The Duke Didn't Want Love — He Wanted a Practical Wife. Then Her Carriage Arrived 40 Minutes Late
Chapter 16
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"I shall have to learn to hear them myself.""Your tenants have been waiting a long time.""Yes."He took a folded letter from his pocket, but did not press it on her. "I have written a statement of your work and of the circumstances in which I have known it. It is truthful, and may be used as a recommendation if you seek another situation. I shall also have Mr. Mercer make it clear, where necessary, that the allegation concerning the estate documents was groundless.""You need not purchase my forgiveness.""I am not trying to." His face showed pain, but he held her gaze. "The expenses of your journey and the allowance we discussed can be placed at your disposal through my aunt, whether or not you ever see me again. You may refuse them; they will not be spoken of as a debt."Helena looked away. She had always found it difficult to receive anything without feeling bound in return; yet there was no demand in his offer, only an attempt to avoid leaving her poorer because she had trusted him."I cannot answer you today," she said."I have not come to ask for an answer.""Then what do you ask?""Only that you know I am sorry, and that I intend to do better, even if you are never beside me to see it."He bowed and left. He did not ask for her hand or attempt an embrace. The door closed softly behind him, and Helena discovered that mercy could be nearly as difficult to endure as cruelty: if he had blamed her, she could have closed the story; instead, he had left the future in her hands.Later, Marian sat beside her by the hearth. She said that Avery had requested independent inspection of the estate repairs and a full account of the sums owed to workmen. Nothing had yet been put right, she added; the checking was only beginning."I am not telling you to forgive him," Marian said. "A man can be sorry and still need to change.""I know.""Nor am I telling you never to trust him again."Helena took the loosened glove from her sewing basket; she had not repaired its blue seam. "I miss the ordinary things," she whispered. "The way he struggles not to laugh, the way he listens to a song. I thought that was foolish.""Missing someone does not oblige you to return.""I know that, too."For the first time, she was beginning to understand that knowing she could leave might be the beginning of choosing whether she wished to stay.On Friday morning, Avery went to Ruth Elwood's cottage before breakfast. Fenwick met him beside the garden wall with samples of slate and an estimate for making the exposed roof secure before the next heavy rain.Inside the cottage, the blankets had again been shifted away from the wettest corner. Fenwick's September patch had held through lighter showers, but a night of hard, wind-driven rain had found the unreplaced slates farther along the slope: the patch had never been a complete roof, whatever the estate's earlier accounts claimed. A small, framed painted portrait of Ruth's parents rested on a chair because damp had reached the wall where it ordinarily hung.