Page 95 of His Illegitimate Duchess

“Please come join us in Norwich as soon as you’re well enough to travel,” Colin told Sophie before they got into the carriage, and she thanked him for the invitation.

The two were almost cordial now, and since Colin and Nicholas had also renewed their friendship, the Talbots’ stay at Ashbury had been more than pleasant.

Elizabeth thought back to how envious she had been of Sinclair’s close relationship with her brother and of the married life she had imagined Charlotte would be having, and realised that one truly could never know the future.

Wexcombe was but twenty miles from Ashbury, so the Talbots’ journey wasn’t too taxing or too long, which Elizabeth was more than grateful for, given her womanly troubles.

When the carriage stopped in front of Amelia’s new home, Elizabeth took a deep breath, hoping that her friend had completely overcome her negative feelings towards her.

“Are you ready?” Talbot asked, watching her face for any discomfort.

“Yes and no,” Elizabeth replied with a smile, and he opened the door.

Amelia’s hug dispelled any lingering doubts she’d had. Our friendship will survive, she told herself as she exhaled.

“Hello, Your Graces,” Harding told them, standing taller here in his domain. “Welcome to our home.”

“Thank you for the invitation, Corporal,” Talbot said. “I’m looking forward to spending some time in this beautiful part of our country. The horses here are extraordinary.”

“I can show you to my stables if you’d like?”

Talbot enthusiastically accepted and, after excusing themselves, the two men walked off. Elizabeth wanted to laugh at the bizarre sight of her husband and her former fiancé becoming friends.

“How was the drive?” Amelia asked.

“Brief, thank God,” Lizzie said.

“Let me show you to your room,” Amelia offered and linked hands with Lizzie. “Why, thank God? The Duke’s arm?”

“No, my courses,” Lizzie whispered.

Amelia nodded in commiseration. “I completely understand. Let’s hurry up, so you can take care of things and rest a bit.”

For the three nights that they spent at Wexcombe, Colin sneaked into Lizzie’s room every night to massage her lower back and hold her as they slept.

Their days were spent walking Oliver’s estate with the couple, meeting their neighbours, and sitting in the parlour after dinner, simply enjoying their time together.

“I’ve never told you how much I loved the perfume that you got me,” she told him on the third morning, as he lounged in bed, watching her dress.

“I’ve noticed you’re wearing it, and I’m really glad. It suits you. They did a good job transforming my description into a fragrance.”

“Have you really talked to a stranger about me in that much detail?” She asked incredulously.

He looked at her as if she were being irrational. “We had just returned from Norwich; it was our first week back. I was beyond myself with joy because I was being asked to talk about you in as much detail as humanly possible! I sat at Floris for almost an hour. It was heavenly.”

Elizabeth was delighted by how smitten he appeared as he recounted the memory, and couldn’t believe that she was capable of provoking such emotions in someone, which made her think of Amelia and the Corporal.

“The Corporal seems like he would also enjoy being asked about his wife,” she said as she braided her hair, and Talbot nodded with a knowing smile. “My guilt is finally completely assuaged, because I never could have loved him like I do you.”

She heard the rustling of the sheets and then the sound of his bare feet on the wooden floor. Her husband knelt down next to her.

“You love me?” He asked in a hoarse voice as he looked into her eyes intently.

“I do,” she admitted shyly.

Colin closed his eyes and exhaled, then opened them again.

“And you are certain?”

“Yes, Colin,” she laughed. “And you love me too.”

“More accurately, I’m violently in love with you. Oh, Elizabeth!” He stood up and pulled her up from her chair so she would stand, too. He then hugged her waist and lifted her off the ground as she laughed.

“I cannot believe this, this has to be a dream,” he said over and over again.

“Should I be worried by the extent of your surprise?” She asked with a small frown.

“I don’t know,” he grinned. “Just let me be happy.”

Elizabeth was still smiling at his delirious happiness at her declaration as she entered Amelia’s morning room.

“What are you smiling about?” Amelia asked teasingly. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Lizzie replied. “I told Colin how I feel,” she admitted freely, knowing that Harding usually left the house at dawn and Colin was taking his bath.

The difference between the two men struck her as funny.

“And I suppose it went well?”

“Very,” Lizzie smiled at the memory of Colin’s kisses and his cursing of her monthlies. “You should try it,” she raised her eyebrows suggestively.

