Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"I was wondering when you would grace us with your presence."

Victoria was greeted by the chilly tone of Dowager Duchess voice the moment she set foot in the dining room the morning after her wedding day.

She must admit that she woke up a little later, because after the encounter with her new husband the night before, she had tossed and turned for several hours after his departure.

She had later been overcome by exhaustion in the early hours of the morning and have fallen in a deep sleep.

That was the primary reason why she was only appearing for breakfast when it was nearly noon.

She had felt mortified with shame at her perceived laziness, believing it would send a wrong impression of her, as the new duchess to her household staff.

She had consoled herself that the person who would have the authority to comment on that impression was her mother in law, who was conveniently absent at the moment.

But the presence of the said lady sitting primly at the dining table, proved all her assumptions wrong.

It seemed that the meeting she had dreaded was already here, she could only brave it and make the best of the circumstances

"Your grace." she said curtsying with what she hoped was a cheerful smile pasted on her face.

"Nonsense. I hardly think all that is needed." Her mother in law said waving her hand to encompass her figure

"We are family after all." she said dismissively not bothering to look up from the embroidery she was working on.

It was obvious that her mother in law didn't approve of her.

She guessed she should be thankful that the lady was civil at least. Victoria didn't blame her, because she guessed she would react in a similar way, if her only beloved son decided to marry a lady that was rumored to have trapped him in marriage using nefarious means.

No matter how good she was, she knew it would take quite some time to thaw her mother in law's heart towards her.

She walked slowly towards her.

"We missed you yesterday at the wedding." she said with a smile.

"I travelled to Bath to see an ailing friend of mine. I had high hopes that I would be able to make it back to London in time for my son's wedding. That didn't work according to my plan." she said with an exasperated shrug of her shoulders.

"My carriage threw an axle on the way back. I should have known that would happen going by the muddy roads we had to transverse. Well, unfortunately my footman couldn't replace it and there was no hope in sight as it was really late at night. I had to spend the night at some bed bug infested inn." she shuddered slightly in disgust as if remembering the inn again.

"We continued our journey at late noon yesterday after managing to procure someone to repair the axle. I only just arrived yesterday night."

"I am sorry for your ordeal your grace. I truly hope you have been able to rest to regain your strength." Victoria said sympathetically.

"I have rested enough. I cannot stay in my bedchamber any longer, so I came down for breakfast. I was surprised you and Anthony had not come down for breakfast but I guess that is expected of newlyweds." she commented drily, her hands still moving bringing a beautiful scene to life on the handkerchief she was embroidering.

"His grace left early to attend to an engagement." she replied. At least that was what the note she found on her bed side table said.

He must have come in while she was fast asleep. The thought of having him standing over her, watching her sleep, filled her with a warm feeling that was slowly spreading to her whole body.

To distract herself, she shook her head to clear her head, then cleared her throat.

"You do very beautiful embroidery, your grace"

"Just something I do to pass the time" she replied dismissively without bothering to look up at her.

Looking over her shoulder, Victoria could see that on the edge of the handkerchief, the duchess had embroidered her husband's initials "A. W".

"It seems this is for the duke. This really looks beautiful.".

Her voice startled the duchess and she looked behind her.

"Do sit down, it is not prudent to hover around me. It is distracting."

Victoria hurried over to pull out one of the dining chairs to sit down. When the duchess continued to ignore her.

She decided it was time to change location if she wished to avoid being suffocated by the cold silence that hovered over the dining room.

She stood up and headed to the kitchens. The cook and the maids immediately stopped everything, silence falling over the once busy kitchen. It was obvious they were surprised to see her.

"Your Grace." the cook said, lowering her broad frame in an attempt to curtesy. "You didn't have to come all the way, you could have pulled the bell and sent one of the maids to get you what you wanted."

"Do not fret," she said with a disarming smile. "I wanted to come, to get acquainted with the kitchen and everyone here."

Instead of being relieved, their eyes seemed to even widen more.

Victoria did not blame them, because it wasn't often that a duchess walked into a kitchen that was brimming with smoke and soot and claimed that she wanted to get acquainted with the workers there.

