The Viscount's Veiled Lady (Whitby Weddings 3)

‘I imagine he’ll feel the same way I do. He loves you, too.’

‘But you were the ones who suggested I wear a veil!’

‘Only because we didn’t want you to be hurt. We thought it might make you feel better, just until you were ready to be seen again.’

‘So it wasn’t because you were embarrassed by me?’

‘Embarrassed?’ A pained expression swept across her mother’s face. ‘Never! Is that what you thought? Oh, my darling, I’m so sorry if we ever made you feel that way. We were only trying to help.’

‘But I...’ Frances blinked, struggling to readjust her ideas. All this time she’d assumed that her parents were embarrassed, but now it seemed they’d only been trying to protect her.

‘I’m so sorry, Frances.’

‘Don’t be. I should never have assumed anything so horrible. I’m sorry, too, Mama.’

‘Oh, my darling.’ To her surprise, her mother wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close in the middle of the park, heedless of the scandalised expressions of passers-by. ‘You’ll always be my beautiful girl, no matter what happens. You’re beautiful because of what’s in here.’ She tapped her chest over the place where her heart was. ‘You have to know that.’

‘I do now.’ Frances hugged her back, vaguely aware that she was crying. The words were so close to the ones Arthur had said and if it hadn’t been for him then she might never have heard them. He was the one who’d convinced her that she didn’t need to hide any more. He was making her believe it, too, slowly but surely, and now her mother’s words seemed to be healing some wound inside her. A wound that had been even deeper than she’d realised.

‘Thank you, Mama. If you don’t mind, then I don’t care what anyone else says about me.’

‘Good.’ Her mother’s eyes were bright with tears, too. ‘You’ve always known what’s best for you. You’ve known that better than I have.’ She sniffed sadly. ‘Do you remember what you said about Leo the first time he came for dinner? You said that you had a funny feeling about him, as if he couldn’t be trusted. Considering what happened afterwards that struck me as very observant. But then you were always a good judge of character. You saw through him straight away.’

‘But I thought you liked Leo!’ Frances jerked backwards in surprise. ‘That’s why I agreed to marry him. You and Father said it was a good match.’

‘It was.’

‘You begged me not to end our engagement!’

‘I know. Only I was afraid...’ Her mother’s voice trailed away.

‘You were afraid that after the accident, no one else would ever want me?’

‘Yes.’ Her mother looked shamefaced. ‘But it was wrong of me, I know that now. I should have listened to you in the first place, never mind the second. I should never have encouraged you to marry Leo at all, not when your heart wasn’t truly in it, and I certainly shouldn’t have tried to stop you from ending it. I should have trusted your instincts then as I do now. That’s why your father and I have allowed you have so much freedom over these past few years, because we trust you and we know how much you enjoy your art and jewellery-making.’

‘About m

y jewellery, Mama... I’ve been selling a few pieces.’

‘Yes, I know.’

‘What? How?’

‘Whitby’s a small town, darling. Mr Horsham asked your father before he offered you any money.’

‘And Father didn’t mind?’

‘No. He wants you to be happy, just as I do. We only wondered why you wanted to sell it.’

‘I suppose...’ Frances chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, debating whether honesty really was the best policy ‘... I suppose I thought I could be independent one day. I never wanted to be a burden to you.’

‘A burden?’ Her mother looked horrified again.

‘But it also makes me happy,’ she carried on, hurriedly. ‘I don’t want people feeling sorry for me. I want to achieve something. My art makes me feel as though I have some value again.’

‘You’re invaluable to us, darling.’

‘Thank you, Mama.’ Frances pressed her face against her mother’s neck to hide her expression. She’d assumed that her parents thought her reputation and value were as irreparably damaged as her face, but apparently that wasn’t true either. We trust you... And all this while she’d been deceiving them, not just by going into trade, but by meeting an unmarried man on the beach. Was it possible that her mother already knew about Arthur, too? No, surely they’d been too discreet, but what would she say if she told her? Would she accept that they were just friends? Even if, during that last meeting, they’d felt like more?