Page 68 of Duke of Pride

Stop this.

Victoria bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out.

“Let me help you out.” She smiled at Dorothy.

She took a stack of cards and started writing, too. For a while, there was this comfortable silence between them. The one they had shared for a year, just the two of them, two women in a bad place, finding love and support in each other.

“My brother wrote to me,” Victoria revealed.

Dorothy looked up and smiled at her. “I trust he is well.”

“He is. He will be back in Walden tomorrow, actually.”

“Oh.”

“I am going too.” Victoria looked down at the card she was writing on.

“You are leaving Colborne House?” Dorothy seemed devastated.

Victoria dropped her quill and pulled her chair closer to Dorothy. She took her hands in her own.

Her heart ached. She was leaving a sanctuary, a good friend. Dorothy accepted her exactly as she was. And maybe Dorothy thought that Victoria was the one helping her overcome her grief and sadness, but Victoria knew better. She, too, had been healed by Dorothy’s presence.

“He is my brother, Dorothy. No matter what, I love him, and I know he loves me.”

Dorothy nodded.

“Running away from each other won’t solve anything. This time apart has done us good, but we are still family.”

“You are right. Will you talk to him?”

“If I want to have a true relationship with him, there is no other option. I must try to make him understand who I truly am, that I am not the little girl he always needed to protect. That I do not need to listen to him.”

“I wish you never had to go, Victoria,” Dorothy said as she wiped a tear from her eye. “But I am happy to see you go. So grown, so mature.”

The two women got lost in a warm embrace, the scent of lavender engulfing them. Victoria struggled to stop the tears from falling. She didn’t want to worry her friend further.

“When are you leaving?”

“After dinner. So I can be there in time and make sure the estate is prepared for them.”

“You must be missing your nephew and your niece,” Dorothy said in a happy tone.

Victoria finally smiled genuinely since this morning. She did miss the babies, who must be so grown now. They were the only thing that sweetened her inner turmoil.

“We must tell the cook to prepare some of his infamous biscuits so you can take them home with you,” Dorothy added. “And I just had a big order of lemon drops delivered. You can take some and be declared the best aunt in the world.”

Victoria laughed with her whole body. Dorothy had magic inside her.

“The sure thing is that Annabelle’s baby will have the best grandmother in the world,” Victoria said earnestly.

Dorothy’s face lit up at the thought. Then, she hesitated and looked up at Victoria. “Have you told Stephen?”

Victoria dug her nails into her palms. She looked out the door of the drawing room to the end of the hallway. Tohisstudy.

* * *

“Miss Victoria, everything is ready.”