by Abigail Agar
The door opened, and a very surprised Miss Rayburne looked out at Jack. Her mouth opened as if to speak then snapped shut. Jack too was stumped as to how to handle this particular situation.
Jack cleared his throat. “Miss Rayburne, I thought you would be in the colonies by now.” Indeed, Jack could see the protuberance of the woman’s belly beneath her dress.
Miss Rayburne pulled her cloak around herself more tightly as if self-conscious, or perhaps from the cold draught that swept around Jack and into the front hall of the home. Jack could see now that it was a home and not a business. It was comfortably furnished.
The young woman floundered for a moment more before she said, “I think it would be best if you left, given our history.”
“Really?” Jack asked. “Is that not supposed to be my child that you are carrying? I have a right to visit my child.”
Miss Rayburne’s face turned scarlet. To Jack’s surprise, she begged, “Please go. Henry would be so angry if he knew you were here.”
“What I do not quite understand,” Jack continued as if the woman were not begging him to go, “is why you are still in the country. I thought my family was paying for you to have the baby, and your family agreed to do so quietly out of the country. Was that not the arrangement between our families?”
Miss Rayburne frowned. “I didn’t want to go. Henry took pity on me and let me stay here.”
Jack eyed the young woman, and he noted that her eyes avoided meeting his. “Tell me the truth,” Jack said quietly. “I promise not to make trouble for you. I never wanted you to leave the country to begin with, but I do need to know what Henry has to do with all of this. And do not tell me that he is some benevolent benefactor. I know my brother better than that.”
There was a sniffle from the young woman, and she wiped away a tear. “Henry and I met at the Season. We started meeting when we could after that, discreetly. We knew that no one would approve of our match because I was not good enough to be Duchess of Castleberry. After the scandal, that was doubly so.”
Jack wanted to protest, but he did not know if it were actually true or not. “There are ways to get around the wants of parents, Miss Rayburne. I would have helped, had I known.”
“Henry thought quite the opposite,” Miss Rayburne said softly. “We fell in love. When I realized I was with child, I told him,and he was upset. I was devastated and angry.”
Jack nodded. “So, you told your uncle and family that the person courting you was the father, and although it was a scandal, it was not as bad as the one it could have been,” Jack finished for the girl.
“I am sorry, Captain Shelton,” Miss Rayburne said as tears filled her eyes again. “I never meant for any of this to happen. At first, I thought you were going to actually marry me. Then Henry decided that I should be sent away. I was furious with him, but he came to me and explained that he could not stand the idea of me marrying his brother.”
Jack sighed. “I think I am getting a fairly good idea of what he is doing.”
“I doubt that,” Miss Rayburne said with a shake of her head. “He decided somewhere along the way that he wanted to be Duke, instead of us going to live together in the colonies.”
Jack shook his head. “Why not just marry you then?”
“He said he needed someone his family respected to ensure that he stayed in good standing. He needed someone to make him respectable, that person was Gwyn. He would marry her, and I would be his mistress. It is done quite often enough. I agreed as I love Henry and I want the best for our child. It seemed the best thing to do,” Miss Rayburne said as her brow furrowed. “You think me a fool, do you not?”
There was a pause before Jack took a deep breath and said, “No. I do not think you a great fool. Love makes people do strange things, Miss Rayburne. I think if anyone is a fool in this scenario, it is my brother.”
***
Gwyn came downstairs and found Henry waiting. “Lord Shelton, I thought you would be in London on business.”
“I feel as if I am neglecting you, and I wanted to make amends,” Henry said as he rose from the bench he had been waiting on in the foyer. “May we take a walk?”
Gwyn looked over at Fulton who nodded. “That would be lovely. Fulton can come with us for a chaperone,” Gwyn said as she turned towards the gardens leaving Henry to catch up with her.
He fell into step beside her as they made their way towards the doors that opened onto the garden. He even offered her his hand as she navigated down the steps off the back patio and into the garden. “I fear the frost is imminent, which does not bode well for the few flowers still holding on,” Henry said conversationally as Gwyn stepped down the last step onto the stones of the path.
“Yes, I will be sad to see the flowers, and thereby the butterflies, go, but I will welcome the holidays that come after they are gone,” Gwyn said with a smile as she looked over the remaining flowers in the garden.
Henry cleared his throat. “I thought since you love this time of the year so much, perhaps we could have an outdoor ceremony.”
“Your mother does not like outdoor ceremonies,” Gwyn reminded Henry with a smile.
