She Vanished After the Duke Rejected Her—But When He Found Her Working as a Maid at Another Lord’s Estate, the Eight-Year-Old Boy Beside Her Revealed the Secret She Had Hidden for Nearly a Decade

 PART 7

“I will tell you anything you wish to know,” he said.

She nodded slowly, then lowered her hood so that he could see her face. The fading light softened the lines of her features, and for a moment she looked almost like the girl he had known all those years ago.

“Why did you come here? To Norland Park, I mean. Was it because of me? Did you know I was here?”

“No. I had no idea you were here. Lord Harrington invited me months ago. It was pure chance that brought us together again.”

She seemed to consider this. “And when you saw me—when you recognized me from your window that first morning—what did you feel?”

The question caught him off guard. He had expected her to ask about practical matters—the child, the inheritance, the legal questions that would need to be addressed. But this was something else entirely.

“I felt as though I had seen a ghost,” he said slowly. “A ghost of the only woman I have ever loved.”

She flinched. The quick flash of pain in her eyes made him wish he had chosen his words more carefully. But he did not regret them. She deserved to know the truth.

“You cannot say things like that. Not after everything that has happened.”

“I can say them because they are true. I have spent nearly a decade trying to convince myself that I did not love you. That what we had was a youthful infatuation that would have faded in time. But seeing you again has made me realize that I was lying to myself. I have never stopped loving you, Elizabeth. Not for one single day.”

She shook her head. He saw the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

“It does not matter. Love was never enough. It was not enough then, and it is not enough now.”

“It could be,” he said. “If we are both willing to fight for it.”

“What is there to fight for? You are the Duke of Everly. You move in circles I can never enter. Even if you acknowledge Tom, even if you provide for him, I would still be a servant. I would still be the woman who worked as a maid. Do you think your friends would accept that? Do you think society would accept it?”

“I do not care what society accepts. I have spent my entire life doing what society expected of me, and it has brought me nothing but misery. I am tired of it, Elizabeth. I am tired of living my life according to the rules of people who do not know me and do not care about my happiness.”

“That is easy to say now. But when the scandal breaks, when the whispers start, when your family and your political allies turn their backs on you—will you still feel the same way?”

“Yes,” he said. And there was no hesitation in his voice. “I will. Because I will have you. And I will have my son. And that is worth more to me than any title or estate could ever be.”

She stared at him. The lake rippled in the darkness. Somewhere in the distance, an owl called out across the water.

“You do not know what you are asking,” she said at last.

“I know exactly what I am asking. I am asking you to trust me. I am asking you to give me a chance to prove that I can be the man you deserve.”

She was silent for a long time. He could see the conflict in her face—the war between the part of her that wanted to believe him and the part that had been hurt too deeply to trust again.

“I need time,” she said finally. “I need to think about what is best for Tom. He is all I have. I will not do anything that might hurt him.”

“Of course. Take whatever time you need. I will not pressure you. But know this, Elizabeth: I will not walk away this time. Whatever you decide, I will still be here. I will still want to know my son. And I will still love you.”

She looked at him for a long moment. Then she nodded once, turned away, and disappeared into the darkness as quietly as she had come.

He stood by the lake for a long time after she had gone, staring out at the water. The future was uncertain. There were no guarantees that anything would work out as he hoped. But for the first time in nearly a decade, he felt something that was very much like hope.