Page 62 of A Lady’s Fairytale Come True
“What is it?” he asked, impatiently.
She gave him an intense gaze, holding his eyes as she opened her mouth to speak.
“I think perhaps it is time that I tell you why I chose Miss Digby to be your wife.”
Chapter 31
“Liv, you are going to be all right. I promise you. Everything is going to be fine,” Louise whispered in her ear as Olivia wept into her pillow. She had not moved from there since the evening before. She had not even taken anything to eat or drink that morning.
“Please, just leave me,” she sobbed.
“We shall not,” Louise replied, firmly.
“Olivia, what is it? What happened? Why are you so sad and why didn’t you let the earl speak to you?” Gemma asked innocently.
Olivia only cried harder at this question. How could she make her sisters understand what had happened? How could she convince them that they were better off leaving her in her solitary misery? She didn’t want their comfort. Not now. She wanted to be alone, to cry herself to sleep and be unconscious of the world around her for a time.
Oh, she had been such a fool. Seeing that beautiful woman, Olivia knew instantly that the earl could never have loved her. If he had ended things with a woman like that, someone beautiful and with such power and authority, a status of her own, then surely she was merely a game to him.
“Please, Olivia. Look at us. You have to at least eat something,” Louise urged her.
“I feel so stupid,” she cried. “I knew from the beginning that he could never love a woman like me. I knew that I was not the sort he could desire. What a fool I am,” she wept again.
“You are not a fool. You fell in love with him. And he fell in love with you. Why are you so convinced that he would have ended things with you? Because of some jealous, spoiled brat of society?” Louise challenged her.
Olivia couldn’t express it. She simply knew that it all had to be true. Perhaps it wasn’t anything about the woman’s words. It was the fact that she had confirmed everything Olivia had already feared.
All that had been said were things she had considered before. She had considered that possibly the earl didn’t really love her. She had considered that she was a fool for dreaming of it. She had considered that the fairytale would never come to pass.
But she had pushed all of those considerations aside because he was so convincing in his pretexts of love.
Yes, he had led her to believe him wholeheartedly. It was amazing how hard he had worked to cause her to abandon all of her doubts, to believe him fully and be convinced of his affections.
But it had taken only a few words from that woman to tear it all down again. She knew that it must have been the reality all along. She was a fool. And those were the words that echoed in her mind time and time again since running from the earl’s estate.
“Father was right,” she whimpered, her body shaking with the tears.
“Right about what? You love the earl. Do you really believe it was all fake?” Louise challenged.
“It was not my love that was ever fake. It was his. And isn’t that what Father tried to warn me about?” she asked.
“Father was warning you about something because of his own feelings. He had his own reasons for disapproving. He could not possibly have known what was to come. Don’t be so sad, Olivia. Things will come together,” Louise said again.
Olivia sat up and looked her sister.
“Have you nothing else to say, Louise? Stop telling me that everything will be all right,” she snapped. “You don’t know what I am feeling right now. I hope that you never shall. This pain is the worst I have ever felt and you are too good for it. I was fool enough to allow this to happen to me, but you will not be. Stop telling me everything will be all right because nothing is ever going to be the same for me.”
“I’m sorry,” Louise whispered.
Olivia felt terrible for speaking to her that way, but she wished to be alone. She couldn’t handle the pity of her sisters.
“You shouldn’t speak to her like that,” Gemma said, one of her eyebrows cocked in disappointment.
“Forgive me,” Olivia said, clearing her throat. “This is such a difficult time. I do not know what else I can say. Perhaps it is best if I am alone for a while.”
“Then we shall leave you. But if you wish to be alone, understand that it is not what we wish on your behalf,” Louise said in a stronger voice.
Olivia nodded in understanding. Her sisters cared for her a great deal, but she was so ashamed for having believed the lies that she preferred to take in the embarrassment on her own. It was better without having an audience to watch her and pity her.
