Page 70 of A Duke to Save Her

“You don’t know how happy you’ve made me, Eloise,” he whispered, and she looked up at him and smiled.

“But I do know, because I feel just as happy as you.”

CHAPTER35

When Eloise awoke the next morning, it was from a vivid dream – the same dream she had awoken from on the day of Alice’s disappearance. The two of them had been riding across the parkland near the house, calling out to one another in delight as they cantered across the grass in the summer sunshine. Eloise remembered it as though it were yesterday, and as she opened her eyes, it was with that same feeling she had known on that day – the anticipation of making the dream a reality.

She got up, wrapping a shawl around her shoulders, and for a moment, she wondered if everything she now remembered had been a dream, too. Was Alice really sleeping in the bedroom next to hers, or would she find her gone, just as before? She paused, telling herself she was only being foolish. She opened her bedroom door and made her way across the corridor, pausing outside her sister’s room and knocking.

“Alice?” she called out.

“Come in, darling, I’ve been waiting for you,” Alice replied. Eloise opened the door and found her sister sitting up in bed and smiling at her.

It was as though nothing had changed, and all was as it should have been. This was a new beginning, but also a taking up of what had once been. They had come full circle, and Eloise hurried to Alice’s side and embraced her.

“I had the most wonderful dream. It’s silly, really. It’s the same dream I had on the night you went missing. I dreamed of us riding together in the park, and I dreamed it again last night. I wanted to tell you. I wanted it to come true,” she said, and her sister laughed.

“It can, Eloise. We can go immediately. Would you like that?” she asked, getting out of bed.

Eloise nodded. It was all she had dreamed of – quite literally so.

“I’d like nothing more. Oh, Alice, I’m so pleased to have you back. It’s been the most terrible thing to be without you all these years. I’ve missed you every day,” Eloise exclaimed.

“Well, I’m back now, and we’ll never lose touch again. I’ll have to go back to Draycott tomorrow, but perhaps you and Jackson could come with me. He’s already been there, of course, but you can meet James and the children. Then I’ll help you prepare for your wedding. It’s going to be the most wonderful occasion,” Alice said, as she began to dress.

Eloise thought this was a wonderful idea. The thought of traveling to the countryside with Jackson and her sister filled her with delight. And to meet her niece and nephew and brother-in-law would only add to her joy.

“I think that’s a wonderful idea. But, I wonder… what about Father?” she asked.

What their father had done and what he had not done was something Eloise knew they needed to discuss. He had behaved appallingly, both to her and to Alice. But it would be all too easy to cut him off, to punish him through rejection, and to see him suffer the indignation of bearing his scandal alone. Eloise was to be married to Jackson, who cared not about the fact her sister was illegitimate, and Alice had told James everything about their past so that the consequences of their father’s affair lay only with him. It was he whom society would cast off, and if his daughters did the same, he would be left with nothing save bitter brokenness.

“It’ll take some time for the wounds to heal. But… I can forgive him. It’s all turned out well in the end, hasn’t it?” Alice responded.

Eloise nodded. She, too, would take time to forgive her father for what he had almost forced her into. But Alice was at her side, she was betrothed to the man she loved, and life would now be far happier than it had been destined to be – infinitely so.

“I can, too. I don’t want to bear a grudge. Grudges and bitterness are soul-destroying. I won’t let those feelings get in the way of finding the happiness we both deserve. Come along, shall we ride out? I’m a little out of practice, but the horses are in the stables. Father uses them for the carriage, but they’ll trot for us, I’m sure,” Eloise enthused, and Alice smiled and nodded.

“I can’t think of anything more wonderful, Eloise.”

The two sisters made their way downstairs, arm in arm, delighting in one another’s company.

Eloise had never felt happier than she did in that moment. She was with her sister, she was betrothed to be married, and all the sadness and worry of the previous weeks, months and years were gone. This was the beginning of something new, and as they came down to the hallway, they saw their father emerging from the dining room. He looked older now, his shoulders hunched, and a heavy expression on his face. He gave them a weak smile.

“Arm in arm, just as sisters should be,” he said, and both Eloise and Alice smiled.

“We’re just glad to be together, Father. Like we should’ve always been,” Eloise affirmed.

Their father nodded and sighed.

“I should never have prevented it. It was wrong, Eloise, and I know it now. I tried to do what was best, but it was only what was best for me not the two of you. I’m glad to see you both together. I’ve been a terrible father, and…” he started, but Eloise interrupted him.

“But you can be a better one, can’t you? You want to be a better father, don’t you?” she prompted, and their father nodded.

“If you’ll let me.” He exhaled.

Eloise and Alice exchanged glances. Both nodded and turned to their father with smiles on their faces.

“We will. Why don’t you come and watch us ride? We’re going to take the horses across the park,” Eloise suggested.

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