Chapter 24

CHAPTER 24

" A rabella?"

All but falling into her mother's arms, Arabella sobbed as she arrived home. Emily wrapped her daughter in a tight embrace, murmuring to her words of comfort when it became obvious that Arabella was too distraught to speak.

As Emily led Arabella inside, Thomas poked his head around the corner. Seeing Arabella in such a state, he went pale. Following them, he was soon joined by Madeline.

"Sit, that's right," Emily murmured, helping Arabella into a chair. Kneeling before her, Emily reached up to wipe away the flood of tears spilling down Arabella's cheeks.

"Is she unwell?" Madeline whispered to their mother, clearly concerned.

Arabella's sobs had subsided now, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she found that she did not have the words to explain what all had happened.

"Hush now," Emily told her. Then, she turned to Thomas. "Go and fetch your father."

Nodding, the young man hurried down the hall.

"Now, breathe," Emily counseled Arabella. As she prompted, Arabella took a deep breath. Then, shakily she let it out. "Again," Emily said.

By the time Arabella had begun to regain her breath, her father was striding into the drawing room. His face, already etched with concern, now betrayed fear too. "Arabella?" he asked, hurrying to her. "What on earth has happened?"

Glancing around at her family, Arabella's heart broke just a little more. If that were even possible. How could she tell them that she had made a mess of her marriage? Would there be consequences for them because of what she had done? Would they once more be the subject of scandal and gossip?

She did not know. But what she did know was that she could not keep them in suspense for much longer.

Arabella squeezed her hands together in her lap, forcing the words off her tongue. "I have been sent back to live with you," she whispered, her voice still hoarse from the tears. "I – the duke does not wish to see me."

The room was so silent that Arabella thought her family might hear the beating of her heart.

"He has sent you away?" Emily's question was almost just as quiet – almost as if she were afraid to speak it aloud.

Arabella nodded, fresh tears welling in her eyes.

"But why?" Peter shook his head in disbelief. "He wouldn't. Why would he do such a thing?"

Sniffling, Arabella could only stare back at him helplessly.

"Was it something you did or said?" Emily asked. "Something we did?"

Arabella shook her head. She would not have her family blame themselves for this situation. "I – I do not know. Nor have I been able to ask him." She paused, trying to think back over the last few heartbreaking days. "I had an accident. I was thrown from my horse."

"I am all right," she hurried to add as everyone's eyes went wide. "The duke carried me into the house and immediately summoned a physician. I went to sleep that night and then…he was gone. He had left no note," she added, her voice breaking as she once more dissolved into tears.

"I don't know what happened, father," she sobbed. "I just don't know."

"Ah, Uncle." Jasper stood at the older man's arrival. The duke, who had been trying to occupy his mind with some of Reginald's books, was grateful for the interruption. Nothing seemed to be distracting him from thoughts of Arabella.

As Reginald nodded at him, continuing through the drawing room and into his study, Jasper followed him. Trying to distract himself just as much as inform Reginald, Jasper gestured to the doorway. "Lord Lindley was here to see you," Jasper informed his uncle. "Since you were out, he only stayed a little while. He will try and visit again tomorrow."

Reginald nodded in understanding but seemed unconcerned.

Sighing, Jasper set down the book which he still held in his hand. So much for finding a distraction.

But when he turned back to Reginald, however, Jasper realized something. Watching his uncle closely, Jasper now saw that Reginald was smiling to himself with a subtle kind of satisfaction.

"You look like that cat that caught the canary," he mused.

Finally, turning to face him, Reginald grinned. "I have. And I have thrown it out of the house once and for all."

Jasper raised an eyebrow. "I fear I have lost the thread of your metaphor."

"Think nothing of it," Reginald assured him. Raising his head, the older man stood tall, stretching a little like a proud peacock. "All is taken care of. The matter has been addressed."

Jasper was not sure he liked his uncle's tone. "What matter?"

Reginald's smile faltered momentarily. "I have done what you were too weak to do. Again," he added grimly.

Something in Jasper's chest grew tight. "What are you saying? What have you done?"

