by Rose Gordon
“I need to sit down,” she choked out, holding onto the corner of the table next to her for balance.
Andrew backed away a step to give her some breathing room. Then taking her elbow in a firm grasp, he led her over to the settee.
“May I have some water?” she asked meekly, her hand patting the top of her chest.
Andrew stalked over to the carafe that was on his desk, picked it up, grabbed a glass from off a nearby shelf, slammed it down and carelessly dumped some water inside. When it was half full, he snatched it up and thrust it in his mother’s face. “Here,” he growled. “Will that be all? Or do you require anything else before your grand revelations? Perhaps I should stoke the fire, or get on my knees and rub your feet?”
“Your tone and sarcasm is quite unbecoming,” his mother criticized.
Andrew ground his teeth. “Begin your tale, madam.”
She tried to hold onto that glass of water with all her might, but she could hardly grip it. Her hands were shaking, and her fingers were slipping off the sides. She held the glass in one hand, while wiping her free hand on her skirt to dry off her sweaty palm; then transferred it to the other hand and did the same thing. Her skin was still whiter than any table linen he’d ever seen and the tears that were brimming in her eyes earlier, were now on the brink of spilling out.
Taking mercy on her, Andrew walked to her and carefully took the glass from her; he gently placed it on the table and took a seat next to her.
“Leave her alone,” Gateway broke in from the doorway, looking reconciled and considerably worse for the wear. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, just leave Lizzie alone.”
“Lizzie?” Andrew repeated hollowly. He knew his mother’s name was Elizabeth but he’d never heard anyone call her Lizzie.
“No,” Elizabeth spoke up, rubbing her hands up and down on her skirt. “Andrew is my son, I shall tell him.” Fixing her gaze on Andrew’s chest, she said, “Benjamin, Archer, Channing, Gateway or whatever you want to call him, is a relation of mine.”
“A relation?” Andrew echoed. “What kind?” His tone was full of disbelief.
“It’s complicated,” Elizabeth said with a small smile. “Can we just leave it at that?”
Andrew looked at her as if she had just grown an extra head. “No.” If Gateway was a “relation” to his mother, that would make him one of Andrew’s relations, too. Just the thought made him spring to his feet faster than sitting on a metal spike would have. “No, we cannot leave it at that. If that scoundrel is your relation,” he yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Gateway, “that means he is also a relation of mine! I demand to know. Now!”
“We’re siblings. Sort of,” Gateway said uneasily.
“Siblings? Sort of? How can that be? You either are or you’re not. Which is it?” Andrew asked, head snapping back and forth from his mother to Gateway, who he just noticed was holding a bloody handkerchief around his swollen nose.
“If one digs deep enough, they can find a connection through our father, Robert Collins, the previous Duke of Gateway,” his mother said without much emotion.
Andrew’s brow shot up so far it was almost lost in his hairline.
“When Robert was younger he seduced a young woman,” Elizabeth said uneasily before Gateway jumped up and cut her off.
“Lizzie, quit sugarcoating it,” Gateway cut in irritably, putting a swift end to Elizabeth’s evasive story. “He’s a man, or at least he’d like us to think so, just get on with it.”
Andrew scowled at Gateway, but didn’t bother to give his meaningless dig a response; life was too short to spend it in Gateway’s presence.
Elizabeth shot Gateway a questioning gaze, then cleared her throat and nodded. “All right,” she said in a normal if not somewhat clipped tone. “The previous duke was a randy lad when he was eighteen and seduced his mother’s lady’s maid. Not wanting to lose her highly coveted lady’s maid, the duchess chose to ignore the fact she was increasing and the maid kept her position. A few months later the maid died in childbirth.
“For some reason, Charles, Robert’s father and the duke at the time, had sympathy for the motherless, and essentially fatherless, child and he decided to keep me as his ward, even though this infuriated Robert.”
