Chapter 31

"Where is Penelope?" James asked the moment Vanessa walked back into the dining hall.

He knew that he shouldn't have left Penelope alone. She seemed so upset, and they said things which neither of them meant. He needed to speak to her, to explain everything and tell her the truth about why he had been so cold and distant. He should have done so in the beginning, but he was afraid, so dreadfully afraid of loving her and her loving him back. But now, faced with the prospect of losing her, he realized how much she meant to him, how much he loved her.

"Oh, you know Penelope," Vanessa waved her hand dismissively, addressing both James as well as her parents. "She is unable to face the repercussions of her actions and instead, chooses to run away from problems when they arise."

"Run away?" James echoed.

Vanessa nodded, on her face a mask of concern. "I don't know if she told you, but she has a history of troublesome behavior. This is just another instance of it." She turned to her parents, sighing heavily. "We were all hoping that she had grown out of it, that she had learned her lesson, but it would appear that we were wrong."

"Indeed," Vanessa's father suddenly interjected. "Lord is our witness that we have done everything in our power to help put her back on the right path, but she is just so difficult."

"Father, that isn't—" Adeline started, but one stern glance from her father instructed her to be quiet.

"You do not know her as well as you think you do, Adeline, my dear," her mother joined in the choir of voices, all of which were against Penelope.

James couldn't believe what he was hearing. The woman he knew would not run away. Not from problems, not from him.

"I am truly sorry to be the one to tell you this, James, but…" Vanessa faltered, as if it were truly difficult for her to talk about this, "but Penelope told me that she couldn't stay here any longer. She said that she doesn't want to be married to you anymore, but she doesn't know how to say it to you."

James' eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "What? That doesn't make any sense. Why would she leave like that?"

It was impossible. He remembered all the time they spent together. He remembered the look in her eyes, the sparkle that would appear the moment he walked into the room and her eyes fell upon him. She wasn't pretending. Such emotions had to be real. But if they were, why wasn't she here? Why did she go? None of this was making any sense.

Vanessa sighed sympathetically, casting her eyes downward. "I have no idea why she would do such a thing. To be quite honest, I've never understood her. She seems to have a mind of her own, and when she sets it upon something, it has to be done. On this particular occasion, she didn't tell me everything. But from what she did tell me, she seemed quite adamant. She mentioned feeling overwhelmed and needing space."

"Space?" he echoed, unable to believe what he was hearing.

She had just been telling him that she resented his cold and aloof behavior and demanded an explanation for it. Would she truly do the same to him now?

"Yes," Vanessa nodded. She looked down at her feet, seeming somehow apologetic when she locked eyes with him once more. "And she said something else…"

"What else did she say?" he demanded to know.

She hesitated before replying. "She… even suggested that you annul the marriage."

James took a step back, the words hitting him like a physical blow. "Annul the marriage?" He raked his fingers through his hair nervously. His mind was a haze of doubt and suspicion. "This doesn't sound like Penelope at all."

Vanessa's parents exchanged a meaningful glance, then the earl revealed, "Your Grace… perhaps you don't know my daughter as well as you think you do. Like Vanessa has already said, she has always been a troubled child, and this behavior doesn't surprise any of us."

James looked at Vanessa, at her mother, her father, then finally at the youngest sister. Whatever the others were feeling about Penelope, he could swear that Adeline disagreed. A moment later, she proved it.

"That isn't true," Adeline spoke up, her voice trembling, but confident. "Penelope is a good, kind person, which is something Vanessa knows nothing about."

"Adeline!" her father exclaimed loudly, his voice like a whip.

Her mother immediately interfered. "See, Your Grace? Our youngest is very attached to Penelope, and her bad influence is already starting to show as she contradicts her parents in front of company."

James didn't say anything to that. He believed Adeline, but he knew this wasn't the time or the place for that conversation.

Vanessa approached him, her expression softening as she reached out to gently touch James' arm. "I know this is probably hard for you, James. You weren't expecting something like this. But maybe… it is for the best. Maybe this is fate's way of giving you and me another chance. After all, we were supposed to be married first. We could seize this as a second chance."

James stared at her, his heart aching. The revelation of Penelope's supposed departure and Vanessa's unexpected proposal left him reeling. "I… I can't talk about such things right now." He shook his head, glancing at the door. He addressed the earl and his wife. "I must take my leave."

"Please, James, just think about it," Vanessa urged.

He couldn't wait to get out of the house and hide in the carriage.

His heart raced faster than the horses that led the carriage back to his manor, and his fingers shook from the shock of what Penelope's sister had told him.

Has she truly left?

* * *

"I am going to assume you don't want any company," James' grandfather pointed out as half an hour after the monumental events, he found himself in his study.

James sighed. "Not really, Grandfather. I would like to be alone."

The rich scent of brandy filled the air as he poured himself a generous measure, his hands trembling slightly. He took a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves, and raised the glass to his lips. The brandy burned as it went down, but the warmth it brought was a welcome distraction from the turmoil within.

But his grandfather did exactly the opposite. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "There is nothing worse than being alone."

"There is," James sulked. "Being hurt. When you are alone, no one can hurt you."

