Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26
T heodore approached the small table and two chairs sitting by the lake. Christine sat on one of them, and he took up the other. He looked out onto the lake where Lord St. Vincent was rowing the small boat with Adeline in the rear.
"How do you think it is going?" Theodore asked. "Are you sure they are safe out there?"
Three days after the ball, the Baron had written a letter asking if he might call upon Adeline and take her for a walk by the lake. After receiving a reply from the Duke, he arrived at the manor the next day, and Christine agreed to be their chaperone.
"Lord St. Vincent will take care of your sister—he is very taken with her. I can only guess from what I have seen from a distance, but I believe it is not going poorly. We will only know for sure when we talk with Adeline later, and she can give us her opinion," Christine said.
"Hmm," the Duke said. He stared out at the lake again.
"There was one funny moment," Christine observed. "We were walking over there—" She pointed toward a small path winding through the trees. "—and Lord St. Vincent was describing a show he had been to recently, and he must have liked it because he was becoming rather loud, and then he broke out into song, and he might be one of the worst singers I have ever heard."
Theodore could tell Christine meant it to be a story he was meant to laugh at, but he could not help but feel horror. "How did my sister react to that?" He stared at the boat in the distance, trying to gauge if it was rocking or not. It looked still and calm.
"I couldn't quite tell."
"My goodness," the Duke said. He rubbed his head, his mouth hanging open.
"What?" Christine asked. "I thought it was charming."
"Charming?" the Duke asked. "It is certainly not charming. Now, I am trying to accept the fact that he might become my brother-in-law! No, that is not charming. That is… well, that is something."
"Might I ask you a question?" Christine asked. She took a sip of her lemonade.
"Of course," the Duke replied.
"How many women were you married to before we got married?" Christine asked.
"I… what? I don't understand the question." He watched the boat out of the side of his eye.
"It is simple enough." Christine sat forward in her chair, leaning on the table. "How many women were you married to before me?"
"How many women was I married to before we got married? None," the Duke said. "You know that."
"Hmm," Christine responded. "So, maybe you don't know how to charm a woman into marriage."
The Duke held Christine's gaze for a moment, looked out at the boat again, and then burst into guffaws. "All right, you have me on that. Yes, I have not charmed a woman into marriage, so maybe I don't know what I am talking about. Was it really that bad, though?"
"Oh, it was the worst," Christine replied.
The Duke laughed loudly again. He took the pitcher of lemonade and poured himself a glass.
"In fact," Christine suggested. "if we speak to Adeline later and she claims he sings well, she might have fallen in love with him. It will be a good way to gauge her intentions."
"Do you think she has feelings for him?" the Duke asked.
Christine took a moment. "I don't think she does. I know he has feelings for her and would marry her in a heartbeat, but I don't know if she feels the same. It is still early."
The Duke nodded and sipped at the lemonade. He looked out at the boat as it bobbed on the water. He wished he had arrived earlier to stop his sister from going out on the water. He did not like her being near water without being close after what had happened to his brother when they were children.
"I've been trying to let it go, but I don't know if I can," the Duke said.
"The name?" Christine asked.
The Duke nodded. "I should be happy to see her out there with a man, especially looking happy, but I want to find this chap and tell him exactly what I think of him. I want to show him exactly what I think of him. I don't know if I can let this go."
"That is fair," Christine said. "I can distance myself from it because she is not my sister, but you can't do that. You should be angry, but you should also learn to control that anger."
"I know I should," Theodore said before his eyes widened and his throat tightened. He wanted to leap to his feet, but he was rooted to the spot. His heart thumped against his chest, trying to break free.
Christine sat back in her chair and lowered her eyebrows. "What is the matter?"
Theodore tried to talk, but he was unable to. Christine stared at him, her eyebrows slipping further and further down and her eyes narrowing. Finally, Theodore was able to point toward the lake with a shaking hand.
When Christine turned, she finally saw the scene. Owen was in the water, splashing his way back toward the boat.
Theodore managed to speak. "I don't know what he was doing, but he stood up in the boat for some reason, it rocked side to side, and then, for some other reason, he leaped from the boat like a salmon. I should have helped. I should have done something."
Christine waited until Owen was pulling himself back up into the boat before she joined in with the laughter. Theodore had been watching Owen and his sister, but when Christine laughed, he couldn't stop looking at her. It was not only the sound of the laughter but the way her features lightened. The curve of her mouth was an upside-down rainbow, and her dimples were more pronounced. Something also happened with her eyes—they became portals to a different world.