Andrew just stared at her, stunned. He’d always heard rumors and speculation his mother’s family, but he’d never had the heart—or desire—to bring it up with her. But to know she was a by-blow from the old Gateway was enough to shock anybody into a state of horrified silence.
“My grandfather was the sweetest man, and much to Robert’s dismay, he spoiled me beyond belief. When I came of age, he decided I should have a come out. However, just weeks before I was to be presented to court, Grandfather died,” Elizabeth said sadly, then swallowed a couple of times and looked across the room with a said expression on her face.
“Mother,” Andrew said abruptly, startling her out of her little daydream. “You’ve just told me how you’re related, but how did you two become so close, you’re nearly twenty years older than he is.”
“If you’d let met finish, you’d know,” Elizabeth said with a sniff.
“Well, excuse me for hurrying you along. This isn’t exactly one of those charming family stories one sits in front of a cozy fire all bundled up in blankets, drinking hot chocolate and begging their parents to repeat for the hundredth time. Now could you tell me the rest, so I can punch Gateway once more for good measure and go after my wife?”
Elizabeth shot him a sharp look. “There will be no more hitting, it’s barbaric and I raised you both better than that, or so I thought.”
“’Fraid not,” Gateway said jovially. “And there will certainly be more hitting if he goes after her.”
“No, there won’t be,” Elizabeth snapped, jerking her gaze back and forth between Andrew and Gateway. “I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but it’s obvious the beautiful young woman that came in here earlier has her heart broken, and Andrew will be going after her if I have to drag him.”
“Not to worry, I’ll be on my way to fetch my bride as soon as you tell me how the two of you became bosom friends,” Andrew said irritably, meeting his mother’s stare with one of his own. “Could we please get on with it? I’ve never heard you ramble so much; you’re starting to sound like Liberty.”
Gateway snorted. “Nobody could talk that much,” he muttered, shaking his head.
Elizabeth eyed them both curiously, but didn’t ask. “Robert had just married my closest friend and didn’t want to spend the time or money on presenting me to court. But his father’s will said he’d be disinherited if he didn’t make a match for me, so in less than a week, he managed to match me with the biggest reprobate of the season, Lord Townson.
“I don’t know what he told Thomas to get him to marry me, but whatever it was, it didn’t include the actual amount of my dowry, nor my parentage,” she said dryly, rolling her eyes. “The day after our wedding, Thomas and Robert were in the Rockhurst library fighting over my dowry and my friend thought she was helping and stepped in to convince the duke to give him the rest of the money. He refused and that’s when she accidentally let it slip it was only hurting his daughter more by withholding the money.”
“That’s why he packed you off to Essex?” Andrew asked softly.
Elizabeth gave a stiff nod, her body was rigid and her eyes were fixed on an empty vase across the room. Andrew sat back down and wrapped his arm around her. Pulling her to him, he brushed a kiss on her forehead and murmured, “I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize,” she assured him with a stiff smile. “It’s not your fault. It was for the best. I couldn’t imagine having to live with that despicable man the rest of his life.”
“That explains the estrangement, but I fail to see how Benjamin fits into all this,” Andrew said curiously.
“Well, see that’s where the story gets stickier,” Elizabeth said cautiously.
“Lizzie, you’re beat
ing around the bushes again,” Gateway declared, sounding agitated. “The duke wasn’t the only randy rascal around; his wife cuckolded him and when I was born it was undeniable proof she’d been shaking the sheets with the second footman. They ran away together and the duke packed me off to Essex with a nurse.”
Andrew felt his jaw relax and his mouth hang open, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t get it to close. The irony of it was too much. Gateway was a bastard through and through, in action and deed. “That’s what you meant by ‘sort of’ being siblings, one of you is actually the child of a duke by blood and not paper, and the other is a duke’s child on paper but not blood,” he mused, trying not to let his fascination show. Truly this was the stuff for novels.
“Yes, well, I’m glad you find it entertaining, Andrew,” his mother said shortly. “After Ben was moved to Essex, the duke wrote and told me he would send me what my grandfather had set up for my dowry if I would watch out for Ben until it was time for him to go to Eton. I was penniless, so I agreed. Naturally, I let the two of you play together and would have continued to had your father not gotten wind of it.
