Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Lara gasped. Louise could feel her trembling behind her, but she kept her focus on the viscountess. And Lady St. Simon simply shrugged.

"She shouldn't have said what she did."

"What did she do for that to happen?" Louise demanded.

"She wanted to see me the day she died. Said that she was going out riding and wanted to have a word in private, away from everyone. I thought she was going to talk about possible problems she and Charles were having and ask for my advice—they had been arguing a bit, from what I could tell—but she wanted to talk about me neglecting Lucy.

I told her that it wasn't any of her business, but Mary insisted that Lucy needed a more stable influence in her life, and she was concerned that I was so focused on Charles that I forgot that I had a child."

She snorted. "I've never cared about Lucy, so why should I start now? If she had been born a boy, I might have treated her better, but she had to be a girl."

"But Mother and Father weren't arguing at the time," Lara murmured, only to whimper when Lady St. Simon pointed the knife in her direction.

"Shut up! You were a child, Lara. You don't know anything about adult relationships."

Louise held up her hands, trying to get the viscountess' attention back. She couldn't let Lara become a target here; the rage was focused on her, so she needed to buy some time. Someone had to come along soon and find them. Or they would have to run.

Louise hoped it didn't come to the latter.

"Then we started arguing about Charles." Lady St. Simon went on as if she hadn't been interrupted. Her expression was looking wilder by the second.

"I accused Mary of stealing him away, that she always got what I wanted. But Mary told me that I was delusional, that Charles had never seen me romantically, and I needed to realize that before I broke my family apart. She said that I was delusional, but I've never been clearer about things in my mind. When she said that, and I had to stop before she told everyone what I was up to so I could be sent away, I snapped. She was not going to ruin my life."

"So you pushed her." Louise could see where this was going. "And she fell."

"I didn't realize how close we were to the top of the hill, but Mary lost her footing, and she just fell. I watched her tumble to the bottom and then lie still. Even from where I was, I could tell she was dead." How was she speaking about this as if she was simply talking about the weather? "I admit, I did panic at the time. I didn't want to go back and tell Charles that I was the reason that Mary had died. He would never forgive me, and he would banish me from his life.

So I used it to my advantage. I set her horse loose and set off home, not saying anything when a search party was sent out for her. I declared ignorance when asked if I had seen her. Thankfully, Mary had gone out without a chaperone, so it was easy enough to pretend I hadn't seen Mary for a few days.

"I pretended to be horrified when Mary's body was found, standing by Charles as he went through the funeral arrangements, and it was declared that it was an accident. Then Charles pulled away and went into mourning, which meant interacting with him was limited. I wanted to be around him and help him with his grieving process." She actually sniggered at that. Was she losing her mind here?

"Well, when I say ‘help' him, I wanted to seduce him, and we would have an affair. Then he would realize that I was the only woman for him, and he would start falling for me instead. But he wouldn't look at me like that, even when I was close to confessing my feelings to him, and his mourning period lasted longer than I anticipated. He truly loved Mary, and knowing that made me feel sick. Why couldn't I have that for myself?"

"But…you were married," Louise reminded her. She felt like they had said that a few too many times. "What would have happened if your husband had found out? Charles is his closest friend."

"He would have gotten over it," Lady St. Simon said offhandedly. "He knew that I loved Charles, but he didn't say anything. He wouldn't have put up a fight if I chose to leave him to be with his friend."

"Even if it ruined their friendship?"

Lady St. Simon scoffed.

"That's the reason Charles wouldn't have anything to do with me. We never spoke about it, but I knew it was because of Harvey. He would never betray him like that. I was going to bide my time and wait until Lucy was married and gone before I did something that got me out of my marriage. Another accident, perhaps. Lucy was close to her father, and she didn't like me, so she would have noticed immediately. Having her married and out of the house was the only way I could finally get what I wanted."

She scowled, jabbing the knife in Louise's direction. "Then you came into the picture, and Charles started to fall for you. I have no idea why when you're nothing special, but it was happening. I could see my future crumbling before me, and I couldn't wait until Lucy was married. By that time, you would be married to Charles, and I would have to go through the cycle again to get rid of his wife. I needed to be a widow sooner rather than later."

Louise had already figured out what was happening, but she still jumped when Lara gasped. The girl's voice sounded strangled.

"You've been poisoning Uncle Harvey? Lucy was right about that?"

"That girl is too smart for her own good. And I was so careful around her, but clearly, it didn't work. I wanted to be a widow, and then I would have Charles comforting me over Harvey's death. Then I would seduce him."

"But Father would never go through with that," Lara protested. "You would have to be in mourning for at least a year, and he would always turn you down, saying that you're not in your right mind."

