Page 62 of The Duke's Promise to Her Child
Lavinia burst into delighted laughter and smacked both palms down on the water.
“Now then,” Mrs. Strom said, picking up the wash ball and cloth, “this is how you go about it.” He watched carefully so that he could manage it himself the next time.
Lavinia enjoyed her bath enormously, splashing with such enthusiasm that the water came over the rim of the tub and soaked a considerable patch of floor. When it was finished, Mrs. Strom lifted her out, dried her off, and showed him how to put the nappy back on. Once dressed again, the little girl tottered off to examine a picture book he had purchased for her in the village.
“It is commendable that you are trying to be a real father to her,” Mrs. Strom said quietly.
“I hope she will think so in time,” he said. “And her mother.”
The housekeeper was quiet for a moment, regarding him with the steady, measured look he had come to associate with her. Then she cleared her throat. “Your Grace, I hope you will not take it amiss — I could not help but overhear the quarrel earlier.”
“I did not realize we were so loud.”
“You were not. I was coming up the servants’ staircase at the wrong moment. Would you like a piece of advice?”
“I would be very grateful for it,” he said. “I am at my wits’ end.”
“I take it Her Grace was not so reserved with you in London.”
“Mrs. Strom, it is a long and rather complicated story. Suffice to say that this was not a love match, and yet we were — I had thought we were friends. And then certain rumors made the rounds about her background?—”
“The rumors about her birth,” Mrs. Strom said. “I should tell you those reached us long before you arrived. But in these parts people do not greatly care. In fact I think they find it rather makes her more agreeable to them.”
“I am glad of it. It was very difficult for her in London. But the adjustment here has been difficult too, in its own way. We were close in London, friends, you might say, and yet she has kept me at a distance since we arrived. And I have noticed that she becomes very uneasy whenever there is any sign of conflict around her.”
Mrs. Strom pressed her lips together. “I am not one for gossip, Your Grace. But I have worked in several grand houses over the years, and I can tell you that when a lady of the house behaves as Her Grace does it is generally because of something that has occurred in her past. A father. A brother.” She paused. “A previous husband.”
He was quiet for a moment. He thought of what Clara had told him that the marriage had not been a happy one.
“You are suggesting she may have been mistreated.”
“I am suggesting it is a possibility worth considering. And perhaps, in a quiet moment, worth asking her about.”
He nodded slowly. “Thank you, Mrs. Strom. Truly. You have been a godsend to us both.”
She smiled, and left him alone with Lavinia.
He spent another hour on the floor with the little girl building a tower from the small wooden blocks, watching her knock it over with d satisfaction, building it again until he heard Helena’s footstep in the corridor.
She appeared in the doorway. She had put herself back together, her color restored, her expression composed. But her eyes, when they met his, carried a weariness he hadn’t seen in them before.
“Mrs. Strom tells me you attempted to give Lavinia a bath,” she said.
“We required assistance,” he said. “But we managed in the end. She is doing rather well, I think.”
“She looks it.” Helena came in and crouched down. Lavinia ran to her at once, and Helena lifted her up and settled her against her shoulder. Lavinia promptly closed her eyes. “She always sleeps after her bath,” Helena said. Then, more quietly: “You did not have to do that.”
“I know. But I wished to.”
She was quiet for a moment. “I am sorry for how I spoke to you earlier.”
“And I should not have taken hold of your arm,” he said. “I could see it frightened you, and I am sorry for it.”
“It did,” she said. “Though not for the reasons you might think.”
He looked at her. He chose his words carefully. “Helena, you must know that I would never harm you.”
She glanced up sharply.
