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Nearly dozing off as she waited, she had to will herself awake every time she heard the smallest of sounds coming from the hallways.

For the first three times, she was mistaken. But on the forth time, she finally intercepted her husband.

“What are you doing here?” he said, startled to see her. He was whispering, and had a look of concern mixed with guilt on his face.

“Waiting for you,” she said in a soft voice. “Why..I haven’t seen you in so long that I had nearly forgotten what you looked like.”

He ignored the slightest edge of her comment, and then went to the baby, who was sound asleep.

She watched as he bent down to give him a kiss. Something inside of her softened as she saw him.

Oh, he would make such a perfect father, she thought to herself. He knew just exactly how to be gentle with the baby. Not once did he wake up, or did he do anything to disturb the baby.

But then she remembered that she was angry with him.

“I think you should head to bed,” he said to her, walking by past her.

“I don’t think there is any need for that. I’m not sleepy,” she said, following him out until they were out of the nursery. “We need to talk, that is the two of us. Do you think you can spare me a moment in your busy schedule?”

He looked at her, and then kept walking. “Later.”

It was such an easy dismissal that it made her blood pressure spike, and she followed him down the hallway, keeping pace with him.

“I’ve had enough of this. You cannot expect to keep ignoring me, and then expecting me to say nothing about it. We need to speak… you cannot deny me this,” she said, her irritation seeping into her voice.

It was late enough that even the slightest loud voice would echo throughout the house, but she didn’t care about that all.

Let the servants, or whoever else, hear. Her patience had ran so thin that her need for privacy had been put in the background.

The duke towered over her as usual, and turned to her. “You’re being unreasonable. I believe I have already told you once that I cannot speak to you. Why do you feel the need to drag it on?”

“You are my husband, and I rarely see you. Do I have no right to ask you?” she said. “Can you not spare a moment for me?”

He seemed to have no reaction to her words. And then, a terrible thought entered her mind.

She hadn’t considered the possibility before, but now seemed gripped with it. If he was spending most of his time outside of the home, could it be possible that he had found someone to keep him company?

God, even the thought of it made her blood boil and curdle. She would much rather be swallowed up into the ground than have something like that become true.

“I think you need to give me my space,” he said in an annoyed voice. “I don’t understand the reason that you are pestering me like this. This has nothing to do with you.”

“I need you to be honest with me,” she repeated, not wanting to back down in the slightlest. “Are you being honest with me?”

She hated just how desperate she sounded now.

“This has nothing to do with you,” he repeated once again.

“You said…” she said, shaking her head. “Earlier, you said that you didn’t want to fail me and now you have a chance to show it. Why can’t you do that?”

He was silent for a moment, as though she had taken the fight out of him momentarily. Then, he took a few steps back.

“Phillipa,” he said her name and she hated just how disarming it sound. For a man that she loved, she seemed to hate too many things about this conversation. “You just don’t understand.”

That stung more than she liked to admit. “You’re right, I don’t understand. So let me make this very simple for you to answer… what are you doing out all day and all night?”

There was an edge to her tone that made him do a double take, as though he couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth.

But his shock then gave away to anger.