Henry nodded. “Granted that that is the case, but it is not her wedding. Surely you get a say in your own wedding?”
“I prefer church weddings as well, you know that,” Gwyn said dismissively.
Henry sighed. “What is the point of us being betrothed if we never marry?”
“Why are you so eager about this?” Gwyn asked in vexation. “What changes so greatly once we are married? We live in the same house, and that is it.”
There was a pause as Henry studied Gwyn. She was sure she saw a bit of frustration in his face, but he covered it quickly enough. “I just do not understand why you are not eager for it. You seemed eager enough before Jack’s return.”
“It has nothing to do with Jack. It is just the whole situation, Henry. We cannot even hope to have a proper wedded life with things as they are. I refuse to try and make it work. Marriage should not be that hard,” Gwyn said as she looked away from the man and across the fields beyond the edge of the property.
He made a noise of dissatisfaction. “I think you should be honest with yourself if not with me, Gwyn,” Henry said.
Gwyn looked around at Henry and stared at the man as if he had grown two heads. “What does that even mean? I am honest with myself, Henry. I am honest enough to know that I am in no fit shape to marry anyone right now and neither frankly are you. You are a mess with all of this. You are not even the same person right now.”
“That’s balderdash, and you know it,” Henry said with evident frustration. “You have had no intention of marrying me ever since my brother showed up in that church. He is the one you want to marry.”
Gwyn’s mouth dropped open as she came to a halt. She just looked at Henry for a long time before she could form words or put her thoughts into any sort of order. “Are you insane?”
“Perhaps,” Henry admitted. “I want to marry you. I see no reason why we cannot marry now. Jack is only biding his time until he can find a way to break us apart. He cares nothing for you.”
Gwyn swallowed and said, “I am aware of how Jack feels about me, Henry. You do not have to keep reminding me.”
“Apparently, I do,” Henry said through gritted teeth. “He has betrayed you at every turn, and yet you still love him. What sort of woman are you?”
With a gasp, Gwyn denied, “I am not in love with your brother. I am betrothed to you.”
“And yet we are not married,” Henry said as he balled up his fists by his sides. “Why is that, Gwyn? Life is hard; we could fight it together. Instead, we fight separate battles.”
Gwyn shook her head. She would not allow herself to be pressured into doing something that she was not ready for. “Yes, we almost wed, Henry. Things change. People change. You have changed. It is not your brother that gives me the most pause … it is you. You are so cold and angry of late. More and more, I see the
old Henry, not the Henry that I hold affection for.”
“What is so bad about the old Henry? If you loved me truly, then how can you hold such distaste for the man I was? Should you not love all of me?” Henry asked Gwyn as he lifted his chin.
Gwyn felt a wave of guilt. It was true that the old Henry turned her stomach. She had let herself believe that man was gone, but perhaps people really did not change. Gwyn shook her head. “I am sorry, Henry. I just am proud of the man you have become. I do not relish your old self because that is not the man that you are anymore. You are better than that.”
“I am myself, Gwyn. I am that same man that you grew up with and argued with. I am that man,and I am also the man that you agreed to marry. The one you say you hold affection for. You cannot have just parts of a person,” Henry said as they stood in the middle of the garden.
Gwyn became all too aware that Fulton was still right there, far enough back to be unobtrusive, but the man could hear every word they said. Gwyn’s cheeks flushed with shame. Had she really been so horrible as to only want to love parts of her betrothed? “I am sorry, Henry,” Gwyn said softly.
“You may be sorry, but does it change anything, Gwyn?” Henry asked.
Gwyn shook her head. “I do not know. My heart and head are so confused, and I do not know that I deserve your admiration at all anymore. How can we marry with this between us?”
“There is always another excuse,” Henry said with a shake of his head.
Gwyn frowned. “Do not say that. It is not an excuse. You were the one who brought up that I do not love you properly. Perhaps I do not.”
“You are too in love with my brother to love anyone properly other than him,” Henry accused.
Gwyn assured him, “That is not true. Why do you always say that?”
“Because it is what I feel,” Henry said earnestly. “He betrayed you with those other women. He even betrayed you on the very night that you returned overjoyed to see him after your time in India. You recall that, do you not?”
Gwyn nodded slowly as tears brimmed her eyes. “Of course, I remember it, Henry.”
“He did not even have the decency to turn around so that you could see his face and confront you right there with the truth. No, he let you go all the way to India without closure. You did not have to run away, he could have just turned around and faced you,” Henry said urgently to Gwyn. “That is the kind of man my brother is.”