"The duchess has been taken care of. She will be gone by the time you return home tomorrow. She will no longer stand in the way of your duties."

For a moment, Jasper had no words. He stared at his uncle in utter shock, waiting for Reginald to explain or to tell him he had misunderstood. But Reginald did no such thing. He stood there tall and proud, looking entirely too self-satisfied.

Then, something inside Jasper snapped. He strode forward, fighting the impulse to reach out and shake his uncle. "What do you mean?" he growled. "I swear, if you have hurt her –"

"I have done nothing of the sort," Reginald snapped back. "I simply informed the Duchess that her presence would no longer be necessary. She will stay out of sight and mind. Unless you desire to cast her off officially –"

"You wish me to divorce my wife?" Jasper would have laughed at the idea if he had not been so furious. "I would never do such a thing! I never shall!"

"But she means nothing to you," Reginald countered. "She is merely –"

"I love her." Jasper squared off against his uncle, daring him to refute the truth. "I love my wife," he repeated, his voice low and hard. "She is the one person in this world I will never let go of."

Reginald scoffed, his confidence cracking ever so slightly. "That is impossible. She forced you out of your own home. You yourself said that she was the problem, the reason why you are here."

His anger growing, Jasper skewered his uncle with the sharpest of glares. "I said no such thing."

"You said –"

"You asked if my arrival had something to do with my wife," Jasper corrected. "I confirmed that. But it was you who mistakenly assumed that she was at fault."

"But if she is not in the wrong…" Reginald hesitated.

In the silence, Jasper knew that it was time. Time the last remaining member of his family knew the truth.

"I will never send Arabella away," he murmured, running a hand through his hair, "because she is the only person in the world that does not aggravate my condition. She is the only person that I can – that I want – to touch."

Frowning, Reginald stared at Jasper in confusion. Jasper forced himself to go on. "I cannot touch or be touched. If I am, it sends me into chills, then pain like needles being stuck all over my body. I…I see my mother every time I touch someone," he admitted quietly, gazing down at his gloved hands. He had donned them on his way to Reginald's estate. Old habits die hard .

"That is why I have always worn gloves. To prevent the contact, as best I could. But Arabella…" Jasper let out a rueful, half laugh. "No woman could be more perfect. Or more perfect for me. I can touch her. It is the strangest of miracles, but she is the only one that I can touch. She is the one I want –"

Jasper cut himself off. He had been about to say something far too dangerous. Something he was not sure he could say.

But Reginald had heard enough. "You insolent fool," he blustered. "You think that simply because she has bewitched you, that she is worthy of being duchess? That she is worthy of following in your mother's footsteps? She is nothing but a poor influence on you, a leech of your time and resources, she –"

"She is my wife and will be spoken of with respect!" Jasper's voice thundered around the room, making even Reginald fall silent. Hands shaking, Jasper took a step closer to the man, staring him down with all the anger that boiled in his veins. "You will never speak of my wife like that again. I do not care who you are to me, if you speak another word against her, I will see that you face the consequences."

For once in his life, Reginald seemed to be without words. But Jasper could not be satisfied with the sight of his speechless uncle.

Turning on his heel, Jasper strode from the room, leaving Reginald all alone.

"Jasper, come back here!" his uncle finally managed, though his voice was muffled as Jasper quickly put a hall and several rooms between them.

He did not know if his uncle pursued him. He did not care. Jasper would not stay there a moment longer.

"Would you like to go for a ride?" Thomas looked hopefully at Arabella as he came to stand beside her. Arabella, who had been staring despondently out of the window, did not reply.

"I would let you beat me in a race," Thomas tried again, his anxiety for her leaking into his normally jovial tone.

Though the sound nearly broke Arabella's heart in two once more, she could offer her brother no comfort. How could she when she had none to spare herself?

"Arabella?" Thomas' voice cracked. When she looked at him, she saw tears in her brother's eyes.

As Arabella's eyes burned in response, she pulled her brother into an embrace. "What happened, Arabella?" he murmured into her shoulder. "Was it so bad, what the duke did?"

Pulling back in confusion, Arabella frowned. "What do you mean?"