Christine looked at Theodore as she laughed, and Theodore could not help but stare into her eyes. Her eyes were not hazel anymore. They were not anything. As she laughed, they were windows into which Theodore reached for… he did not know what. He was worried for his sister, and seeing Owen with her only made him worry more, but that worry was manageable when he could look into Christine's eyes.
"He is fine," Theodore managed with some relief.
"Oh, my, I should not laugh so much, but I can't believe he did that." Christine wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
The laughter was contagious, but Theodore was currently immune to it. He studied the boat as a soaking-wet Baron began to row Adeline back toward the shore. His chest felt lighter, as if it had been stuffed with rocks that might drag him down if he were in the water, but they had melted instead like ice shards.
Theodore even managed a smile as the boat came back to the bank.
"I shall go back to the manor and have them prepare a fire so the Baron might warm up a little," Theodore said.
"A good idea," Christine replied.
"I cannot thank you enough, Your Grace," Lord St. Vincent said as he sat by the fire with a blanket wrapped around him and a glass of cognac in his hand.
"You are welcome," the Duke said. "I am still no clearer as to how you fell in."
"I thought I saw a horse galloping along the shore, and I stood to see it clearer, and perhaps I don't have very good balance, for the boat was rocking from side to side in a moment, and I went into the water before I knew what was happening."
"And the horse?" Theodore asked.
"I never saw it again," the Baron replied. "I don't even know if it were there in the first place."
"My sister has a good number of suitors," Theodoreobserved.
"Yes, I am sure," the Baron said sadly. "She is a wonderful woman. To spend any time with her is a blessing."
"I wish for someone who can take care of my sister. Not someone who falls into lakes."
"I understand," the Baron said. "Sometimes, I make these foolish mistakes, and I can't explain them. You must do what is best for your sister, Your Grace. I did not come here today expecting to ask for Lady Adeline's hand. To be honest, I did not believe she would accept my invitation to spend the afternoon together, but I knew I had to try. That is all I can do. I will continue to try, and I will have a family with a woman someday, but I will still look back fondly on today."
Theodore did not know whether to pity the man or find him annoying.
"I did not think I would be seated by the fire with Your Grace, enjoying some of the finest cognac I have ever tasted," the Baron added. "I know we would never mix outside of these circumstances, but it has been enlightening to spend time with you."
"We have hardly spent any time," Theodore said.
"No, we have not spent much time, but the time I have been around you has been educational. You are a fine gentleman if you don't mind me saying."
"Then you do not know me very well," Theodore said.
"I disagree," the Baron argued. "First impressions are very important, and you have made a fine one. I am not your friend, but I can see you are a good man who loves his family."
"What sort of first impression do you make, Lord St. Vincent?" Theodore asked.
"I don't make a very good impression, but I am working on that," he replied.
The Duke drank the rest of the cognac in his glass. The Baron had only half-finished his, savoring it. It really was the best cognac he had tasted.
"You look dry," Theodore noted.
"Yes, I am. Thank you again, Your Grace."
"I shall call your coach," the Duke said. "I have business to attend to."
"My apologies. I have overstayed my welcome."
Theodore hesitated a moment before repeating, "I shall call your coach."
"Thank you," the Baron said, taking a small sip of the cognac.
Ten minutes after Theodore left the room, the Baron was waving to Adeline from the coach as it left the grounds.
Theodore, Christine, and Adeline stood in silence, watching the coach leave. Only when the coach was out of view did Adeline speak.
"He is an interesting gentleman," she said. "He cannot sing a note, but he is pleasant enough. He is?—"
"Annoyingly nice," the Duke finished.
"Oh, my goodness! Yes!" Adeline agreed. "He might be the nicest person I have met. When I first met him, I did not like it at all, but it grows on you."
"Does that mean you like him?" Christine asked.
"I don't know," Adeline admitted. "He is a good man, if a little different and awkward, but I don't like the idea of trapping him into marriage. I know I could because he is quite taken with me, but it would not be the right thing to do."
"Then what will you do, Adeline?" Theodore asked. "Do you wish to find an awful man to trap into marriage and then be unhappy your entire life?"
"No, I wish I were not with child, and I could enjoy courting, but I can't. I thought I had everything, but I have been left with nothing, and I don't know if I will be able to enjoy anything ever again. I have one ball left to find a man who will love me for who I am."
"There are many men who will love you for who you are," Theodore said.
"No, there are many men who would have loved me for who I was, but I am not that person anymore. I am with child, and how many men will love me now?" Adeline stated. "Oh, forget it!"
Adeline stormed off into the house.
Theodore moved to go after her, but Christine took his arm.
"Leave her for now," Christine said. "She needs some time."
"Time," Theodore replied. "That is the one thing we do not have."