"Oh, I have my ways. I can be very persuasive."

Louise had no idea how they were still having this conversation. Lady St. Simon was talking as if this was the most natural thing to do, and she was beginning to sound rather manic. This obsession with Charles had taken over, and it was too much for her to handle. She was going mad because of it.

After more than twenty years, loving the same person and not being able to have him, that was no surprise. Louise wanted to have sympathy for the woman, but with the knife aimed at her, that was easier said than done.

A movement further down the hill caught Louise's eye, and she almost sagged in relief when she saw Charles, Duffy, and Archie reaching the incline. Charles stopped when he saw them, and even at that distance, Louise could see the horror in his face. The three of them began to scramble up the hill.

This needed to be dealt with before they reached them. What if Lady St. Simon turned on Charles and hurt him? What if she hurt Archie or Duffy in her current state? She couldn't let that happen. She moved a little closer to the viscountess.

"Elizabeth…" she began.

"Don't you dare call me that!" the woman cried. "You don't get to address me as such!"

"Lady St. Simon…" Louise kept her hands up, showing that she was unarmed. This could go wrong, but she couldn't let anyone else get hurt.

"Mary's death was an accident, wasn't it? You never went out there to kill her, did you? You pushed her in anger, she fell, and you panicked. Anyone in the same situation would have done the same thing. It's not easy to admit that you were the reason someone died, and it was an accident. I mean, who's going to believe you when things are already strained between the two of you?"

Lady St. Simon faltered. The knife dropped a little. Louise wondered if she was actually getting through to her. She carried on as calmly as she could, trying not to look behind Lady St. Simon as she heard the three men approaching.

"I understand that you were desperate, and that it was a rush of anger. If you could go back, you wouldn't have hurt her at all, would you?"

"You don't know anything about me."

"I know that you might have hated your sister and your husband, but you would never have killed them. Not intentionally." Louise hoped that her head would stop spinning. "You didn't want to kill Mary, and if you wanted to murder your husband, you would have done it a long time ago. The only reason he's still alive is because you still care about him, even if you're not going to admit it."

"I…"

"And you've said that you've never cared for Lucy, either. If you were capable of killing anyone, you would have done it when she was still a child. Instead, you just ignored her and treated her like she was beneath you." Louise was surprised that her voice wasn't trembling as much as the knife in Lady St. Simon's hand.

"Your prize at the end was Charles, yes? But you wouldn't have been able to go through it all because it meant you would have ended up hurting people in the process. Despite everything, you don't like hurting people. You don't want to kill me."

"I do!" Lady St. Simon cried.

"No, you don't. Otherwise, you would have killed me already and left instead of telling me everything." Louise stepped toward her. "You are hurting for loving someone who can never love you back as you want, and it's taken over. You just want the pain to stop, don't you? You know, deep down, that hurting others isn't going to help you."

Her words seemed to be working. Lady St. Simon was starting to look like clarity was coming back. She was shaking so hard, Louise was surprised she was still upright.

"I…I can't let…Charles…" She let out a small sob. "He's going to hate me because of this. I can't go back."

"I can talk to Charles. We can make things right between all of us, Lady St. Simon. But you need to put the knife down." Louise stepped toward her again. She was close enough that the woman could stab her now. "If you hurt me now, you're going to ruin your chance of some sort of reconciliation. You'll be sent to the gallows, and I know you're too scared of that. You don't want to lose your life over this, do you? I know you don't."

This was all just coming out of Louise without her really thinking about it, hoping that she could reach the part of Lady St. Simon that was still there and knew that this was wrong. And it could go seriously wrong for her, given that she was close enough to actually get stabbed.

It seemed to be working, for the knife was lowering. Lady St. Simon bowed her head, and she began to sob. She didn't look like the confident, somewhat aggressive woman she had been before.

"Louise!"

As soon as she heard Charles shouting her name, Louise reacted. She grabbed the knife from Lady St. Simon's hand and flung it away, the knife disappearing into the bushes. Then she backed away hurriedly, grabbing onto Lara as the girl clutched at her. Lady St. Simon fell to her knees, burying her face in her hands as she began to cry loudly.

Charles, Duffy, and Archie finally reach them, and all three took in the sight. Charles looked at Louise, and she didn't want to guess what she looked like right now. He turned to Archie, who was watching the whole thing with his mouth open.

"Archie, take your sister back to Lady Coleton's house. Duffy, will you escort Lady St. Simon?"

"Yes, my lord." Duffy moved to the viscountess' side and touched her shoulders. "Lady St. Simon? It's time to go."

Lady St. Simon looked up, her pale face streaked with tears. As soon as her eyes landed on Charles, she whimpered and reached up to him.