She on the other hand was different.

For as long as she could remember, she had always loved the kitchen and the process of preparing a meal.

She had always spent a lot of time with the cook planning meals. The scent of several spices being cooked usually brought a calm to her senses whenever her soul was in turmoil.

It was safe to say it was her comfort place and she hoped this new kitchen though different from the one in the house she grew up in, would provide that comfort as well.

With the strained relationships she had with the occupants of this castle she guessed she might need it.

"Don't mind me, carry on." she said when she noticed that they all still stood staring at he with identical stupefied expressions.

They returned to their tasks in a burst of activity. She, on the hand moved closer to the cook and made a request for a simple breakfast to be delivered to her bedroom.

When the cook nodded in understanding., she left the kitchen even though she would have loved to stay back but she recognized that her presence will just distract them from their various tasks.

In a few minutes a simple breakfast of bread, honey, grapes and tea arrived in her bedroom. After she had her breakfast, she proceeded to wander aimlessly around the estate

She wandered into the gallery where she watched arrays of portraits of people she guessed were Anthony's ancestors.

Dukes of time past who stared down from their frames with so much confidence that showed they were aware of their place in the world and sure that no one could contest their claim.

Considering the power of their title, especially among the older generation she was convinced to agree with them.

She moved until she got a picture quite different from the previous ones. There was a talk dark man with a smiling fair beauty. The love between the two was evident going by the loving way he held her hands and the easy expression on the man's face.

Going by the date of the portrait she could guess that the couple in the portrait were none other than Anthony's parents. The previous duke of Devlin and his wife the current Dowager Duchess.

It was difficult to reconcile the smiling, charming lady in the portrait with the stern Dowager Duchess she had encountered earlier.

She wondered what had happened to turn her into the woman she now knew.

She guessed that the fact that she had lost her husband, a man that appeared to be the love of her life and the fact that her son had gone off to war and returned scarred and broken in more ways than the eyes can see, might have contributed to that change.

She resolved to cut the woman some slack no matter how difficult it might be.

When she got to the last portrait, she stood for a while awestruck by the beauty of the man staring back at her.

He was powerful no doubt, with a sly smile on his lips like he had an ongoing joke he alone knew about.

It was an expression of an adventurous young man who believed that the world and all it offered was available for him to acquire.

He was dressed in full military regalia. The man in the portrait was nothing short of arresting and mesmerizing.

This was Anthony before the ugliness of war and violence have touched his body and soul leaving scars that might never completely heal.

"Victoria," a masculine voice called.

Victoria touched her face and realized she was crying, she hastily cleaned her face roughly with the back of her palms like a little girl.

She turned to see Anthony standing at the entrance of the gallery. Now that he had gotten her attention, he strode towards her in long strides.

Looking at her face, he seemed to have seen traces of the tears on her face because he simply reached into his jacket and offered her a handkerchief.

She accepted it gratefully muttering her thanks, using it, she wiped her face.

"What beings you here?" he asked

"I just wanted to explore the castle. It is to be my new home isn't it?" she said blowing her nose noisily.

If Anthony was bothered by the unladylike sound, it didn't show on his face.

"I do not dispute that, but I wonder why you would be interested in old portraits and what is it about them that would move you to tears?"

"Maybe because you have absolutely beautiful people in your lineage," she said half-jokingly.

Anthony scoffed in disbelief.

"I highly doubt that," he said searching her face in concern. Something must have warned him to refrain from prying because he just guided her out of the room.

"Let's go somewhere else. This room is particularly dusty. I wonder how you managed to stay here."

Now that she looked around, Victoria decided that he was really correct. The room was indeed dusty. It seemed no one bothered to come up here most time hence why it was dusty.

Some of the dust had touched her clothes and she had a feeling that Betsy will throw a fit when she saw this state of her dress. She would not blame her because she knew her maid would definitely have a hard time shaking off dust from the light colored, heavy fabric of this dress.

He led her up to her chambers. Making sure he made her comfortable sitting at the foot of the bed. He removed his arm around her shoulder and made to leave the room.

Victoria could not explain the feeling of panic that seized her at the prospect of him leaving.

