try to take Elise away, but Sylvia was already fast asleep and did nothing more than tighten her arms around her little granddaughter.”
Walter put his arms around Georgiana and set his chin on her shoulder as they both stood there for a long moment and watched the two sleeping. His heart felt so full, as it did almost every time when he saw his daughter.
While it was assumed, as a Baron, he should prefer a son to carry on his name, he was secretly pleased to have a little girl who would, hopefully, look like her mother.
“It is hard to believe she is nearly two months old already…” he heard his wife whisper softly.
“It is,” he agreed in a voice equally soft. “She is so adorable. Perhaps, after we have our son, we could have another girl.”
Georgiana huffed. “Don’t get too far ahead of yourself, Baron Bartlett. While I may have had an easy time of it, I am not in any rush to have another little one too soon.”
“And when we do, Baroness Bartlett, does that sound pleasing?” he asked.
“Hmm… I suppose a boy and then another girl might be acceptable,” she replied as her gaze turned towards him with a look of love and adoration…
Walter was pulled from his reverie by the sound of Georgiana’s voice beside him. He returned his attention to her, as he asked, “Pardon me. I am sorry, I was thinking of … what was your question?”
Looking at her now, he saw her seemingly calm and composed, her eyes looking into the distance as she repeated what she had said, in a voice that seemed cold after what had just been on his mind. “I asked if you had any idea who started the rumor about Ambrose and I being engaged.”
Walter tried to recall if Felicia had mentioned it to him, but he was forced to shrug, as no name came to mind. “I am afraid Felicia is the only one who would know. She would remember who had told her, but I don’t know if she is aware of the origin of it.”
“Perhaps you could ask her the next time you see her?”
He shook his head regretfully. “She is still in France and, more than that, in her last letter to me she wrote to say she was going to spend several weeks with one of her friends. She didn’t mention which friend she was visiting, so I have no way of getting word to her.”
The silence that followed was a long one, and it became increasingly awkward. Just as he was about to ask her a question to fill the silence, she spoke first.
“I suppose we might never know, then. Not that it matters now. What’s done is done,” she said with a barely perceptible sigh.
Walter had no idea what to say to that; he almost didn’t want to know what she could mean. Her tone of voice hinted at finality, which did not sit well with him. Now he knew what had happened, what had caused the misunderstanding between them, perhaps…
“If you will excuse me, I think I will go and … find my aunt,” she said without looking at him as she rose from her seat.
“Wait,” he exclaimed, standing up and catching her hand to stop her. “You don’t have to— I know you well enough to recognize an excuse when you try to use one. Now we know the truth…”
She still didn’t look at him as she deliberately removed her hand from his. “No. We have both been faring perfectly well without each other for a long time now. There is no need for us to become … reacquainted. I think it would be best if I left you now.”
Even as she replied, she didn’t look at him, and something about that refusal hurt him, but he made no further attempts to stop her as she left him alone at the table.
He stood there for what felt like a long while, watching as she found her aunt among the other guests. Finally, he shook himself out of his thoughts. Or, at least, he tried to.
There was a new pain in his heart that had not been there before. It felt strongly of regret, but there were other elements to it, too. Previously he had felt hurt and anger at Georgiana, but now he was angry at himself, as he knew she had done nothing wrong. The whole situation was entirely his fault.