Page 95 of Enticing the Devil

Chapter Thirty-three

“Go talk to her.”

Beynon looked up to see his mother standing in the study doorway. Her hands were fisted on her hips and her expression was one he remembered well from the days of his youth when he’d done something particularly disappointing.

“No,” he replied solemnly as he looked back down to the ledger he was updating.

His mother made a sound of deep annoyance and stalked into the room. “Don’t be an arse about this, Beynon. It’s been long enough.”

Seventeen days.

With as fierce a scowl as he’d ever given anyone, he met his mother’s stubborn stare. “She is the one who left.”

After the night in his study, once he’d worked through his devastation at learning she’d left him, he’d quickly gone in search of her, fearing she might be hurt or lost. But he’d discovered instead she was quite all right. She’d sold a couple of her finest gowns and a jeweled necklace to a peddler and used the funds to rent a cottage in the village.

“If she’d been happy here,” he grumbled, “she’d have stayed.”

Glynnis rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. “You’re right, she was miserable here. And what do you suppose was the cause of that? I’d really hoped you’d come around on your own, but it seems you’d rather continue being an idiot.”

Beynon barely resisted the urge to growl. “What do you want from me, Mam? I knew she wouldn’t find happiness here. It was hopeless from the start. I did the best I could.”

“Did you?” His mother’s voice was curt. “What exactly did you do to help her become accustomed to life as your wife? Did you...show her around the farm? No. The boys did that. Did you explain the rhythms of our work and what was expected each day, each season, each year? No. I did that. Did you help her to find her place in the household? No. That was Eirwyn.”

Beynon held his hand up. A sick feeling was churning in his stomach. “I get your point, Mam. But you don’t know what her life was like—what I took her from. How could she ever find contentment as a farmer’s wife?”

“I did.”

“She’s nothing like you.”

His mother tilted her head and gave a glare. “Don’t you remember what a disaster I was those first years we lived here? My father had been a butcher. The only experience I had with animals was how to handle their carcasses. I was lucky Cedric loved me as much as he did. He’d had every right to annul the marriage more than once. I was a terrible farmer’s wife.”

Beynon stared at her. Disbelief running through him.

“Without your stepfather’s infinite patience and unconditional love, I never would’ve found my home here.”

He’d had no idea. Thinking back to those early years, he realized he’d been so wrapped up in his own emotions and struggles, he’d never noticed his mother going through the same.