Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54630 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 273(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 182(@300wpm)
Mary’s lips parted in shock. “But Rathe told me...”
“I never had the courage to tell him the truth.” Alyssa started to sob. “I didn’t want to risk losing his respect. I didn’t want him to stop loving me. You see, what everyone’s saying is true. I was a gold-digger. I agreed to marry Warren in exchange for a life of security. I was so scared of being poor that I refused to sign a pre-nuptial contract, and it caused a rift between Warren and his father.”
Wiping her tears, Alyssa continued, “But eventually, I found myself falling in love with him, and with it I began to hate my old self – hated how shallow and selfish I had been. Everyone was talking about us, and the gossip became so bad that I decided to have the family lawyer draw the contract you and Rathe discovered. I threatened to leave Warren if he didn’t sign it. I wanted him to use it to put an end to all the rumors about us, but...he didn’t use it.”
Behind them, the door opened, and Alyssa and Mary turned to see Warren walking inside. It was clear on his face that he had heard everything.
“Of course I didn’t use it. Why should I?” Warren came to stand beside his wife, and Mary’s eyes prickled with tears when Alyssa laid her cheek against his hand.
“I love my wife, and she loves me. Both of us know it, and it’s like what you said.” For the first time, Warren smiled at Mary.
She covered her mouth at the sight of it, trying not to cry.
“Knowing that we love each other was all the protection that we needed, and all of a sudden it was like nothing could harm us.”
Alyssa’s smile dimmed. “But our past had hurt our son, and that’s the one thing I will always—-”
Warren frowned down at her. “Enough of that, my love. Don’t you see? He will stop hurting, too, now that he’s found the woman for him.” He turned to Mary.
“And that’s you. Alyssa chose to share our story because...” A discomfited look crossed his face.
“Because I see Warren in you, Mary. You love Rathe the way he loved me, without limits, without any thought of wanting something in return. And I...I see myself in my son, the way life has forced him to be strong, independent, and fearful of being hurt.”
Alyssa and Warren exchanged a look that spoke volumes of their feelings. Without glancing back at Mary, she said quietly, “You asked me earlier about whether it’s true that I believe Rathe loves you.”
Slowly, Rathe’s mother faced her. “Yes. I do. But I don’t think he knows it yet. It’s up to you to make him see the truth, the way Warren made me see.”
The words sounded so easy to do, but Mary knew it was the exact opposite. “But what if still he rejects me?” she whispered. “What if he doesn’t believe me?”
As Rathe’s mother, Alyssa wanted to tell Mary that she shouldn’t give up. That she should keep trying. But as a woman, Alyssa wasn’t blind to all the sacrifices the girl had already made for her son.
Warren, too, had suffered a lot in choosing to love her, but in their relationship, he had been the older and mature one. Mary, however, was only eighteen years old and she had already gone through so much ordeal.
“It is my turn to beg you, my child. Please give my son one last chance. Please fight for him, and if he still does not...if he still ends up hurting you...” Alyssa paused, knowing that once she made her promise, she would be honor-bound to keep her word.
“You have my word, Mary. I will personally make sure he would never have a chance to hurt you again.”
Chapter Ten
“Your Grace?” A polite knock followed, just before the door to the Duke of Flanders’ office quietly opened and his personal assistant, Edward, stepped inside with an uncomfortable expression on his face. “You have a visitor, Your Grace.”
As expected, the unwarranted interruption had Edward’s employer scowling blackly at him. “Who is it?”
Normally, the duke was a fairly predictable chap, one who could never be accused of mood swings. But in the past several weeks, the duke had transformed into a monster whose temper could be roused by just about anything.
It had caused everyone in the office to tiptoe around him, and even his most obsessive fans – women who used to pretend to swoon every time the duke walked past them – now scurried away at the sight of him. No one wanted to accidentally earn the duke’s ire and be at the receiving end of his wrath.
But unfortunately for Edward, his job left him no choice in that score.
At the duke’s question, dozens of options ran through Edward’s normally agile mind. But the situation he found himself in was so unique he found himself incapable of sorting it out. In the end, he decided to go with the bald truth. After all, Rathe Wellesley had always told him never to waste his time with roundabout explanations.