A Family Affair

by Jennifer Wenn

  Instead she asked Penelope to go with her.

  Penelope, who had been, in effect, dragged to the assembly, agreed thankfully, and in a minute the two were on their way. Fanny sat considering her silent friend, who stared through the dark window without noticing the carriage was heading the wrong direction.

  Penelope had had to suffer through a great shock when they arrived at the ball earlier and found both her father and sister were attending the ball, and she had requested to be taken home immediately. But the Darlings had insisted she stay for a short while, as they knew they might never be able to convince her to go out with them again if they let her escape immediately.

  Charmaine had, to Fanny’s surprise, given her a letter for her sister, and now she took it out from her reticule and handed it over to her friend. Penelope looked at it like it was a poisonous snake before she finally took it and ripped it open. Fanny waited until Penelope had read it all, then broke the silence.

  “What did it say?”

  Penelope bent her head, a tear falling onto the paper in her hands. “She misses me.”

  “How nice.”

  Penelope nodded, folded the letter neatly, and put it in her pocket. “She says mother is sick, but father won’t let her meet me.”

  “Oh, Penelope,” Fanny said compassionately, and one small sob became a torrent of tears from Penelope.

  She fell into her friend’s arms, crying her heart out. Her mother’s illness had finally broken the barrier, and even though it was an awful situation for Penelope, she still needed to get her grief into the open and not keep it closed inside her heart as she had until now.

  The raw sobs shook Penelope’s petite body, and Fanny soothingly stroked and patted her back until her friend only hiccupped slightly. When Penelope finally managed to compose herself enough to sit up, Fanny gave her a warm hug and was rewarded with a shaky smile.

  Her friend would come through this, maybe not immediately, but somewhere in the future.

  “Feeling better?” she asked, and Penelope nodded.

  “It’s just that it hurts so much,” she whispered. “I never knew how much I cared for them until I lost them. And now Mother is sick, and there is nothing I can do about it.”

  “We’ll find a way,” Fanny said resolutely.

  “We will?” Penelope smiled. “Well, I know you are resourceful enough to make it happen.”

  Fanny laughed at her friend’s teary-eyed banter. “I cannot deny the truth,” she replied with a dainty shrug, and the two friends smiled at each other, feeling the warmth of their love drying up the last tears.

  The carriage stopped, and when the door was opened by the driver, the two ladies climbed out. Penelope looked up at the imposing house before them and stopped dead. “This is not home,” she said slowly.

  “No.”

  “This is Charlton House.”

  “Yes.”

  “What are we doing here?”

  “We are going for a little visit.”

  “At Charlton House?” Penelope questioned her friend, as if she thought Fanny had completely lost her mind.

  Fanny didn’t answer but gave her friend a smile meant to soothe her worries and took Penelope’s arm. They climbed the stairs up to the front door, where two watchmen looked down on them.

  “Would you please tell His Royal Highness that the Duchess of Hereford is here, with a friend, to see him?”

  One of the watchmen opened the door and talked quietly with someone inside, closed it again, and faced them. “One minute,” he said gravely, before he looked over their heads, ignoring them very effectively.

  They had to wait for ten minutes before the door opened again. A butler ushered the two ladies inside and showed them into a small parlor, where they sat to wait for the Prince Regent.

  “Do you really think he will come?” Penelope whispered.

  “Of course he will,” Fanny said with assurance.

  “How can you be sure of it?”

  “Have you forgotten he is my godfather?” Fanny asked, smiling, just as the door opened and Prinny walked into the room.

  “Fanny, my darling,” he greeted, obviously happy to see her.

  “Uncle Gorgeous,” Fanny squealed, and leaped into his open arms. They hugged closely for a long time before he held her away from himself and looked at her with loving eyes.

  “You look good, my love,” he said.

  “I am good.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked sincerely, and she nodded.

  “Yes I am, because I know this will all end well when the stubborn goat finally gives in and comes back to me, to let me love him for the rest of his life.”

  Prinny smiled at her youthful cheerfulness, and gave her a peck on her forehead. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you, and I’m so sorry I missed your wedding, but I had to go to Germany, as I had promised my wife this a long time ago, and her family aren’t as forgiving as you are.”

  He looked at Penelope, who stood behind Fanny unaware she looked rather stupid with her mouth hanging open.

  “And you must be the de Vere girl Fanny always talks about. The best friend ever.”

  Penelope closed her mouth and nodded before she remembered her manners and gave him a deep curtsy. He accepted courteously. Then he rang the bell, told the butler to get them a tray with tea and cakes, and ushered the two ladies to comfortable seats.

  “So why do you grant me the pleasure of your company at one o’clock in the middle of the bloody night?”

  “I want to know what they are up to.”

  Prinny looked confused at first, before comprehension dawned, and his guilt-stricken face told her she had made the right decision coming here.

  “Fanny, I can’t tell you.”

  “Yes, you can. It’s my husband we are talking about.”

  “But they are my friends, and I promised Rake…”

  “I don’t care,” she interrupted. “You promised me first, when you accepted becoming my godfather.”