Gwyn frowned. How did Henry know that Jack’s back had been to her that night? It was not in the entry, nor had she told Henry of it. Gwyn asked, “How did you know that he was not facing me?”
“I overheard you when you were talking to Jack that night. You yelled it,” Henry said with a shrug. “The point is that he betrayed you knowingly and let you suffer. Yet you continue to suffer because you cannot let go.”
Gwyn said firmly, “I am not in any state to marry anyone. I will not be pressured by you or anyone, Henry.” She drew herself up and said, “I think it would be best if you left.”
Henry eyed her for a long moment before he turned on his heel and stormed out of the garden. Fulton came over to Gwyn and asked, “Are you alright, Miss?”
“I think so,” Gwyn said quietly.
Fulton shook his head. “You were right to stand your ground. He seems in a right hurry to get you to the altar,” Fulton said as he pursed his lips.
“I think he is just frustrated,” Gwyn said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Maybe he is right about me, Fulton.”
The older man gave Gwyn a curious look. “How is that?”
“What if when I saw Jack, it made me realize that I am not ready to get married? I should be able to just square my shoulders and do what I need to do for my family,” Gwyn said in frustration with herself.
Fulton sighed. “It is a heavy burden to hold the future of one’s family in your hands. That being said, I do not think one should look upon a holy union as a burden to bear. Seems sacrilegious to me.”
Gwyn regarded Fulton thoughtfully. “You are right. It seems as common as the dirt we are walking on to put marriage on par with financial strains, yet is it not done all the time?”
“Whether or not folks do so should have no bearing on whether you do so,” Fulton said with a helpless gesture.
Gwyn nodded and sighed as she turned towards the house. Fulton might think that finances had little to do with marriage, but Gwyn knew better. What was more, Gwyn was certain that her mother was counting on the bond between the Shelton family and her own to rescue them from their plight. It was hard to let down Henry but even harder to let down her mother.
***
Jack should not have felt such a bristling of the hairs on his neck at returning to his home, but walking inside Shelton Hall was very much like walking behind enemy lines. Jack did not like the sensation, yet he pressed on. His father would be in his study. Jack made a beeline for the man’s work area.
If anyone knew about Miss Rayburne being in London, then it would be the Duke. After all, he had not abdicated his titles yet, and the incident was well before the Duke announced his retirement. Perhaps his father could tell Jack why exactly he had not been told the truth.
With a quick knock on the hard wooden door to his father’s study, Jack waited impatiently. Eventually, the man called for Jack to enter, and Jack did so with a pit in the bottom of his stomach. “Father,” Jack said with mounting trepidation for the revelations that could come. “I need to speak with you.”
“Is this about that journal still?” the Duke asked, a line of disapproval already forming on his brow.
Jack shook his head. “No,” he said as he considered how to approach the subject. “Do you recall what happened to Miss Rayburne?”
“Of course,” the Duke said as he sat back in his chair. The paper he had been looking over on his desk was forgotten as he looked at his youngest son. “You think that I am so infirm that I would forget something that cost me so much money?”
Jack sighed. “I saw Miss Rayburne today,” he said. He watched his father’s face.
The Duke frowned. “I thought she was off to the colonies,” the man said in confusion. “Where did you see her?”
“I saw her in London,” Jack said. “She said that Henry set her up in the house.”
The Duke’s frown deepened. “Then she is lying. We gave the money directly to her father.”
“Did you do it, or did Henry?” Jack asked.
The man slammed his fist on the desk. Jack cringed at the noise as his father’s voice boomed out in frustration. “I will not have any more of this. Jack, you are not the heir apparent. Your brother is. There is no need to keep trying to undermine his status.”
“I am not,” Jack tried, but his father cut him off with a wave of his hand. “Fine, if you won’t listen to me, then perhaps I should go to someone that will.” Jack turned and left with a shake of his head. He knew that his father was set on passing the titles to Henry, but he had not thought the man would whitewash out the truth just to keep his retirement intact.
***
Gwyn sat at her desk trying to finish writing her letter to Jack, but she had all but given up. There was a good chance that she was not going to be able to patch up the rift between the brothers. At this point, she doubted that she could mend the rift between herself and Henry, let alone between Henry and his brother.
A small sound made Gwyn look around at her window. She sat there in puzzlement until the sound came again from the window. It was a soft clink. She blinked as she saw something hit her window. Gwyn walked over to the window and stared down at the ground in disbelief.