She held on to his hand. He looked back at her askance and she stared back at him at loss on what to say. Then she remembered the fabric of his handkerchief she clenched in her hand. Raising it up, she asked

"When should I return your handkerchief? I would send it to the laundry to be cleaned."

"Do not bother. I have many of them. You can just keep that."

"Does your mother embroider all your handkerchiefs?"

"Yes, she seemed to like to do that. I humor her, even though it means am stuck with handkerchiefs best suited to a female than a male." he said a rueful smile touching his lips.

"I do not think they look feminine at all. They are just simply beautiful, best suited to both genders."

She could never understand what had possessed her to start this bizarre conversation about handkerchief. She guessed she could attribute it to her strange need to keep him by her side even if it was a few more moments.

"I have some appointments outside the castle. I do not think I would be back soon. You do not need to wait up for me." he said striding out.

Victoria tried to shake the feeling desolation that she felt when he left her bedchamber, but if didn't quite work and that feeling haunted her for the better part of the week.

She spent her nights spent reading until she heard the sound of her husband returning at night, her hopes of him joining her being dashed night after night.

Her day time was spent exploring more of the castle, some of the books in the library. Looking in on the cook and her mother in law.

The Dowager Duchess was slowly thawing towards her bur she was not really the person she yearned to have conversations with.

The individual that had become the bane of her existence seemed to avoid her like the plague.

When she caught a glimpse of him from her window when he left the house in the mornings, an aching feeling grew her chest that was slowly maturing into anger.

She wondered what was so interesting about the place he visited every day that was more important that spending time with his new duchess

Her anger grew more as she did not get any hint of an answer in the following days.

She was on the verge of erupting when fate seemed to decide to provide her some modicum of comfort. Because on one of the afternoons when she wandered around the gardens. The butler came to inform her that her family had come to visit her.

She highly doubted it, as the road to the duke's seat was far and treacherous and that coupled with the fact that her family owned a very small carriage that could hardly carry three people was enough reason for her not to expect a visit from them in the recent future. But all the same she felt the need to confirm.

She walked so fast, she was almost sprinting. When she got to the parlor. It was indeed true because her whole family sat there with Theodore. Their face lit up with joy when she stepped in

Diana was the first to run into her arms.

"I truly missed you. Victoria." she said her arms around Victoria's abdomen.

"I missed you too." Victoria said tightening her arms around her.

After sometime, she released Diana to accept hugs from Charity, her Father and Theodore.

"Married life suits you, Victoria. It seems the duke is truly looking after you." Charity commented

"He knows better than to treat her badly. He knows he have me to contend with." Diana answered in a blood thirsty tone.

Victoria caught Charity's eye and cocked an eyebrow in question. Charity seemed to be having problems holding her laughter and made motions that suggested that she would let her in on the joke later.

"Victoria." her Father called. "We have truly missed you. The house is not the same without you."

"I missed you too Papa." she said taking his weathered hands in hers. In truth she truly wondered how her father would cope as he used to her keeping his ledgers but now she no longer lived in his house she wondered if she could trust their young steward to be transparent and not cheat her father.

She had given the man strict instructions before her wedding and if everything went as planned. Her sisters would not have to starve to feed her father's gambling habit.

Her father thought she would not know about his terrible habit, but he forgot she was in charge of the ledgers and when she had found irregularities in the books, she wasted no time tracing the root.

When she discovered her Father's secret, she had refrained from confronting him, she accepted that it was a small flaw in a man who was as close to a perfect father as she knew and besides he had just been recently widowed, she did not see any harm in allowing him some pleasure if that was what would take his mind away from her mother's passing.

She secretly provided little money for his gambling, keeping the true extent of profit made from the estate away from him. It was the only way she had managed to keep her sister's and herself well fed.

Striving to exorcise those memories she pasted on a cheerful smile and asked her father.

"How were you able to bring everyone here? I doubt our carriage can accommodate everyone."

"Oh Theodore granted us use of his carriage." her father said shooting a grateful look at Theodore's direction.

"His carriage is majestic." Diana started her tone filled with awe "It was the best I have ever seen. Apart from that of your duke that is." she said looking at Victoria.

