A March to Marquess | A Regency Romance

Chapter Nineteen

Isabella sat in the drawing room reading a book while Lady Welton sat on the winged chair in front of her. Isabella attempted to drown out her step-mother's humming as she worked on mending a shawl. The sound was enough to keep her from being fully immersed in her novel.

Lady Welton sighed frequently as well, further breaking her concentration. Every other paragraph, Isabella had to re-read to understand what was taking place. It was getting frustrating.

Isabella knew what the older woman was trying to do. She learned as a child that Lady Welton didn't confront things head on all the time, especially whenever she felt wronged. Instead, she would make Isabella's life miserable by sighing and passively making comments until Isabella broke down to ask what was wrong and ultimately apologized.

As Isabella got older, the less she ended up bending to her step-mother's games and would just avoid the woman until she was upset about something else. Sometimes, Isabella would feign illness to not have to go down to dinners. When she was fourteen, Isabella had done that after accidentally cutting the wrong flowers in the greenhouse. By the time the storm had blown over, Isabella ended up actually catching sickness. She had been so sick, she had missed Christmas which made her step-mother even more mad.

It was always a question as to why her father and step-mother never had children of their own. There were rumors that his new wife was barren or that her father regretted ever having Isabella because of what happened to her mother. Isabella knew that she had lost quite a few half-brothers over the years.

Isabella remembered nights where she could hear Lady Welton crying down the hallway. Or the moments when the doctor would be called in late at night, for her father to hurry her into bed and to not ask questions. After those moments, Lady Welton wouldn't be around for a week or more and Isabella was instructed not to disturb her.

One time, Isabella had witnessed the miscarriage herself, although she wasn't aware what was happening at the time. She was reading to Lady Welton, showing off her new vocabulary that she had learned with her governess that evening. Lady Welton had taken an interest in her during that season and seemed to be happier than she had been in a long time.

While she was trying to pronounce the new words, Lady Welton had doubled over in pain. When Isabella showed concern, her step-mother comforted her by telling her nothing was wrong and to continue. It was only when Lady Welton had fainted and fallen out of her chair that Isabella ran for help. She still could remember the dark streak of red on the chair and on the back of Lady Welton's pale pink dress.

She had almost made it the full term on the last pregnancy. From the start, Isabella was instructed to not be around Lady Welton at all. The staff below made comments that Isabella would hear in passing that she was a cursed child. That whenever she was around women in a delicate state, they would lose their unborn baby.

Of course, that wasn't true but Isabella still wondered if there was a partial truth to it. Her own mother had died trying to birth her brother and Lady Welton was close. When Lady Welton had lost the last baby, without being in contact with Isabella at all, they had decided that attempting another pregnancy was too risky. Ending the bloodline of Graves much to her father's sadness.

Like her mother, they never spoke of the issues that happened. The only way Isabella found any of this information was from Matilda, her ladies maid. Looking back, she never should have divulged the information like she did. A young girl didn't need to know the secrets her parents were keeping from her. But Isabella was still glad to know certain things. It did help keep her out of a lot of trouble.

Lady Welton coughed into her handkerchief and delicately wiped the corners of her mouth.

"Are you feeling okay?" Isabella figured now was as good of a time as any to try to fix whatever was preoccupying her step-mother. "Can I call to fetch you more tea?"