Page 95 of From Unwanted to Duchess
She stormed to the front door, the noise from the street already drifting inside. But her father remained where he stood.
“I do love you,” he murmured. “This wasn’t all about the money.”
“Not for you, perhaps,” Frances replied.
“No, not for me,” he said, sounding miserable. He took a step toward her, then stopped, as though unsure if he was welcome. “I know I have not been the father you deserve. I know I should have protected you more from… from certain influences in our household. I was weak. I chose the easy path, and you paid the price for it.”
Frances felt her throat thicken. She had waited her whole life to hear him say that.
“But I do love you, Frances. I always have. You are so much like your mother. She would have been proud of the woman you’ve become. Standing up for yourself. Making your own way.”
Her father looked at her with such sadness that she almost gave in. Almost.
“Keep in touch,” he said quietly, “so I know how you are doing.”
She nodded once, and he turned to walk away.
When he had made it to the door, she called after him, “Father?”
“Yes?” He gave her a hopeful smile, as though he expected her to change her mind.
“Is someone looking after my mother’s grave?”
“Yes,” he said, faltering again. “The vicar.”
“Good,” she replied. “I was hoping he would.”
With that, her father left, and she knew that it would be a very long time before she saw him again.
When the three of them were alone, James took a few steps closer before stopping.
“You were brave,” he praised. “You stood up to him. I wish I could’ve done the same with my father.”
“You did. That is why you’ve been miserable for all these years. Because you stood up for yourself. Yet you commend me for doing the same. You think I am brave for speaking the truth, but when you did the same thing, you condemned yourself to eternal self-loathing.”
He looked down at his feet. “I know. I have been wrong. I have wronged you. I have spent the last week and a half in hell, Frances. Sitting in that empty house, surrounded by reminders of you.”
He took a step closer, and she saw that his hands were shaking.
“Gideon came to see me. He told me I was a coward. And he was right. I have been hiding behind my fear for ten years, telling myself it was for the best, that I was protecting myself and everyone around me. But all I was doing was ensuring that I would be alone and miserable for the rest of my life.”
His voice cracked. “And then you came along and changed everything. You made me want more. You made me want tobemore. You challenged me and stood up to me and showed me kindness I didn’t deserve. And it terrified me. So I did what I always do—I pushed you away before you could leave me.”
He looked up at her, and she saw tears in his eyes.
“I have thought a lot about the things I said, and I understand now that I am throwing away something precious. I am throwing you away, and it is criminal of me. I adore you. I truly do. I came here to protect you from your father, but I could see that you no longer need that. But I hope that you will still find it in you to forgive me, to try again.”
Again? What was he saying? He didn’t want an annulment?
Her heart was pounding so hard that she thought everyone in the room could hear it.
This was what she had wanted. What she had prayed for. For him to realize that he loved her, to come after her, to fight for her.
But standing here now, looking at him, she felt… numb.
She had spent the last week and a half crying. Grieving. Trying to piece together the shattered fragments of her heart. She had barely eaten. Barely slept. Marianne had sat with her for hours while she wept into her pillow, wondering what she had done wrong, how she could have made him love her.
And now he was here, saying all the right things, looking at her with those eyes full of regret and longing.