"Thank you, Theo." she said turning to Theodore.

"You are welcome, your grace. It was hardly any trouble." he said with a slight bow of his head.

"I would have thought that you would be back with your family now. Theo."

He looked away, hiding his expression from her.

"The hearing for the new bill in the house of Lords have extended so I would be going home a little later."

She sensed that he was hiding something and was not being completely being honest. She wondered what had happened between the time she had last seen him and now but she didn't want to pry, at least not in front of her entire family.

There would be time enough later for her to find out.

When they all settled down in their seats in the drawing room. She pulled the bell and a maid appeared. She requested for refreshments and in no time snacks were prepared.

While they nibbled on their snacks. Her sisters regaled her with stories of the events that had taken place at home within the one week of her absence.

The cook had taken to serving them partly burnt meals. The cook Lisa was a young mother of six that was currently nursing a child at her breast. She was always tired and the on more than one occasion, Victoria had caught dozing off on her stool in the kitchen.

She always turned down the heat and monitored the meal while allowing the exhausted cook to nap.

But now that she was now she was no longer lived there, there was no body to rescue their meals from burning. She just hoped that Lisa improved soon or she might have to be replaced. She needed the job as her husband had returned from the war disabled and was barely able to make any money

"Maybe we could employ someone to help her." Diana commented in passing chewing on her biscuit.

Victoria watched as her father adjusted himself in his seat uncomfortably.

Of course she was the only one apart from their father, that knew that was not possible, especially considering the state of the family finances. She had managed to hide that reality from her sisters. She would make sure they did not find out now.

"I think she would adjust with time and proper guidance."

"I truly hope so. She is such a good cook and she is a kind person as well. I do not look forward to her leaving." Charity said quietly.

Victoria hoped so as well, as Lisa had become a friend of sorts to her and she didn't look forward to her becoming unemployed and penniless especially as her family depended heavily on her for sustenance.

Seeking to lighten the mood, she turned to Diana.

"Are you looking forward to going off to finishing school?"

In answer to her question, Diana wrinkled her nose in disgust

"Absolutely not. It has all the makings of a boring adventure. I am only going because I am required to and Papa says that is the only way I would get to debut."

"Well there is an extra benefit you have not considered." Charity said, a mischievous smile curving her lips.

"What is that?" Diana answered a curious frown on her face.

"Well." Charity started, pausing to take a biscuit from the rapidly diminishing supply on the table.

"We would finally have peace and quiet in the house. Free from your mischief."

"Nonsense, you just don't want to admit that you would miss me so." she said sticking her tongue out in mischief.

"I highly doubt that." Charity replied sticking her tongue out in retaliation.

"Stop it the both of you, that is unladylike behavior." Victoria scolded but her tone totally lacked heat especially giving they she was laughing at their antics

Their banter brought joy to her heart and brought home to her, how much she had missed them. She had truly been lonely this past week.

"Tell me." Charity said dropping her voice to conspirator tone. "Where is that Handsome Husband of yours?"

"He is well. He left early, said he had a meeting, Matters of estate." she replied pasting on a bright smile on her face.

There must have been something in her that had alerted Charity because her forehead furrowed with worry

"Are you sure you are all right? Are you sure the duke treats you well?"

"Of course he does." she said on a nervous laugh "He is a very good husband. There is absolutely no need to feel affronted on my behalf."

The look of disbelief that remained on Charity face showed that she doubted the authenticity of her claims, but she must have decided against speaking more on the issue, especially as the whole family seemed to be fixated on her face.

Theodore in particular seemed to be staring at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She wondered what he thought about her claims of happiness

"These biscuits are quite nice. Your cook has truly outdone herself with the baked goods. I am looking forward to testing an actual meal prepared by her." Diana said breaking the tension in the room. At that moment Victoria could have kissed her for providing that distraction

"You would get to do that at dinner."

Everyone expressed their praise of her cook's bakery skills.

From there the conversation moved on to other topics but thankfully avoided touching on topics concerning her husband.

Before long it was dark and everyone rose to go to their room to refresh themselves and prepare for the dinner.

