Page 82 of The Dreaming Beauty
“It was the curse,” Iris said. “It got us all in the end.”
“What curse?” Simon asked, his voice nearly a whisper.
“Of loneliness. Death and loneliness.” Iris’s eyes were not focused on anything.
Tansy looked at Marcus, trying to read him. He had come back from Oxford in the dead of night. How had he known his mother would be here? His desperation in her bedchamber led her to believe one thing. He had been afraid his mother was going to hurt her. Why would he have believed that? Unless... unless she had written the notes.
She looked up at her estranged aunt—the one who had done nothing but intimidate her. “Did you write the letters, then?”
Lady Melbourne looked up at her. “What letters?”
“The threatening notes I received.”
“No, dear. I couldn’t face your aunts, and I tried to keep my sons away from you, but that is the only crime I committed against you.”
“Then, who sent them?” Marcus turned confused eyes to Simon.
Simon shrugged. “I haven’t the faintest idea.”
Aster stood. “I did not want to worry anyone, but I discovered another the morning of Tansy’s birthday.” She moved to the picture of the cottage and lifted the frame enough for a letter to fall from behind it. “I did not open it. I planned to give it to Mr. Taylor, but then he left.” She handed it to Marcus.
Marcus, in turn, extended it to Tansy. “It has your name on it. If you would like me to read it for you and spare you—”
“No, I can do it.” She accepted the letter and, without further ado, ripped the seal and spread the paper flat. As she scanned the contents, her eyes widened. And then an unexpected laugh came out.
“Why are you laughing?” Daisy asked.
“Because they were not threats at all. They were love notes from Mr. Robinson.”
“Love notes?” Marcus scoffed. “You are joking.”
“Not at all. It says here that this is to be his last letter. He tried to tell me that I was not wanted here and to come home and that I would not listen. He tried to convince me himself at the Bellvues’, but after learning of my title, he knew he must withdraw his offer of marriage and let me adjust to my new life here. He declares his love for me again, which I will spare you all, but that is it.”
Simon laughed so suddenly and sharply that it rang about the silent room. “I am glad, then, that I was not concerned for your safety. Mr. Robinson has a deadly right hook, and I would not want to be on the wrong side of the man.”
The tension seemed to break a little, and it gave them all a reason to breathe. Marcus, though, still stood somber, and understandably so. Tansy knew he understood the gravity of what had happened. His mother had abandoned her sisters. It would take a great deal of time to repair the relations, but at least his mother was showing signs of contrition.
Simon clapped his hands together. “I think we can leave you ladies to get some sleep now. We will have much to discuss soon. We are more a family now than yesterday, every single one of us, and I, for one, am going to see that that does not change.”
“We are not done,” Marcus said, his eyes not leaving his mother. “If the secrets are going to be aired, let’s hear them all.”
Lady Melbourne looked up at him, confusion marring her face. “What other secrets?”
His jaw clenched, and Tansy could see the hurt flash across his features. The same feeling she had received before she went to bed returned with a rush. She reached over and took Daisy’s hand in her own. Whatever was coming was not good.
“It’s time,Mother, for me to take my rightful place.” His words were whispered but heavy and grave.
Lady Melbourne paled and her hand went to her throat. “How? When?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters right now is the truth.”
“Marcus, please. Can we talk of this privately?”
“You tell them, or I do.”
Silence settled over the room, and the tension was thick enough that Tansy could taste the bitterness on her tongue.
Lady Melbourne looked around the room, her eyes settling on Simon. Her voice wavered ever so slightly. “Dearest child. I have kept more secrets from you than the truth about my sisters. I gave you up as my blood in a desperate attempt to ensure our security and your future. I made you a baron and later a duke. But you are neither and never were.” Her gaze moved to Marcus. “I wronged you as well, for you are the true heir.”
