The Duke's Masked Wife



"If you walk away from me now, it will keep this strained relationship between us, Edgar. I am at the point in life when I will not continue to fight to be around my son. I have apologized to you enough and tried to make up for how much I made life difficult for you and your mother. It is my time to be happy and I do not wish for you to miss out," said Edmund.

Edgar stopped walking and turned to face his father. "Alessandra is pregnant," he revealed, watching the shock plaster across his father's face. "I will not be the one missing out on happiness. You can do what you want with your life. I've long not cared about what you do with your life."

Edmund could not get words out at first. "You would take away your child's time with their grandfather?" He asked. "Alessandra's father is dead. I am their only grandfather. You must not steal that away."

"They already have a grandfather on my side. Alfred is quite active in my life and involved in preparing for their arrival. They shall not be around you because you have greatly annoyed me with your silence and they will not be around that woman because I dislike her," Edgar answered. 

"So, I am not meant to be happy?" Edmund asked. He did not know if he could give up Cassidy again. Edgar was placing him in a tight spot to pick between being around his grandchildren or the woman he had loved from the very beginning.

"There were better ways for you to deal with your marriage and then one day going back to the woman you loved or objecting to in the beginning so my mother would not have wasted her youth with you. I don't care if it means I would not exist. I will never agree with you running around with her behind mother's back with that woman. You should have been clear that she would never have your heart. I told you to be happy. It is just that I will not be near you," Edgar replied, turning around to go back to his home.

There was nothing more he wished to discuss with his father. The relationship between his father and Cassidy irked him because he had a few run-ins with the woman when he was a young boy that he would never forget. Cassidy's constant visits to their home to tell his mother about her and Edmund were a part of the reason why he was sent off to school. The other half was that his mother did not have the time to care for him.

Edgar was never one to get involved in his parent's messy relationship and though he distanced himself from them both as he grew up, he couldn't help but feel sorry for his mother and side with her when it came to this. Perhaps he was a mother's boy all along. Though he didn't have the best relationship with his mother in the past, he was around her more than his father who practically lived in the palace and court in the past.

"Why are the two of you spying on me?" Edgar asked as he entered the front door, finding Alessandra and Alfred standing by the window, pretending they weren't watching him when he came inside. "Your ears must hurt from trying to hear what was being said at the gates."

"We were trying to find you and were told that you went outside. How did the talk go?" Alessandra asked, curious as to whether or not Edgar was back on good terms with his father.

  The relationship between father and son was odd. Sometimes Edgar and Edmund spoke casually, but then there were times full of animosity. She was aware of the fact Edgar wasn't for his father being with Cassidy and Priscilla had informed her of Edmund possibly being with Cassidy again. Alessandra didn't know where this would put Edgar and Edmund.

"He came to offer you the invitation to his dinner but I declined it. We had not seen or heard from him in weeks and what he decided to talk to us about is his party. There have been many other things that require his attention. That woman will be at the dinner. She can only be there since grandmother all of a sudden accepted her," Edgar said, closing the door behind him.

'This has to be Rose doing this to hurt Priscilla,' Alessandra said to herself. If only Rose knew that Priscilla was not sitting around thinking about how to hurt Rose. Rose was going out of her way to hurt a woman who had mentally checked out of being a part of the Collins family the moment she asked for a divorce. 'Is this what I have to look forward to should Edgar and I ever divorce?'

"I will not stop you if you wish to speak to my father, but I will not be anywhere around him while he is involved with that woman."

Alessandra noted how Edgar refused to say Cassidy's name. She wished to know more about Edgar's anger toward Cassidy which she figured had more to do with just the fact Cassidy was Edmund's lover. "Since I am close to Priscilla these days, it would be a slap in the face for me to be anywhere near Cassidy right now. Besides, I don't want to be in the middle. I will leave that to you, their son."

Alessandra found it easier to be around Priscilla as opposed to Edmund because they could bond over the child. Alessandra couldn't think of what she and Edmund could possibly talk about. When she first met Edmund, she was certain he liked her, but his visits stopped after Jennifer's death, and she had never seen him when she left home.

After all the stories she had heard, Alessandra still was not sure what to make of Cassidy. She understood Cassidy and Edmund using this chance to finally be together. However, she also thought of Cassidy following Priscilla around to ask about Edmund's whereabouts. Alessandra couldn't place if Cassidy was truly desperate as she did not know where Edmund was or if she was doing this to ridicule Priscilla. 

Alessandra didn't have any other interactions with Cassidy since the day she found out she was pregnant, to know what the woman's intentions were. Wouldn't it have been better to have sought out Edgar than Priscilla back then? Cassidy must view Priscilla as the one who stole her lover, but Priscilla was just a young lady whose parents wanted her to marry Edmund. 

"If your father proposes that the two of you can meet without Cassidy around, would you?" Alessandra asked. If Edgar could view Priscilla as his mother again, there was a chance for Edmund. 

"Perhaps," Edgar honestly answered. He was annoyed with his father now for waiting so late to reach out to them in regards to what happened with Rose and only to offer an invitation to a party that was more of a show than a celebration. Edgar could not have been the one to reach out to Edmund first since he had no knowledge of where his father ran off after his divorce. 

"Well, all hope is not lost for your father then. I feel we will be expecting another visit from him soon. You can go back to whatever you were plotting earlier, Edgar. Alfred and I will go back to my paintings," Alessandra said and then attempted to leave, but she felt someone grab her hand.

"Why would I let Alfred get all your time? I will join the two of you," Edgar held her hand so they could walk together.