"Darling…"

"Why would you do this, Elizabeth?" Charles' voice was low, unsure of what to make of what he was seeing. "Why would you stop me from being happy?"

"I…I wanted us to be happy." Lady St. Simon was shaking so hard, Louise was surprised that she hadn't already collapsed. "Nothing else mattered to me. I love you so much, Charles…"

She began to wail again as Duffy eased her to her feet. Giving his master a nod, the valet led the viscountess back down the hill. Surprisingly, Lady St. Simon went with him, still crying loudly. As she was led away, Archie went to his sister.

"Lara, are you all right?"

"I…I think so." Lara hugged him tightly, practically clutching onto him. "I can't believe I saw that. Aunt Elizabeth…"

"I know." Archie glanced at his father. "Let's go. Lucy's waiting for us."

They moved away, and Louise turned to see Charles approaching her. His expression was one of concern, his eyes searching her face. And then it hit her what had actually happened. How close she had come to being seriously hurt.

Louise couldn't stop herself from bursting into tears. Charles put his arms around her and held her close.

"It's all right, Louise," he said softly, kissing the top of her head. "It's going to be all right."

***

Lord Coleton closed the door to the morning room and approached Charles as he paced around the foyer.

"The doctor said that she had pretty much gone catatonic," he said. "She's not injured, but it's like her mind has cracked. She's catatonic now, just staring at the wall and not really responding to anything."

"Is there anything he can do?"

"Short of sending her to a sanatorium to rest and having people on hand who can take care of her, not really." Coleton ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm not even directly involved, but I'm in shock as well. I can't begin to imagine how you and your family are feeling right now."

Charles wasn't even sure himself. He had a lot of emotions going through his head right now, mostly anger and guilt. Anger that Elizabeth had taken away someone he loved and tried to take away another person, and guilt because he didn't find out sooner and put a stop to this.

She had done a lot of bad things to his family, but she was still part of that family.

"None of this is your fault, Chesterfield."

"What?"

"You didn't make her like this," Coleton said gently. "Lady St. Simon wanted something, and she wasn't able to get it. I guess she's always been incredibly stubborn?"

"Yes. She's been like that ever since I met her."

"Even if she was told outright that she was not going to get what she wanted, she wouldn't have listened because it wasn't the voice in here." Coleton tapped the side of his head. "She listened to her own voice and followed the beat of her own drum. Nobody was going to deter her from it."

Charles couldn't have put it better himself. It was probably an apt way of describing his sister-in-law.

"My wife said that if you needed any help with regards to Lady St. Simon then we can be there," Coleton went on. "A distant relative of ours runs a sanatorium in the Lake District. We can get her a room there, and she will have people to look after her."

"Are you sure about that? I don't want…"

"You're the one Louise has chosen, and she's a dear friend of both of ours." Coleton smiled. "If she needs anything and, by extension, you, then we're more than happy to help. We're her family, after all. Not by blood, but you don't need to be blood-related to be family, do you?"

Charles had never heard a truer word spoken. He clasped Coleton's hand as he shook it.

"Thank you, Lord Coleton. I do appreciate your support with Louise. She needs people like you two in her life."

"And she needs someone who loves her like you in her life." Coleton nodded as he moved away. "She's been looking forward to having a happy future with someone she loves for a long time. I think it's about time she had it."

Charles wasn't going to protest about that. He had been coming to the same conclusion himself. As Coleton went into the drawing room, where Lady Coleton was with Archie, Lara, and Lucy, Charles made his way through the house to the library, where Louise had made her escape. She was sitting in one of the window seats, curled up, staring out at the garden. She barely looked up as Charles approached her.

Seeing her so quiet and frail made Charles feel protective and angry at the same time. She had been through so much because of his family, and he felt awful for it. If only he had done something about Elizabeth before now. If he had put a stop to it before, then Mary might still be alive.

You can't change the past. And Mary might still have ended up dead. You can change the future, though. And Louise should be a part of it.

Just as Charles approached Louise, he heard a shuffling noise coming from the open door onto the terrace and then Oscar came trotting in. He stared at the dog as he went to Louise's side and sat down; the dog stood there with his tongue still hanging out.

"What's Oscar doing here? I didn't realize that he was here."

"Duffy came back with him a short while ago. Said that he was getting antsy at your house, almost like he knew that something was wrong." Louise reached down and stroked Oscar's head. "He's been good company for me."

"And where's Duffy now?"

Louise smiled and gestured at the window. Charles joined her and saw Duffy and Bethany on the lawn. They looked like they were in deep conversation, Duffy holding Bethany's hands between his.

"I was beginning to think that Bethany wasn't going to do anything regarding Duffy, and she was simply carrying on without exploring her options," Louise said. "It's nice to see her doing something for herself."