Thomas' lip quivered. "You've been so upset. I – I thought he was a good man. But if he's hurt you…"

Sighing, Arabella shook her head. She had not been able to tell her family anything about why she had left the duke's estate. Her broken heart had made it impossible to confess her new feelings for her husband, and her confusion over Jasper's disappearance made it impossible to explain the sudden change in his feelings toward her.

Swallowing hard, Arabella knew she had to say something. "He has not hurt me," she murmured after a moment. "Only my feelings, perhaps. But I…he is a good man. That has not changed."

At this, Thomas seemed relieved. "I did not know that you were close," Arabella said, watching him closely.

Thomas hung his head. "He helped me. I was in trouble. I came looking for you but, when he told me that you were out, I did not know what to do. His Grace gave me advice. He helped fix the situation…"

Arabella watched her brother in astonishment. "He helped you?"

"And he promised to teach me about business," Thomas added, a brief glimmer of hope shining in his eyes. Then, frowning once more, he shook his head. "But I suppose that is over now."

Her brother was trying to help, she reminded herself. But she could not help but feel that her family were now suffering because of Jasper's rejection of her. They, too, had grown to love him. And now Arabella had somehow pushed him away, ruining their relationships with the duke as much as her own.

It was not helpful, either, to hear that Jasper had helped Thomas of his own accord. Jasper had not even mentioned it to Arabella. In an enormous show of humility, he had heard the young man's problems and had assisted him, expecting nothing in return.

Placing a hand over her heart, Arabella wondered if she would ever remember what it was like to be whole. Because, as it was now, she felt as if she were walking around with half of her missing, her heart beating with only half of what she needed.

"Arabella?" Emily was in the doorway, watching her carefully.

Arabella turned to her mother but said nothing.

"How are you feeling?" her mother asked hesitantly.

Shaking her head, Arabella fought back tears.

Emily sighed. "I know you may not be in the mood for it, but you have a visitor. And I think you should see them."

Searching her mother's face, Arabella fought off the vain hope that it was Jasper, come to find her and bring her back home. But she could read nothing of that in her mother's expression.

"I do not have the energy," she protested gently. "Mother, I am very poor company."

"I think that is for me to decide, is it not?" said a new but familiar voice. Then, before Arabella knew quite what was happening, a woman strode into the room.

Tears fell unbidden down Arabella's cheeks. Without a word, she ran straight into the newcomer's arms. The guest wrapped Arabella into a tight embrace, pressing her cheek up against Arabella's hair and letting out a slow, sad sigh.

"If you will not speak to any of us," Emily explained, "I thought, perhaps, you might open up to her."

The newcomer chuckled gently. "Arabella has always been the one to listen to my secret confessions. I think it is time I finally repaid her in kind."

As they spoke, Arabella was only vaguely aware of their conversation. She was more intrigued by the strange change in this familiar figure.

Stepping back slightly, Arabella reached out to place a hand on the woman's protruding abdomen. Then she looked up.

"I – how -?"

Emily chuckled. "She was waiting for the perfect moment to tell you. But we figured now might be as good as any."

Fresh tears spilled down Arabella's cheeks. She turned away, unable to speak the words she knew she should say. Unable to congratulate their guest on this most wonderous of occasions.

She knew she should. She wanted to, even. But, shamefully, Arabella could only think of herself at that moment. She could only think of the life that she dreamed of, the life that had once more been ripped from her grasp. She could only think on all the things she would now never have nor experience.

"We will leave you two alone," Emily said gently after a moment. "Take as long as you need. I am sure there is much to discuss. Come, Thomas."

Still facing away, Arabella listened as her mother and brother took their leave, shutting the door to the drawing room behind them.

For a while, the room was filled with silence. Then, Arabella heard soft footsteps approaching.

"Arabella?" The voice was quiet. Compassionate. And, perhaps, a little hurt.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Arabella forced herself to face the woman.

Peggy was here. Her older sister had finally come to visit after nearly a year of being apart.

And Peggy, Arabella's favorite most person in the entire world, was with child. Peggy was about to become a mother.