  Prinny gave her a dark look. “This is blackmail.”

  “I know.”

  Prinny sighed, and she knew she’d won, as she had known she would from the beginning. Her dear godfather had never been able to tell her no. She felt a little ashamed for using him like this, but Devlin was too important to her.

  “You must love him.”

  “I do.”

  “And he loves you, you know.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “Poor man, he’s suffering a lot about Graywood and you.”

  “I know.”

  “You are an evil woman.”

  Fanny just smiled wickedly, and Prinny couldn’t help but grin back.

  “Well, well.” He sighed. “I guess I’ll have to tell you the truth.”

  “Yes, you must.”

  He stood up and walked over to the bay window, clasping his hands behind his back.

  Penelope turned to Fanny with her eyes as big as plates; this was all a bit much for a depressed young lady to take in, although she didn’t look much depressed at the moment.

  Just as Prinny turned, apparently having decided what to say, the door opened and the butler entered with a large tray filled with tea and cakes. He placed it on the table next to the sofa before silently leaving the room, and the door closed tightly behind him.

  Prinny squealed with delight and clapped his hands together as he seated himself on the sofa. Fanny served him and Penelope a cup of tea each before she sat in an armchair with one of her own. She kicked off her shoes and curled her legs and aching feet up in the chair beneath her, and Prinny couldn’t help but grin at her; she looked too much like an innocent little girl, not a duchess married to one of England’s most powerful nobles.

  “So?” Fanny probed, and Prinny sighed.

  “Can’t I at least finish my lovely cup of tea?”

  “No.”

  Another sigh. “Well, well.”

  “What happened tonight? Rake told me you invited my husband and Graywood her
e to get Devlin to take a stand and question the situation and stop ignoring it with his head deep in the sand. Graywood, who is the dearest friend a woman ever could have, has done a great job helping me create the scandal, although Devlin has been rather slow with his actions.”

  “He certainly has,” Penelope agreed. “One would think he would have gotten rather upset by now, not just grinding his teeth to dust and keeping silent.”

  “He’ll soon be out of teeth to grind.” Fanny giggled.

  Prinny shook his head with a superior, manly grin, and offered them more of the delicious cakes before he helped himself to another large one.

  “So my question still remains: what happened earlier tonight?”

  “Devlin finally snapped.”

  “Yes!” Fanny jumped up and shouted, and the other two laughed at her obvious delight.

  “Please settle down, my dear, before the watchmen come barging in here to save me.”

  Fanny blushed prettily and sat down again as requested. “I was simply declaring my satisfaction with the situation.”

  “Indeed, and most clearly, too. I don’t think anyone in this room misunderstood your feelings regarding your husband having a breakdown.”

  “Putting it like that, it sounds like I’m a terrible person.” Fanny laughed.

  “Immphheed,” Prinny answered, his mouth full of cake.

  “Devlin snapped, you say?” Fanny probed to get her godfather to continue his story.

  “Ah, yes,” Prinny said, trying to remember what had been said and done. “He got very angry and hit Graywood on the chin, and just when we thought we had him under control he hit him in the stomach. Poor Graywood, he was quite taken, even though he assured us he didn’t mind, because a little pain was nothing if you two would live the rest of your life in heavenly bliss.”

  “Poor Graywood,” Fanny said, feeling guilty even though he had been more than keen on acting the bad part.

  “And as we agreed upon, I declared a duel to be the only way out.”

  “So?”

  “Devlin accepted.”

  Penelope gasped with horror and Fanny became pale in an instant. “He did what?”

  “He accepted the duel, and we will all meet in Green Park at dawn to watch them execute it.”

  “Oh, my goodness!” Fanny sat dumbfounded.

  Their plan had been to get Devlin to snap and go after Graywood, so they would finally be able to get through to him, to be able to tell him what they thought about him putting himself on the outside of the happiness window looking in. As he and Graywood were good friends, they had been so sure he would refuse and realize how stupidly he was behaving. And he would come for her, and she would tell him the truth, how he was and always would be the only man for her.

  She didn’t mind the ton continuing their gossip about her supposed affair with Graywood, as long as Devlin knew there was no truth in the rumors.

  “But tell him he is stupid, and how this was all a prank to get to him.”

  “Doesn’t work, I’m afraid. Rake says he has closed himself completely, like a clam, and won’t open up. We can’t get through to him.”

  “Oh, my goodness,” Fanny repeated, and clutched her hands in a grip that made her knuckles go white.

  Penelope put her hand on her friend’s and gave her a sympathetic smile.

  But Fanny was devastated.

  She had been so sure she would finally have an end to this stupidity of Devlin’s, but instead it seemed she had only made things worse.

  Devlin would never behave like this if he didn’t think he had no choice. He was a good, good man, and what scared her most was that the fool probably was thinking of getting himself killed. She had no other explanation to his extremely ridiculous behavior.

  “We have to stop them,” she whispered. “Before someone gets hurt.”

  “We will.”

