor, and I don’t know what to make of it.
“There’s the couple that you can say are truly in love. There is the couple that is very well suited and will live a contented life together without love, and there’s the couple that is pairing up because the gentleman needs an heir and the lady needs a husband.”
Louisa interrupted. “And don’t forget the couple where the woman was forced to marry by her father or by financial circumstances. Or my favourite, the woman or man who flit from one partner to another until they latch on to the person who has the most money. Just a few examples of the marriage of convenience.
Percy nodded. “I’m very contented with Nora. She is wonderful, but I’m not in love.”
Percy was silent, looking to the Duchess to see her reaction and what she would say.
“I understand your struggle, Percy. I always knew you were a sensitive soul. Very few find love, in England or anywhere else in the world. We have all seen it, so we think we too might find it, but we don’t.
“It’s rare. But what you have with Nora is strong and almost as good. You have compatibility and mutual respect. You have a single vision of your future. Don’t undervalue what you have. Many couples don’t even have that.”
Percy nodded. He just needed to accept that that’s all there was. He couldn’t hold out for love.
Somehow settling for contentment seemed like the wrong thing for him to do. He wanted love. He wanted to wake up every day next to someone special, and he wanted her to wake up to someone she thought was special as well.
Would he end up an old bachelor searching for something he would never find?
Louisa reached over and put her hand over his. “Nora is wonderful. You’ll see. You will probably be the happiest of all of us. Who knows? Maybe you will fall in love with her over time.”
Percy lifted his head and looked into Louisa’s eyes. “What about you, Louisa?”
She gave him a small smile. “I’m in a similar relationship as you. The only difference is I’m content with it. Jack’s a wonderful man, and I expect to have a good life with him. I thank God I was able to choose my partner. I feel sorry for women who are forced to marry. I doubt those marriages ever work out.”
The Duchess spoke, “You two are lucky to have found your partners. I agree with Louisa that marriages of convenience are usually unhappy marriages, but not always so. The Duke and I were lucky. We barely knew each other when we married. It could have gone so wrong, but it didn’t. You’re best thinking what you have instead of what you don’t have.”
“Thank you, Duchess,” Percy said. “I think marriage questions are best answered by married people.”
“I think you are right,” she said.