“When you were five, Thomas found out about the situation and demanded you go live with him in London. I wrote letters everyday begging for him to let you come back, but it was only after I agreed to give him half the money that he let you come home. While you were gone, the duke wrote and demanded you two not have any more interaction because he didn’t want you two to recognize each other at school, start asking questions and cause a scandal. Seeing he was right, I reluctantly agreed and when you came back, I told you he’d moved. That’s when you started spending the afternoon’s with the nanny and I’d go see Ben.”
Andrew felt every muscle in his body tighten. The feeling of sympathy for his mother’s plight was swiftly changing into rage. She had told him it was countess duties, but all along she’d been stealing away every afternoon to go see Benjamin. He was her son, he had needed her. “You left me, your son, to go see spend time with someone who isn’t even your brother?” he questioned, piercing her with his stare.
Elizabeth stiffened and pursed her lips. “How dare you?” she demanded, her voice telling how offended she was. “I had to. I'd agreed to watch out for him. That was how I made my way in this world. You should be grateful I went. How do you think we survived? If it had been up to your father, we would’ve starved to death out in the country,” she snapped.
“Did you have to check on him everyday?” Andrew countered. “Wasn’t once a week enough to go see him?”
“He was lonely!” she burst out. “All he wanted was a little human interaction. Other than me, the only other person he saw was his nurse. You at least got to go see your father, even if it was a miserable visit. He had no one. On the two occasions the duke did come to see him, all he did was condemn him for his mother’s transgressions.” She jumped up and started to wag her finger. “If you’d been listening at all to what I just told you, you’d know that I was the object of the duke’s scorn for years. Whether Ben is really my brother or not doesn’t change that I love him the same way I love you. He and I share a tie similar to the one you and I share. You and I were hated and the object of scorn by your father, and Ben and I were the object of scorn from the duke.” With a huff, she plopped back down on the settee and crossed her arms defensively.
Andrew felt shame wash over him. She was right. She had to go see Benjamin, not only for the money, but her other reasons were valid as well. He had no right to be angry with her for loving and being loved by someone else. “I’m sorry for what I said,” he said softly, squeezing her hand. “It wasn’t fair of me to say those things to you. You did the best you could, and I appreciate all you did for me.”
Elizabeth didn’t say anything, she just wiped away a tear that was rolling down her cheek and squeezed his hand back.
Coming to his feet, Andrew silently walked out of the room. This was all too much. In the last two days he had ruined an innocent girl’s reputation, been challenged to a duel, gotten married, been in a fist fight, found out his mother was illegitimate, learned in a twisted way he had a bizarre connection to the depraved Duke of Gateway, and worst of all, he’d lost his wife.
“Where are you going?” Gateway shouted to Andrew’s back.
“Out,” Andrew answered simply in a clipped tone.
“Out? Not to the baron’s house party I hope?”
Andrew whipped around to face Gateway. “It’s none of your business where I go, or what I do,” he said in a steely tone. “You might have some strange connection to my mother, but that doesn’t move you up in my opinion.”
“I’m warning you, Townson, if you bring her back you’ll never get that estate back,” Gateway thundered.
“I don’t want it,” Andrew said, realizing it was the truth. “I thought I did, I thought that if I could get that estate back it would solve all my problems.” He looked to his mother. “I thought if I could get that estate back, I would be able to have the income that I currently lack and could give the house to my mother to heal the pain I caused when I rejected her. But ruining someone else’s life is not the way to go about fixing things. I don’t know why I let myself believe it was.” He met his mother’s eyes. “I’m sorry for what I did and said back then, but I was just a boy and I didn’t realize the pain I was causing. I do hope you’ll forgive me.”
