The Duke's Masked Wife

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During the few weeks he was away, Reed thought Edgar had sent him on a wild chase for someone no longer in this world. Each lead they had about Melanie ended up leading him to nowhere. He went around showing a portrait of Melanie and by some luck, there were a few people who recognized her.

With each new person who recognized her, Reed and the men who traveled with him had to stop and try mapping out the order of towns Melanie had traveled to so they could figure out where she ended up. Reed was ready to give up and have someone else assigned to this job until there was someone who pointed them to a small town. Saying the woman in the portrait looked like a younger version of the scholar’s wife.

Reed was surprised when he encountered a woman with similar features to Alessandra. They tried to map out what they gathered from other towns again and it made sense for Melanie to pass through the small town.

“Will you tell the Duchess?” Reed asked since Alessandra stated many times that she was not interested in seeing her mother again.

“Would you tell your pregnant wife who is not supposed to be stressed out that her missing mother was found?” Edgar asked.

“No,” Reed honestly answered. Alessandra didn’t have a good record when it came to her family members. They personally did not know what this Melanie was like. She could be just as bad as Desmond. Reed didn’t have a good opinion of a woman who abandoned her daughter and started another family. There was no good excuse. “Will you wait until the baby is born to tell her? Your wife won’t be happy if you do not tell her ow.”

Alessandra was not made aware of their search for her mother. Edgar did not want to wait for the court to hunt down Melanie when he had the power to do it himself. He wanted to allow Alessandra to speak with her mother. To have the chance to either move or welcome the woman back into her life. Each time she received letters from Wilma, Alessandra would mention her mother and then go on to say she did not care.

Edgar was in a rough predicament to tell Alessandra now and disrupt her peace or hold onto this information until a better date and risk Alessandra being upset with him. “How far away from Lockwood is she?” He asked.

“It took me three days to get back to Lockwood but that includes the stops I made to eat or rest. You can cut that down to two days. Do you want me to bring her here?” Reed asked.

.....

“No,” Edgar shook his head. He considered traveling to see for himself what Melanie was like before informing Alessandra about her mother. However, he could not get up and leave his pregnant wife. “Come to my study,” he said, wanting to leave in case Alessandra would come to the door.

“In my opinion, this is one of those times when you can hide something from her until the right time. She will be angry but it will not last long. Alessandra will understand you were looking out for her. I asked around the town and it seems she is well-loved alongside her husband. Nothing bad was said, no drama since they settled down there, and she helps around the town,” Reed relayed what he knew. Right now, Melanie seemed like a caring woman to others.

Reed stepped to the side as maids passed by him with chairs that looked like they came from a bedroom. He started to wonder if he should have waited a bit more before coming back. He would hate to be asked to move among furniture when all he wanted to do after a long trip was sleep but first, he had some unfinished business with a young lady who kept avoiding him.

Reed followed Edgar inside his study for privacy and closed behind them.

“They have three children,” Edgar read from the first paper.

“The oldest child is from her husband’s previous relationship. The two young girls are their own,” Reed answered.

“She’s raising two girls and a boy with him. Wonderful,” Edgar sarcastically added.

Someone needed to have a lot of audacity to raise a child belonging to someone else and create new children while forgetting their firstborn. “I want you to send everything you found to Mark. Have the court be the one to inform her of what happened to the family she left behind and let them bring her back to Lockwood. ”

“Tell the men you returned with to not speak of this. I don’t want Alessandra learning about her mother just yet,” Edgar said, picking up a sheet of paper to write a letter to Wilma. It was best to inform her of her daughter’s whereabouts now when her husband was on his last days. He should have the chance to try reaching out to his daughter again before he would pass away.

“Understood,” Reed answered. He gathered the papers to take to the court. “I’m sorry to bring this up on a good day when you are meant to be celebrating.”

“My day isn’t ruined. This mostly concerns Alessandra. After you visit the court, send a message to Tobias that I want to speak with him. He’s been awfully quiet,” Edgar said, finding it odd how little Tobias was reaching out to him. “Hazel must be pregnant. There is nothing else in this world to keep him so silent.”

“If the Queen is pregnant, your children might have close birthdays like you and the King. If your children have opposite genders, Tobias will arrange for a marriage-”

“Over my fucking dead body,” Edgar was immediately against it.

Not because it was Tobias’s child but due to the fact he hated being forcefully paired up with anyone and life in the palace was not something he wanted any of his children to experience. He had the power to protect them but seeing what Hazel went through was enough convincing to keep them away.

Edgar wouldn’t be against sending them to play with a prince or princess as he did the same in his childhood but marriage was out of the question.

“Luckily for you by the time your children are of age to marry, guns will be allowed in the kingdom. I can hardly wait to see you stressing over the men who will want to court your daughters if you have any,” Reed chuckled.

Edgar slowly looked up at Reed. He wasn’t fond of Reed finding amusement in his future problems. “You mean like how Eleanor is being courted by a man her aunt wants her to marry?” He retorted, knowing it would hurt Reed since he took a liking to his wife’s friend.

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