As everyone filed out of the he room. Theodore remained behind sitting put on his seat

"Victoria wait." he called when she rose to leave. When she turned to look at him. He chuckled and said in a self deprecating tone.

"I guess I should refer to you as your grace now. I am sorry for the mistake. I still struggle to remember you are now a duchess."

"There is hardly any need for formalities when we are in private. I am still the same Victoria you have always known. I just happened to gain a new title." she said on a nervous laugh.

When he did not reciprocate the laugh or reply. She broke the awkward silence

"You asked me to wait. Is there a problem that needs my attention?"

Instead of immediately answering, he looked at her nervously, seeming to rethink his choice to share whatever information he had with her.

"You do know you can speak to me about anything."

She wondered if what he had to tell her had anything to do with his pregnant wife. She silently prayed for the safety of his growing family

"I..I " he started haltingly. "I might have hired a private investigator to look into your husband."

Victoria was shocked beyond words. Of all things she had imagined, she had never fathomed that her meek best friend will go the route of privately investigating her husband. She opened her mouth to speak and closed it back, completely at loss about what to say.

"I know I was not supposed to..."

"So why did you?" She interrupted quietly.

"He was coming too close to you and he looked suspicious, especially seeing as he had been a known recluse among society. I thought it prudent to look into the man that was courting my friend. I did it to protect you."

"What did your find from your unsolicited investigation?" she asked in an annoyed tone.

"For starters," he said leaning forward in his city. "You were not the first lady, the duke courted. He was initially betrothed to a lady name Rose Grant. She is now Lady Sunderland."

For a man his age, she was never under the misconception that he had never courted a woman. That would be very unrealistic. That fact did not prevent the twinge of Jealousy she felt knowing that he had once planned to marry someone that wasn't her.

She secretly wondered what had happened to prevent their marriage. Turning to Theodore she asked

"What happened?"

Theodore rubbed his hands in glee, a broad smile on his face.

"That is where this gets interesting. The lady called off the engagement herself."

"Why?"

"It is said she took one look at the Duke's face after he returned from the war and ran. She couldn't abide how hideous he had become."

She had always known that the women of the ton were vain, but she had never expected that they were that heartless, to abandon a man when he was most vulnerable simply because of scars he had acquired while protecting his countrymen.

Her heart broke for the injured Anthony. She could not imagine the pain he must have felt being abandoned by a woman that was supposed to love him simply because he got scarred in battle.

Turning to Theodore she asked bitterly.

"Why do you feel that I need this information?"

"I wanted you to know that it is okay. It is alright to leave the duke if you cannot cope with him. You do not have to endure this marriage. I have strong allies in the seat of the Lords so I can help you acquire an annulment. It would be like the marriage never held."

Victoria sat there frozen in shock staring at the stranger that sat before her that bore a striking resemblance to her best friend. Slowly the shock faded and was rapidly replaced by fiery blinding rage. Standing to her feet she addressed Theodore.

"I never knew that you thought that I was that vain to abandon my husband because of his scars." she said in a quiet voice that belied the rage that flowed in her veins.

"I actually like my husband, everything about him including his scars. I didn't marry him despite his scars but in spite of them. I would thank you to keep your counsel to yourself when it comes to my marriage ".

The shocked look on Theodore's face should have been satisfying but she was too angry to appreciate it. She turned and marched out of the room before she says something that she didn't mean in anger.

She scoffed in anger after she had taken only a few steps from the drawing room, her mind replaying the conversation she had just had with Theodore.

She couldn’t believe he had gone as far as conduct such an investigation on her husband. And to have told her such private matters?

She shook her head.

It would take more than a few days for her to forgive him this time and she intended to make sure he knew he had crossed an unbreakable line in their friendship.

Still, despite her ire, he had helped her understand why he had chosen to arrange a match rather than court a maiden as was customary. He couldn’t trust that he wouldn’t be rejected as harshly as he had been in the past.

She respected the bravery he had had to resurface in society knowing well that they were a judgmental bunch.

She sighed as respect filled her heart for him and had a burst of an idea on how she could help restore his reputation.