“You ruined a girl’s reputation to get back that musty, crumbling estate because you thought it would mend our rift?” Elizabeth shrieked, leaping off the settee and putting her hands on her hips. “You, my son, are a coxcomb. I hated that estate. I only went there because I didn’t have anywhere else to go. As for our separation, well, that was your father’s doings. I did send you letters, but per Thomas’ request, they were returned by the school master. During breaks, he demanded you go stay with him, he did it to torture me and it worked, but I never held that against you.”
Andrew swallowed, closed his eyes and sank into an empty chair. Everything he believed about the rift in their relationship had been wrong. For years he’d felt guilty about what he’d done. And now he found out it had nothing to do with him at all; he was a coxcomb.
His whole body felt numb. Everything he’d done concerning Brooke was all for naught except a lot of grief for both of them. If he’d ever bothered to talk to his mother, he’d have known all of this earlier, much earlier. More importantly, he wouldn't have tried to ruin Brooke in an effort to smooth things over. His blood chilled at the thought. If this hadn’t all worked out this way, he might have never met Brooke. She was what was important now.
“Snap out of it, Andrew,” Elizabeth said, snapping her fingers in front of his face and breaking Andrew from his trance. “I know all these revelations are shocking, but what are you waiting for? Get off your arse, go get your bride, and bring her back for a proper introduction.”
Andrew’s eyes popped open and he shook his head at his mother’s blunt words. “I suppose that wasn’t the finest first meeting,” he said dryly.
“No, and as fetching as she looked in that dressing robe, I imagine she’s quite a beauty when properly attired,” she said with a simple smile.
“That she is,” he agreed. Although, he was rather convinced she looked even better without it. Andrew rose from his chair and turned to face Gateway. “Thank you. If not for you and your idiotic scheme, I would never have met the love of my life.”
Andrew smiled at Gateway’s unhinged jaw before running out the door and saddling his horse.
Chapter 28
Brooke heard Andrew rifling through his things. Looking for the key to the connecting door, she supposed. Too bad for him, she’d swiped it while he was still in the hallway banging on her door like a madman.
Leaning down to where her clothes were in a heap on the floor, she scooped them up and quietly padded over to the door. She slowly opened it so not to let it creak. She got it open far enough to slip out and she stood quiet to make sure Andrew was
still digging around. She heard him grunt and spill over what sounded to be a container meant to hold ink pots and quills. Taking a breath, she darted out the door and headed to the main staircase. She was afraid if she tried to go down the servant’s stairs, she’d have to walk past his room, and if he left the door open, he might happen to see her.
Running down the hall, she was glad she had chosen to carry her slippers rather than wear them because the heel on them would have made too much noise on the uncarpeted stairs. She walked down the stairs as fast as she dared, trying to go quickly but not make noise. When she got near the bottom she heard the duke and Andrew’s mother talking about something. She almost wanted to stop to listen and try to figure out why they were calling each other by their first names, but she dared not.
She walked quickly to the servants entrance and ran to the duke’s carriage. His coachman who looked older than Methuselah was standing close by and she bribed him to take her to her uncle’s house party.
When she climbed in the carriage, she couldn’t help but snicker at the lack of loyalty he must have for his employer if he were willing to take a bribe to use his employer’s carriage. That’s when she remembered whose carriage it was, and her humor dissolved.
She was angry with both of them, but her anger for Andrew far surpassed her anger toward Gateway. She knew Gateway was a snake. She'd heard the rumors about him and knew from just the handful of conversations they’d had that he was capable of just about anything. But she would have never believed Andrew capable of this. How could she have been so blind?
She leaned her head down and clutched her garments to her as best she could and the tears just flowed. Not just a one or two, but a steady stream. Her life really was over now. Had she left without marrying Andrew she still could have married, but not now. Now, she was damaged beyond redemption. The worst part was in her mind it was worth it. It was worth facing the future she would have as a spinster for the few exchanges of passion she had experienced with Andrew. He'd been so sweet and tender, nothing could take that away. Even if he ended up being a cad in real life, she could cling to the memories when he was her Prince Charming.