Page 77 of Her Heartless Duke

“Soon enough,” his friend murmured sadly. “Our mother died within six months after the first of the symptoms began to show. God knows how long the little fool had been keeping it from us.”

Foolish, indeed, to have kept it from her family, the very people who cared the most about her. But knowing that she had an incurable illness, what else could she possibly do?

He recalled how in her letters as ‘Lady Vivian’, she told him how wonderful life was and that included his very existence. She urged him to make the most of it, to go out and do wonderful things, knowing that she herself would never be able to do them.

“You say she is in Lancashire Park?”

Daniel nodded. “She desires peace. Also, she wanted me to give you this.” He took something out of his coat pocket and handed it to Isaac. “Whatever you choose to do with it is up to you. I cannot say I approve of whatever it is you have going on with my sister, but… I do not want Olivia to go with any regrets.”

Do not be one of them.

The words hung unspoken in the air between them.

“Thank you, old friend,” he said, quietly pocketing the letter, before spinning quickly on his heels to leave.

“Where are you going?’ Daniel called after him. “Your nasty apartment is in the other direction.”

“I am going back to Anderleigh Hall tonight!” he yelled, retreating step by step, his feet tracing their just-taken path in reverse. “I am going to need a carriage if I want to make it to Lancashire Park in the morning.”

Isaac did not walk—herantowards Anderleigh Hall that night, with Daniel chuckling in the cold from behind him.

He needed to get to Lancashire Park as soon as possible. He also needed Horace to send a very important letter for him.

I am a fool, he cursed himself.Everything has been right there in front of me from the beginning and like the absolute idiot that I am, I failed to see it.

Olivia had always been there for him, even when he was being a despicable bastard to her.

And he would make it all up to her. He would get down on his knees and beg for her forgiveness if he must.

He only prayed to God that he was not too late.

CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE

Olivia wrapped the shawl tighter around her frail shoulders as she turned her face to the soft morning sunlight. Even now, it failed to warm her pale cheeks as it usually did. All she could feel was the cold, enveloping her like a pervasive mist that would not let her go.

The gardens of Lancashire Park were beautiful at this time of the year, when the leaves turned all shades of red and gold. When she was a young girl, she could not help but think how majestic the autumn season was, how vibrantly the trees looked with their foliage before the winter snow rendered them bare and skeletal.

But such is life, she thought to herself with a sad smile.Everything must come to pass. Some of us just sooner than most others.

It had been two weeks since the disastrous dance competition, when she saw Isaac leaving without saying even a word to her.

He must have been so angry at being deceived and she could not fault him for that. She had been dreadful, selfish, and manipulative.

Perhaps, it might even be better this way—with him angry at her, he would probably not be so hurt with her passing.

Still, the thought of leaving a world with Isaac in it, alone and loveless, she could not help the tears that started rolling down her cheeks.

She reached out a shivering hand as she caught a leaf fluttering towards the ground. Many years ago, her mother told her that if you caught a falling leaf and made a wish, it would come true.

She remembered how she ran out to the gardens when her mother became very ill, catching every leaf she could find, stuffing them into the pockets of her dress and wishing as hard as she could that her Mama would get better.

But she never did and after a few weeks, her Mama was no more.

They were nothing more than wishful fantasies, she thought sadly to herself.But even then, I still wish that Isaac will live a full and happy life—one that is filled with love and laughter and much dancing…

Suddenly, her vision started to get darker around the edges. Vaguely, she could feel her knees give way from beneath her.

These fainting spells are getting rather tedious, she thought to herself as she fell.