"But yourself," Grandfather reminded him. "And also, alone, you do not get to experience all those wonderful moments of being with someone truly special."

James frowned. "Are those moments worth the pain?"

"Do you have another glass, my boy?" Grandfather asked, gesturing at the brandy in James' hand.

James finally nodded. "Only if you have the answer to this mystery, Grandfather."

His Grandfather waltzed into the center of the study theatrically, raising his arms high above his head. "Why, life itself is one big mystery, my boy!" he said, chuckling. "Endeavoring to solve it is an everyday affair, and it deepens with each passing moment."

"I know how that feels," James admitted getting up.

He proceeded to pour his grandfather a glass of brandy, then refilled his own. The old man accepted the drink with a nod of thanks, his sharp eyes never leaving James' troubled face.

"So, what happened?" he inquired curiously. "I noticed that only you came out of the carriage. Did Penelope decide to spend the night at her parents' home?"

James sighed heavily. "I… I honestly don't know what happened, Grandfather. Penelope and I had an argument, and she left."

Grandfather raised an eyebrow in shock. "Left? Where?"

"I don't know," James revealed. "That is the strangest part. She ran out of the house, and when I wanted to follow her, Vanessa urged me to stay behind and that she would know how to handle her sister. I thought that was a good idea at the time. Then, Vanessa returned alone and told me that Penelope left, not wanting to be with me anymore, and that she even suggested I should annul our marriage and consider marrying her sister instead. Vanessa claims it was all Penelope's idea."

His grandfather's gaze hardened as he took in the information that had just been revealed to him. "What do you think of all that?"

James inhaled deeply, feeling the burden of the world sitting on his chest, making it difficult to breathe, to see things clearly.

"It just doesn't make any sense, Grandfather," James admitted, getting up and pacing about his study. He just couldn't sit still, and he rightly assumed that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep that night either. How could he sleep when he had no idea where his wife was?

"Penelope wouldn't leave like that, without a word," James was certain of it. "Something isn't right."

His grandfather nodded thoughtfully. "You are right to trust your instincts, my boy. Besides, I also don't think that Penelope would do something like that, just disappear in the night."

"Right?" James echoed.

"Yes," Grandfather confirmed. "I've come to know her well, despite the fact that she had been here a short time. But some people are like that. They don't hide who they are because they don't have to. You see right through them because they are not trying to hide anything, and Penelope is one of those people. She came to us with an innocent soul and an open heart. She wouldn't do this."

"I know she wouldn't," James agreed. "But why would Vanessa tell me something that isn't true?"

His grandfather thought about it for a moment. "You don't know this young lady. I am not saying that she did anything. Perhaps she merely saw something and understood it differently. In any case, we must focus on finding Penelope and assuring that she is all right. Then, you can ask her if she truly said all those things."

James' grip tightened around his glass, his knuckles whitening with pressure. "But what can I do? I have no idea where she is or where to begin looking for her. From what I've seen, her family doesn't seem concerned about her at all because she has done this before, run away and caused mischief. She was sent to a nunnery in an effort to rectify her ways, and now, they tell me that they were unsuccessful in rehabilitating her."

His grandfather frowned. "And you believe that?"

"No," James assured him. "I don't think that Penelope needs any rectifying. But I'm surprised they are not concerned about her at all. How is that possible?"

"Maybe they know where she is?" his grandfather mused.

"Maybe," James nodded. "But I'm afraid even if they do, they probably won't tell me. They would have told me already if that were the case."

"I see," his grandfather replied, leaning forward, his eyes sharp and intent. "You might be right. So, first, we must remain calm and think clearly. Rash actions will do us no good. We need to gather information and find out exactly what happened tonight."

James nodded, his resolve strengthening. "You're right, Grandfather. Where should we start?"

His grandfather stood up, downing his glass and placing it back onto the table. "There is another sister, isn't there?"

"Yes, the youngest," James confirmed.

"Hasn't she visited Penelope here?" Grandfather wondered.

"Yes, she has," James confirmed once again, slowly understanding what his grandfather was aiming at. "She is the only one in her family Penelope is close with. Perhaps Adeline will know something."

"Indeed," his grandfather nodded. "She is the one you must speak to, not the sister who told you she witnessed what happened."

"You are right, Grandfather," James agreed, feeling an onslaught of hope that not all was lost. "Even if Penelope did say all those things, I do believe she would have said them to me personally. No matter what they say, she wouldn't run away from me, not after everything that has happened between us."

Grandfather smiled. "So, you've finally realized a thing or two?"

"Hopefully, not too late," James replied.

"I've seen the way her eyes light up when you walk into the room," his grandfather assured him. "Such love doesn't disappear overnight. You must find her and speak with her. Then you will be certain of everything —of yourself, of her, of what you two have together."

"Thank you, Grandfather," James walked over and gave his grandfather a hug. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Thrive, my boy." His grandfather cupped James' face with both hands. "You would thrive with or without me. Find what you need to be happy, as I know you will. Love has a way of guiding us through even the darkest of times. Trust in that, and always trust in yourself."

James nodded.

Now, he had a plan.