Page 74 of The Recluse of Wolfeton House (Ladies of Devon 4)

Mother stepped forward, resting her hand on top of the polished table. “Silas, I never meant to hurt you.”

He scoffed. “You did not realize I could possibly be awake that night and hear your lies?”

“No. We always meant for you to know the truth, but not then. Not in that way. The timing was horrible. I was overcome with grief.”

“Why, Mother? Did you not think perhaps I should have known earlier?”

“I did.” She held his gaze steady. “It was your father who believed otherwise.”

Anger pierced him, and his voice lowered to a dangerously low tone. “Do not call that man my father.”

Mother looked startled. She stared at him, her chest heaving, until something appeared to connect in her mind. “To whom do you think I refer?”

He swallowed. “Mr. Humphries, of course.”

A slow, sad smile spread over her face. “Silas, when I speak of your father, I speak of Daniel Fawkes, the Duke of Bentley. I would never devalue his memory by doing otherwise.”

Bentley felt as though the wind had died a little on his argument. He struggled to recall her words, and when he did, the impact felt like a punch to the gut. “When you said you always meant for me to know the truth…”

“I meant Daniel and myself.”

Bentley pulled out the chair he had been standing beside and sat heavily upon it. The room spun, his chest heaving as though he’d just finished a bruising ride. “You are implying that Father knew of your indiscretion.”

“Of course he knew. You arrived six months after our wedding, robust and healthy. It would have been an actual miracle if Daniel had been your father.”

Bentley closed his eyes. This changed everything. Father had known from Bentley’s birth that he was not his natural son. “But he never treated me differently. I thought you had kept this from him, that he never knew it was not Fawkes blood which inherited his dukedom.”

“It’s unlikely that your father himself was possessed purely of Fawkes blood. There was a long line of infidelity in your family, Silas.” She paused, her mouth pinched in a firm line as she stood on the other side of the wide oak table, her hands resting upon it. “But that does not excuse my behavior. I am not proud of my indiscretion, but I cannot regret it. Not when it gave me a son.”

He scoffed. “You can hardly expect me to believe that, Mother. You married the man the moment your mourning was complete.”

“Because I love Patrick Humphries. I have loved him my entire life. I did my duty and married your father, and he was wholly aware of where my affection lay when I did so. It was no secret. Ours was not a love match, but a merger of two families, combining an ancient title with much-needed money. My family’s money.”

“It all sounds so cold,” Bentley said with a hint of disgust.

Mother straightened. “You do not have to approve of my actions, Silas, and you certainly do not have to understand.”

He looked up, suddenly overcome with the overwhelming desire to know everything. “But I wish to.”

Mother looked at him, her mind working behind still eyes, before she nodded once and lowered herself into the dining seat across the table from him. “You already know I grew up on an estate on the other side of the county, much closer to Sussex.”

He nodded.

“Well, I was raised knowing I was intended for your father. It was never a question. I was to be a duchess, and I was trained for it, but that couldn’t stop me from falling in love with Patrick. Both of us knew that we could never marry, but that did not stop us from spending time together in our youth.” She closed her eyes briefly before settling them on the fire just behind Bentley’s chair. “I did my duty, knowing I would have to cut Patrick from my life when I married your father. We said goodbye before the wedding, and I never intended to stray once I’d said my vows, but I had been foolish in my youth and did not know that I came to my marriage already pregnant.”

Bentley’s jaw hardened.

Mother continued. “When your father found out, he was furious. I told him as soon as I realized I was pregnant and gave him the option of seeking an annulment. He left me for a week, and it was the longest, most horrible week of my life. But when he returned, it was with the decision that we would remain married, but live separate lives. The only thing we would share was you.” She smiled faintly. “We were fortunate that you were a boy, for it meant Daniel had his heir.”

The information sat in the room like thick, heavy fog. Bentley did his best to make sense of it, to alter the assumptions he’d made and recognize the truth of his history. This changed so much. He’d spent seven years fearing that his father wouldn’t have loved him had he known the truth, but he’d been wrong. “Father truly knew?”

She nodded. “He asked me not to say anything. He did not want you to be burdened by feeling as though you did not belong. You were always Daniel Fawkes’s son.”

Bentley had felt that way. His father had raised him to be a duke, to take over in his stead, to lead the people. And what had Bentley done? Hidden away to protect the secret of his birth from the world.

He swallowed against a dry throat, his entire body feeling parched of energy. “If he felt that way, then why hide it?”

“You’ve met Patrick, Silas. You are so similar in appearance, you could be twins. There is no mistaking your paternity, and your father had his pride. Especially as you aged, it became crucial to keep you and Patrick from meeting. But when your father became ill, Patrick believed it safe to come. He arrived without my invitation or knowledge, and that was the argument you overheard. But I was weak, too. I am only human. I could not turn away a source of comfort during such a horrid time of grief.”

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