  She looked at Prinny with surprise, as he did sound a little smug. “How?” she asked.

  “We are not going to put bullets in the guns, only gunpowder, and so maybe Devlin finally will understand how dumb the idea of killing his friend is.”

  Fanny opened her mouth to tell her godfather what she really thought about Devlin’s plan for the outcome, but she closed it again.

  This whole scheme had come to a horrible end, and maybe it would have been better if she had done what she’d thought in the first place—get Devlin alone and sit on him until he listened to what she had to say.

  But her family had kept showering her with their grand ideas and intriguing schemes. They thought Devlin should realize his faults by himself, so that he would be the one to come to her and apologize, not the other way around. She had liked that thought, but now doubt was slowly wheezing its way in.

  She loved her family with all her heart, but she loved Devlin too, and the one thing she wanted most in the world was to have Devlin back, to continue with their lives at Pendragon, and to give birth to so many children Mrs. Blair would faint with sheer happiness.

  As if on cue, the baby moved perceptibly inside her for the first time, and tears filled her eyes. Had she been so eager to listen to her relatives that she had forgotten all about Devlin?

  Her parents and Rake had been there when Devlin left her at Pendragon, and they had immediately taken over, rushing her down to Chester Park, figuring out what to do.

  She had lived in a daze until she met Devlin at Vauxhall Gardens and all the small pieces of her life had come together again in his arms. She felt complete with him, and without him she was a mess in the hands of her overprotective family, who would do anything for her, especially anything they thought was best for her.

  She was a grown woman and a married one, and she should know by herself what to do. What if she had been alone with Devlin at Pendragon when she realized she was pregnant? Well, to begin with, she wouldn’t have realized it until some time later, but if Devlin had left her then, she would have followed him and told him exactly what she thought of him and his plans.

  She would never have gone to London, would never have made the whole ton think she was a loose woman. No, she more than likely would have locked herself in a room with Devlin, refusing to open the door until he told her he loved her more than anything and would never leave her again.

  She had let her relatives undo the thing that was her new family, the family she now had with Devlin, and the small baby inside her. Those two were everything she needed and everything she wanted.

  She closed her eyes and decided that from this day forward she would take care of this family by herself. No more helping relatives, best friends, or godfathers.

  She was going to go to her husband and beg him to take her back. She would beg him on her bare knees if she had to, as long as he held her once more and told her he would love her forever and would never, ever let her go.

  Chapter 34

  Devlin stood silently in the darkness of Green Park, waiting for the others to arrive.

  He felt numb, like nothing mattered anymore.

  All he wanted was to get it all done with, to end his life so the misery that had been his constant companion lately would be over, and thus make sure Fanny could go on with her life.

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was ready to die.

  “Please don’t.”

  It was amazing; he could actually hear her voice. It was so real, almost as if she were there with him on the dewy lawn.

  “Devlin?”

  This time her voice was closer, as though she was standing beside him, and he opened his eyes and looked at his wife, who did indeed stand there, nervously wringing her hands, looking tired and worn.

  He smiled at her with genuine delight at first, but when she just looked at him seriously with tear-filled eyes, the smile faded away, and he realized she wasn’t something from his imagination— she was real and she was there.

  With him.

  In the park.

  In the middle of the night.

  “What
on earth are you doing here in the middle of the night? My God, Fanny, are you out of your mind? Don’t you know how many villains roam the streets of London during the nightly hours?”

  He took the few steps to her and grabbed her wringing hands in his. He could feel her shiver, and he glared at her. “You’re freezing,” he said accusingly, and she frowned at him.

  “My freezing is not important,” she objected in a shaky, angry voice. “You are what is important, and I won’t have it.”

  He looked at her, confused. “What are you talking about?”

  “You wanting to get yourself killed is important, not my freezing.”

  “Ho-how did you…”

  “I’m your bloody wife,” she said between her teeth. “I’m supposed to know what you are up to.”

  He let go of her hands and took a step back to clear his mind.

  How could she know?

  Who could have told her about his plans?

  Nobody—he answered his own question—because nobody knew about his plan to not shoot Graywood. She had figured it out all by herself, and for a second love and pride swelled his heart. But it passed quickly, and the numbness took over again.

  “You should be happy,” he snarled. “Graywood will still be alive.”

  “I don’t care about Graywood,” she cried out, obviously running out of patience with him.

  “But I do. Graywood is the one you chose, the one you spread your legs for. He is the one who will have everything I ever wanted, as soon as I am no longer around.”

  “So stay and take it for yourself.”

  “It’s too late for that,” he whispered. “I already accepted the duel, and I can’t kill him, as he’s my friend and, furthermore, the man you want to spend your life with. I’m doing this for you, Fanny. Can’t you just accept it?”

  Instead of looking thankful, she stared at him with a strange mix of astonishment, laughter, outrage, and pity. “Do you think I want you dead?” she gasped.

  “Of course not, you’re not that kind of person, but this way you will get a happy life, and I don’t have to live watching you from the side.”

  “So don’t.”

  He looked at her bewildered, not understanding what she meant.