Page 25 of Stolen By the Cruel Duke
Iris felt a rush of gratefulness for her husband. Even in the smallest of ways, he was always protecting her—even from the judgment of a solicitor whose opinion she should not care about.
Phineas stood up, stretched, and walked over to the basin on the dressing table, where he bent over and began to splash water onhis face. Iris watched him covertly out of the corner of her eye. She was impressed that he hadn’t asked anything further about her mother.
It felt as if he were trying to tell her that he was willing to listen, should she wish to tell him about the unusual situation, but that he wouldn’t pry if she preferred not to. And as she watched his strong hands dab the towel on his face, she felt the powerful urge to open up—perhaps for the first time in her life.
“My mother lives with her sister,” she revealed.
In the mirror on the dressing table, Iris saw Phineas freeze. He then slowly raised his head so that his eyes met hers in the mirror. Setting the towel down, he turned to face her. His expression was soft, open, and Iris felt a rush of confidence. He would listen to her, she knew, patiently and without judgment.
“She left when I was thirteen,” she continued shakily. “I don’t know why she left, even after all these years. Father would never talk about it. Now that I know him better, I realize he must have been difficult to live with. I’m sure she was deeply unhappy in their marriage. But she didn’t leave any sort of note, any explanation. For many years, I thought she left because…” Iris felt her throat tighten and tears prick her eyes. “Because of me. And my sisters. I thought she must have hated being a mother.”
Phineas moved slowly toward the bed. When he reached the edge, he sank down onto the covers near her feet. His expression was still tender, even a little concerned.
Iris drew her knees up and hugged them to her chest. It made her feel safe to confess these secrets to him when she was curled up into herself like this.
“Father got worse after she left. He was never easy to deal with, but after she left, he became unbearable. That’s when he started threatening to marry me off to horrible old men whenever I misbehaved. To be fair to him, I did act out quite a bit after she left. I missed her so much, and I was so angry…”
“That’s no excuse for him to make those threats,” Phineas said sharply. “You were only a child missing her mother. Of course, you acted out. It must have been terrifying to be threatened with marriage, especially when you were still so young.”
“It was terrifying,” Iris mumbled, her heart hammering again at the look of righteous anger on Phineas’s face. “And you’re right, I didn’t deserve it.”
“You didn’t,” he agreed, and he tentatively placed a hand on her knee. Even through the blankets, she could feel the warmth of his touch. “I wish I could go back in time and protect you from that,” he murmured.
“It was my mother’s job to protect me from it,” Iris said, “and she didn’t. Eventually, I learned that she’d gone to my aunt’s. She didn’t keep in touch, but my father let it slip once, during one of our arguments. After that, when I realized she was so close, that she could come back whenever she wanted, I became an exemplary daughter. Never again did I get in trouble, except when Father was being unreasonable and blamed me for thingsI hadn’t done. I thought that if I were a good girl, then he might tell Mother, and she would come back.”
Iris had to stop for a moment. Her voice was choked, and it took several deep breaths to keep the tears from falling. At the same time, she felt Phineas’s hand tighten on her knee.
“But of course, she never came back. She never even wrote. So, I became for my sisters what she should have been for me. I protected them as she should have. And that’s why I would do anything to keep them safe.”
Phineas nodded as if he understood. “You want them to feel as if they have a mother,” he murmured.
“I suppose I do,” Iris mused. She’d never quite thought of it that way, but it made sense. “They don’t remember her as well as I do—Violet was nine, and Rose was only eight—so they don’t miss her as much. And I think I told myself that I could replace her, for them, so they wouldn’t have to carry around the heaviness that I carry. The feeling of abandonment.”
“You’re very strong,” Phineas said, and she looked up into his eyes. They were shining with something akin to anger, but she knew it wasn’t directed at her. “But you shouldn’t have had to be,” he added.
Her breath caught in her throat. Phineas heard and leaned forward so that his face was close to hers.
“You were only a child yourself,” he whispered. “You shouldn’t have had to be a mother for your sisters. You should have had someone protecting you and letting you be a child.”
Iris could no longer hold back her tears. As she gazed into her husband’s eyes, a single tear finally spilled over, trailing down her cheek. Phineas reached forward and wiped the tear away with his thumb.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for saying that.”
He smiled softly at her and then released her. He stood up and pulled the covers back up to her chin, tucking the sides in around her.
“Rest now,” he said, his voice as soft as a lullaby. “You’re safe.”
Iris closed her eyes, and moments later, she felt him lay down on the other side of the bed. He remained above the covers, but all night long, she felt his arms around her, holding her tight.
Chapter Ten
“He’s ordering you back to the house,” Iris said, slamming the letter down on the breakfast table.
It was the next morning, and she had just received a most unpleasant missive from her father.
Across the table from her, Violet and Rosalie looked at one another, then at her.
“Well, we have to go home, at some point,” Violet pointed out. “We can’t stay here forever.”
