AN: First of all, thank you very much for all the reviews! I really appreciate them and they are what keep me going.
I am sorry I took so long to update but I have been drowing in work and I am not really sure converning how to end this story, so that has been keeping on hold as well.
Chapter 3 - October 1892
"What?" he says and feels himself begin to sway.
"I am very sorry Robert," his father says.
"But that can't be. Mary, what am I to tell her?"
"That her mother died falling of a horse."
That seems to be the truth. He cannot believe it. His wife is dead. She is dead. And has left him with a little girl. Tears sting his eyes and he tries to hide them.
"I thought you did not love her," his father says and he wonders how he can be the son of such an unfeeling man.
"No. I did not love Victoria. But she is the mother of my child. She loved Mary as much as I do."
His father only shrugs.
"Well, as I said, I am sorry for your loss."
"It is your loss too. She was your daughter-in-law." But again his father only shrugs.
He paces around the library and wonders what he should say to Mary. The girl is only one and a half years old but she will notice that her mother is gone. He is sure that Mary will forget Victoria, will in all likelihood have forgotten her by Christmas. And it breaks his heart.
His mother seems to have waited for him in front of the nursery. Why, he cannot fathom. She says
"Tell her the truth Robert. Be gentle but tell her truth." She then gently touches his hand and he knows that this was her way of saying sorry.
"Mama!" Mary says the moment he enters her room and he wants to leave, run away and hide and let someone else tell Mary that her mother won't come back.
But he is her father, he has to do this. So he motions for the nanny to leave the room and puts Mary on his lap.
"Mary," he says and his daughter stares at him with her brown eyes.
"Mary, your mother has had an accident. A very bad accident. She was hurt. She won't come back."
"Mama," Mary says again and he shakes his head.
"No Mary. I am sorry. Your Mama is not coming back." He doesn't know whether Mary understood him but she turns around and buries her head in his shoulder and begins to sob.
.
The funeral is a horrible affair. Mary has been left at the Abbey of course but she has been crying for her mother for days now and he does not have the heart to leave her to the nanny at night.
He himself misses Victoria more than he thought he would. He misses talking to her in the nursery and after dinner. And they had after all been trying to conceive another child for quite some time now. He misses her physical closeness more than he thought he would.
I hope you liked this chapter although I admit that it does have a sad note to it.
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Let me know what you think about this chapter.
Love,
Kat