Page 49 of The Duke's Lesson in Love

Sadie glanced at the woman. Lady Beatrice sounded too confident for a woman whose schemes were found out. She didn’t think they would ever stop trying to take the estate from Gill…but— she shook her head. The nagging feeling that there was another layer she was missing gripped her gut.

“Leave!” Gill thundered, making them jump. “If you ever come near my family again, consider yourselves cut off from all income from this estate.”

Lady Beatrice gripped her skirts, turning in a flurry of silk and lace with her son close to her side. When they reached the door, Gill said, “If I find proof of your involvement in either the kidnapping of our son or the attempt on my life, I will make sure you spend a very long time in a cell with iron chains around your ankles.”

“You’ll regret this.” A bruise already covered Caleb’s left cheek.

“Are you alright,” Sadie asked when they were alone. She patted his shoulder where Caleb had struck, apologizing when he winced.

He gripped her hand. “You are Edwin’s mother. None other.”

Her eyes teared and she nodded, wrapped in the embrace of his love.

The pit of her stomach tightened further at the mention of Edwin. Edwin! She pulled away from Gill and hurried from the room. Lady Beatrice’s words about the boy’s rightful place chased her to the kitchen.

She stopped suddenly. A wall of servants protected Edwin from Lady Beatrice, Caleb and another woman.

“What in bloody hell is going on here?”

“Come to me child, I am your mother.”

Sadie froze at the words. Yet even before the woman opened her mouth, a deep part of Sadie knew who the woman was. Edwin resembled his father in every way. He was tall for his age and there was no mistaking the pair of blue eyes that mirrored Gill’s, but his straight nose came from this woman’s fine features.

Looking around the kitchen, Sadie grabbed the closest weapon, a rolling pin still dusted in flour from the kitchen peninsula and wielded it towards the woman. No one was going to take her son away ever again.

“Edwin come to me, love. Stay behind the counter,” Sadie implored.

“Mamon Sadie,” the child cried, darting between the peninsula and the stove as she instructed.

She braced herself, knowing he would barrel against her legs. Tousling his hair with her free hand, she asked, “Are you okay?”

“Uh-huh.” He nodded.

“What are you doing here, Layra?”

The woman looked at Caleb, her eyes widening as Gill stepped towards her. Sadie didn’t want Gill anywhere near them. They had tormented him for long enough. She would not allow them to torment Edwin with their nastiness. Sadie covered the boy’s ears to protect him from Gill’s family’s poisonous vitriol.

“I came to collect Edwin, Your Grace,” Layra stammered.

“You sold any rights to my son the day he was born for a sack of coins.”

“That’s not true!”

“I found my parents’ ledger after their deaths. Found the contract you signed giving Edwin to my parents. Do you know what they did to me?”

She wrung her hands together and nodded. “Caleb told—”

“Shut up!” Caleb said, making Layra flinch.

But it was too late. She knew what Gill suffered and had still given her son away. Sadie swallowed the bile rising in her throat. What could make a woman give up her child except for the promise of something better?

“What did they offer you?” Sadie asked.

“The Duke and Duchess promised nothing other than money for the child and to leave Berwick.”

“Who then?” Sadie pressed.

The woman glanced at Caleb again and it all fell into place. “You were never in love with Gill, were you?”

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