“Never. I spent all my bravery on the day when I proposed marriage to the Corporal, I have none left for grand declarations of love,” Amelia said good-naturedly. “Now it’s his turn to be brave, if there is anything to be brave about.”

Lizzie could see that her friend’s mood was veering towards sadness, so she quickly asked, “Have I interrupted your reading?”

Amelia glanced at the letter next to her hot chocolate. “As a matter of fact, yes, it’s from Elinor.”

“By all means, finish reading. I’m curious to hear news of her as well.”

Amelia nodded and picked up the letter, then set it down again.

“Before I forget again, do you know that your husband has apologised to me?”

Saying that Elizabeth was surprised would be an understatement. “He has?”

Amelia nodded. “Well,” she cocked her head, “as well as he knows to.”

“How? And for what?”

“Yesterday, before dinner, we were talking in the parlour, and Oliver mentioned his time in the war, and then Talbot said that not speaking up when an injustice was being committed was the same as participating in the wrongdoing. And then he stared at me. And I stared back in confusion. And then he added, like I did at your parents’ ball ,” Amelia said with a fond smile.

Lizzie laughed. “I can’t believe him! Well, what did you tell him?”

Amelia shrugged. “Nothing. I nodded. He nodded back. I understand him, such conversations are awkward for me too.”

When Amelia read her letter, Elizabeth thought about Colin’s roundabout apology and wondered how many of those he’d extended to her throughout their time together.

“Elizabeth,” Amelia said in a strange voice, and she looked up.

Her friend wordlessly handed her the letter. After reading it, they exchanged a horrified glance.

“Colin,” Lizzie said, breathless from running up the stairs some fifteen minutes later.

“What is it?” Her husband asked anxiously.

“Elinor has written. Her father arranged her marriage to a neighbour of theirs. He’s a widower who not only has four small children, which is Elinor’s personal idea of hell, but he is also known for his cruelty. We have to go home, now!”

In an attempt to soothe her, Colin said, “All right, we’ll go. Please, don’t excite yourself. I’m certain the father can be reasoned with, or some solution can be found.”

“There is no solution, I remember cousin Andrew telling me that cruelty isn’t grounds for divorce, and besides,” Lizzie shook her head frantically, “you haven’t seen her letter. I’m afraid for her, she sounded so… hopeless. I just… I’m worried sick.”

Colin hugged her as firmly as he could. “Let’s go.”

*

“Wake up,” she heard Colin’s voice urging her, but it still wasn’t enough to drag her out of the world of sleep. “Lizzie, come on, we’re here.”

Her eyes flew open.

“We’re here?” She asked as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “How long have I slept?”

“Almost the entire drive,” her husband told her with a smile. “We’d even made a stop before this, and you never even stirred.”

“No need to unload the trunks,” Colin told his groom when they exited the carriage. “We’re going home as soon as we finish with Miss Woodhouse.”

Lizzie was rather surprised but decided to focus on her friend for now and inquire about their living arrangements later.

The maid led them to the parlour. Colin never took his eyes off her.

Elizabeth had thought that stepping into Colin’s London house again or seeing the ponceau decorative pillows she’d so lovingly embroidered would cause her pain or flood her with negative memories; instead, she congratulated herself on the choice, seeing as they complemented the room beautifully.

Elinor soon joined them, wearing what looked like a very old house dress, with her hair in a cap. Her face was swollen and red, and her eyes looked, for lack of a better word, lifeless. She wasn’t even blinking as much as she normally did.

“Elinor,” Lizzie met her halfway, and they held onto each other tightly and desperately.

Elinor just kept shaking her head.

“Please, let us sit,” Lizzie urged her, and the girl let herself be led towards the settee. “Mrs White will bring us some tea soon, and we can talk, all right?”

Once the tea was on the table, Elizabeth managed to persuade Elinor to eat something after her two days of uninterrupted crying (as relayed to them by a very agitated Mrs White who clearly held great fondness for the girl).

Colin then cleared his throat.

“May I slightly overstep my place, and ask you a few questions, Miss Woodhouse?”

Elinor stared at him blankly, but then nodded. Elizabeth frowned, not knowing what he would say, but suspecting it would be the wrong thing.

“If I understood correctly from what my wife has told me, you are being coerced into this match, yes?”

Elinor nodded.

“I assume your father is pressuring you by citing your duty towards your family or even direct threats to the well-being of his younger children?”

Elinor started blinking and nodded more eagerly.

“You do not think you could, in time, accept this man and this new life?”

A decisive shake of the head.