Page 105 of Once Upon a Devilish Duke

“Maxine, this is the Duke of Warrington. Your father.”

Her eyes widened for a moment before she dipped into a curtsy. “Your Grace,” she said before lifting her head to meet his gaze with wide eyes.

Edward let her study him for a moment, and then took a step toward her, and she took one back, bumping into Anna. “Do not be afraid, Maxine. I am not here to scare you. My, but you are just as beautiful as your Aunt Marianne.”

She nodded. “Everyone says so. They say I also look like you.”

“Yes. I can see it.” He gestured towards the sofa. “Please come sit. I have a lot I need to tell you.”

“Did you get the package?”

“I did.” He smiled. “Your picture of Cordelia is very well done. I was most impressed.”

Max nodded and sat demurely down onto the sofa, Anna by her side. “And my letter?” He had an inkling that this was not how she usually acted, but he had to expect that. He was a stranger to her.

“I did. It gave me hope that you might actually like to meet me.”

“I hope you did not kill Rose for delivering my package. Aunt Marianne told her not to do it, but Rose took it anyway.”

“Rose is well, I assure you. I would never harm the kindred spirit of my daughter.”

Max’s eyes narrowed. “She told you that?”

“Yes. She told me many things about you. She told me I should come and see for myself. See what a wonderful young lady you have become.”

“I did not want her to get in trouble for me. I love Rose.”

He smiled. “So do I.” He felt such pride in saying it out loud. “I love her so much that I am going to marry her.”

Max jumped up and clapped her hands. “Oh! Oh! How wonderful. Why is she not here?”

“She is at Ashtonvale. She does not know I am here.”

Her face fell. “Oh. Why did you come on your own?”

“I came to see you, Max. May I call you that?”

“Everyone does, so I suppose so.”

“Max. I came to apologize to you, and I know this is a shock, me just turning up like this. I have been remiss in my duties as your father, and the reasons that I did so, I have come to find, were unfounded, and there is no way of making up for what I did. I made a bad decision, and I will regret it for the rest of my life.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “I thought you hated me?”

He shook his head. “No. I never hated you. I thought I was protecting you, but I was wrong. I’m so sorry, Max.”

“So, I did not do anything wrong?”

“No. You were an innocent child. It was I who did wrong.”

Max studied him for a long while. “All right. What did you do?”

“I believed a lie when I should have found out for myself. As I believed this lie, I thought I was justified in leaving after you were born, and then later, I convinced myself that it was for the best if I stayed out of your life. I have been very foolish.”

“I believed a lie once. Timothy, that’s my cousin, told me that there was a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow and so one day I tried to follow one, and I got lost and then I slipped in the mud, and I hurt my ankle and then it got dark and I thought I would have to sleep outside all night, and I could hear foxes and thought I would die!” Max then dragged in another breath as if to continue, but Anna put her hand on her arm to stop her.

Edward blinked and then smiled, trying not to laugh. “Goodness. That was a lot of words at once. I am happy to hear you were not eaten by foxes.”

“Oh, I was not afraid of the foxes so much as dying of starvation because I had missed supper and I had no idea how long it would take for them to find me. I did not want to turn into a mushroom.”