“What are you saying? How could you have seen him?”
“It was when we were sorting out Uncle Thaddeus’s will.” He gave Alice an embarrassed look. “He’d made a number of bequests to her, you see. Papa got me to deal with it—dealing with a mistress being beneath his dignity. So I went to her home, and her butler answered the door. I also met a young man there, nineteen or twenty, who called her Mother.” He paused for dramatic effect. “That young man was the spitting image of her butler.”
There was a short, shocked silence.
“That would explain why she never brought the boy to the city,” Alice said after a moment. “Thaddeus claimed it was too painful to meet the son who should have been his heir.”
“I wonder if he knew,” Gerald mused.
Alice thought about it, then shook her head. “No, he would never forgive infidelity, let alone being cuckolded by a butler. And if he’d known, he would never have left Mrs. Jennings a penny in his will.”
She thought about all the years of guilt and shame she’d endured for her apparent failure as a wife. And then dismissed them forever. She was no longer that woman. James’s arm slipped around her waist, and she smiled and leaned into him.
She had a new life now—a husband who told her daily he adored her, and demonstrated it in the most blissful ways. Three little girls who filled her days with joy and laughter—and cats—and a goddaughter who’d begun as an unwelcome imposition and became a beloved daughter and a friend. And soon—Alice laid a hand on her burgeoning belly—a baby.
Life was wonderful.
“Well, are you ready to go now?” Gerald asked Lucy. “The carriage is waiting, and everyone’s gathered downstairs to see us off.”
Lucy glanced around the room, checking that she’d left nothing behind, then kissed Alice and James goodbye, as well as Mary the maid. Then she turned to her brand-new husband. “I’m ready.”
Gerald bowed and gestured gracefully toward the door. “After you, Lady Thornbottle.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Anne Gracie is the award-winning author of the Chance Sisters Romances, which include The Summer Bride, The Spring Bride, The Winter Bride and The Autumn Bride, and the Marriage of Convenience Romance series, including Marry in Scandal, Marry in Haste, Marry in Secret and Marry in Scarlet. She spent her childhood and youth on the move. The roving life taught her that humor and love are universal languages and that favorite books can take you home, wherever you are. Anne started her first novel while backpacking solo around the world, writing by hand in notebooks. Since then, her books have been translated into more than eighteen languages and include Japanese manga editions (which she thinks is very cool) and audio editions. In addition to writing, Anne promotes adult literacy, flings balls for her dog, enjoys her tangled garden and keeps bees. Visit her online at annegracie.com. You can also subscribe to her newsletter.
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