"Well, I'm glad Duffy's found someone who can capture his attention." Charles settled on the edge of the window seat, trying not to knock against his dog. "Elizabeth is going to a sanatorium. She needs rest and to be away from everything for now."

"That sounds like a good idea." Louise sighed. "I wish that things weren't like this. I would have wanted to get along with her, but I guess that won't happen now."

"I don't think she would have gotten along with anyone who was around me if we're being honest." Charles hesitated. "I can't apologize enough for her, Louise. I had no idea that she would go through such drastic actions to get my attention."

"It's not your fault, Charles," Louise said quietly. She reached out and squeezed his hand. "And Lady St. Simon never wanted to kill anyone, I could tell. She just wanted you so much that things started to spiral. Now, her mind's broken knowing that she's gotten herself into such trouble that she can't get out of. I know I should be angry at her and hate her for what she did, but I…I just can't."

Charles could understand that. He had been coming to the same conclusion. He rubbed his thumb over the back of Louise's knuckles, only just realizing that neither of them was wearing gloves, and he was touching her bare hand. So what? Who cared right now? Things like wearing gloves could be ignored after what had just happened.

"What's going to happen now?" Louise asked.

"What do you want to happen?"

"Well, I'm not going back to my aunt's place, not after what she admitted to. I need to secure my money and make sure she can't access it again, so that's an argument I've got to deal with."

"What did she admit to?" Charles felt like he had missed part of the conversation. "What happened?"

"I'll explain in a while. Once I've come down from what happened today." Louise swallowed. "Although I'm sure Lara's going to be telling you shortly."

"You'll be telling me everything soon." Charles leaned toward her. "After you've done something for me first."

"What…?"

Louise didn't get any further before Charles kissed her. She stiffened, but she didn't push him away. After a moment, she kissed him back, cupping his head in her hands. Charles wanted to pull her close and kiss her as passionately as he wanted, but he was aware of Oscar at his feet, and the dog was growling. The animal had become rather protective over Louise, which Charles found interesting.

Oscar had always been barking and growling around Elizabeth, and yet had taken so well to Louise. Dogs had better judgment of character than people ever did, it seemed.

Both of them were out of breath when they broke apart, Louise leaning her head back against the paneling.

"I…I was not expecting that."

"You didn't think I would ever do that?"

"Well…not really."

Charles stroked his fingers across her flushed cheek.

"Do you know how long I've wanted to kiss you, Louise? Pretty much since we met. And the thought was shocking and scared me at first, but the more time I spent with you, the more I wanted to do it. How I've not broken my self-control by now, I have no idea."

"What?" Louise stared at him, her mouth falling open. "You've wanted to do that all this time?"

"Wouldn't a man want to kiss the woman he loves?"

"You…love me?"

Glancing down at Oscar, Charles pointed at the door. Obediently, Oscar got up and padded over before settling down in front of the open door, never taking his eyes off them. With a bit more space, Charles wrapped an arm around Louise's waist and drew her closer, kissing her forehead.

"I've loved you for a long time, Louise. It took a while for me to realize how I felt, but once it came to me, I knew that it was right, and I felt good about it. No guilt, no concerns, just…right."

"Even though I'm fifteen years younger than you?" Louise reminded him.

"That was a concern to begin with, especially when I felt an attraction to you as soon as I laid eyes on you, but that faded away. I didn't care about it at all. All I wanted was for you and my children to be in my life. Having Lara and Archie like you as well made it even better." Charles kissed her, pulling back with a smile.

"You make me feel happy, complete. I didn't think that could happen again, and now that I've got it, I wasn't about to let it go. I know we've been through a lot with my family and your troubles with your aunt, but I'm confident that things will be fine for our future. If you'll have me, that is."

There was a part of him that came forward now, worried that Louise would turn him down and say that she couldn't let it happen. But that doubt faded away when Louise smiled and cupped his cheeks, kissing him softly.

"I couldn't think of anyone I'd rather be with now," she said with a twinkle in her eye. "You've been on my side the whole time, and I want more of that. If you're content with taking an orphan into your life…"

"I'm content with taking the warm, sweet, and compassionate woman who has come into my life when I needed her the most." Charles kissed her nose. "As long as you love me, I don't care about anything else."

"You believe that I love you?"

"Oh, I know that you love me."

Louise laughed before she kissed him again.

"You, Lord Chesterfield, are very confident in that assumption."

"Because I know I'm right."

Louise was still laughing when the door opened, and they were interrupted. But instead of pulling away and getting embarrassed, she hugged Charles instead. Aware that his children were watching him with knowing smiles, Charles returned the embrace.

He had never been so sure of something in his life.