“Then why did you not apologize? Tell me all of it?”
She held his gaze. “You refused to see reason. You had just lost your father in more ways than one. I did my best, but you were furious. You must understand that it never occurred to me that you would think Daniel had been kept in the dark. If only I’d known…”
“Yes, well, that is all in the past now, isn’t it? It does not change anything. I would never wish to be seen with Patrick Humphries. Father’s memory deserves far better than for this secret to be widely known.”
Mother looked less convinced. “You are a loyal man, Silas.”
“I learned from the best,” he said coolly. But he knew his anger would need to end soon. Mother had put him in his place, and he could see the error of his ways in holding the grudge for so many years. He would not have changed his decision to hide away even had he known all of this. But the truth was that the threat to their secret being revealed would soon be gone.
He had a lot to make up for because of his own pride, but if the mess of his mother’s life taught him anything, it was that he would marry for love and nothing less.
And the woman he loved was Hattie.