us? After everything that man did to our family?"
Molly adjusted her seat, her hope that Hugh would be vindicated in his claims to innocence slipping away like the seconds of time. "I did not know, and the marriage was consummated before I found out the truth. I cannot change what is done, but my future happiness relies on what you tell me today. Are you certain that it was the Duke of St. Albans’ younger brother that seduced Laura?"
"Why our darling Laura never told us exactly who it was that ruined her, we did find in her bedroom dressing table a small likeness." Her aunt searched through her reticule and pulled out a miniature frame and picture. "Here, this is the likeness with the initials H St. Albans on the back."
Molly took the small painting and immediately viewed a man who very much looked like Hugh, although there were some differences, this gentleman seemed to have more of an aquiline slant to his nose than to Hugh's straight one. His eyes also were smaller, less almond-shaped to Hugh's, beadier. "While they are similar, the H could also stand for Henry, my husband's elder brother."
Her aunt's mouth pinched into a disapproving line. "While we may like to think a duke took an interest in our Laura and courted her, I have little doubt that it was the younger brother who suited her better. A second son could marry an heiress such as Laura, not the heir. And I saw Lord Hugh Farley with Laura at balls and parties, sometimes with their heads together as if they were plotting and planning their futures."
Molly sat back in her chair, taken aback by the idea that Hugh had been close with her cousin, had been, in fact, her lover in truth. Within her own mind, she had decided to find the truth before believing anything else. The idea made her want to cast up her accounts for the second time this morning.
"Could he have been acting on behalf of the duke? Or trying to persuade Laura to look to someone else than his brother? Warn her off, perhaps?" If the duke was anything like Hugh had explained him to Molly, his brother was the worst of people. The other alternative that Hugh had been lying to her, had in fact been Laura's lover was unthinkable.
"May I keep this likeness? I wish to show it to Hugh and ask him if he or his brother is in the image."
"Laura's lover was not the duke," her uncle said, pointing to the small painting in her hands. "Never once did we see the duke with Laura at any balls or assemblies. When Laura confronted the Duchess of St. Albans about her son's actions and the consequences Laura then faced, she promised retribution against her son."
Her aunt dabbed at her cheeks, her eyes welling with tears. "Laura did not confide in us at first, took all this trouble on herself without help. By the time the scandal broke in London, Lord Hugh was banished from England and Laura heavy with his baby. She took his leaving hard, and by the time she had her son, she no longer had the will to live."
"Your husband killed our daughter." Her uncle glowered, his voice wobbly with emotion.
Molly stared at her aunt and uncle, the pain echoing off them still after all these years. That they lost not only Laura but also the babe made her departure from this realm even more devastating.
"Laura was an heiress, why did the Duchess of St. Albans not make Hugh marry her? Why force Laura to hide in the country, and send her son away abroad to live out his days? It makes no sense."
"The duchess was a proud woman, a daughter of a duke herself. She did not believe in the different classes marrying. Not even her younger son would she allow to marry a woman whose inheritance came from trade. Her sons would marry women equal to their birth or no one at all."
For a moment, Molly thought about what the duchess would think of her marriage to Hugh. A vicar’s daughter without an ounce of money to her name. A weight settled on her chest, and she took a calming breath. She had loved her cousin. Outside her family, she had been like an older sister, wise and beautiful and always kind. To think that her Hugh had left her to die with a broken heart, in turn, crumbled Molly's heart in