The Duke's Masked Wife



"None of your conversations with my wife has gone well. Why should I wake her up for this?" Edgar asked. He didn't trust Melanie would have anything good to say to Alessandra so it was pointless to wake her up. For all he knew, Melanie could just be acting like she cared in front of her husband.

Lewis twisted his hat. "I assure you that this one will go well," he said.

"Really?" Edgar feigned surprise. "The other times were bad because you weren't here to keep an eye on your wife? That doesn't sound convincing. Alessandra is tired and if you make me wake her just for you to get nowhere-"

"It won't be like the other times," Melanie promised.

Edgar wanted to tell Melanie that he didn't care for her promise. He looked ahead at the gates wide open. He could just go inside and leave the two of them outside, but if Alessandra were to find out that her mother had come here, she would have his head with how snappy she had become.

"Alessandra," Edgar tapped her shoulder to wake her. If after three tries and she would not wake, he would not stay here.

Unfortunately, after the third tap, Alessandra stirred against him and opened her eyes.

Alessandra thought she wasn't seeing right when the first person she saw was her mother. She closed her eyes and opened them again. "What?" She backed off Edgar's shoulder. 

"Your mother wishes to speak with you. If you don't want to, I will have the carriage go inside. If you want to, do it here because I don't want the two in our home," said Edgar. There was enough negativity in their home from Katrina.

Alessandra felt confused because of her tiredness and her mother's presence at their gates. She wasn't responding to her mother's invitations for a reason. "I will speak with her quickly," she decided.

"Stay in here," Edgar said as he exited the carriage. He didn't want Alessandra to stand outside in the slightly cold air when she had just woken up. "You can speak with her inside," he told Melanie.

Melanie walked to the carriage, got inside while closing the door behind her, and sat opposite Alessandra. 

There was an awkward silence at first.

"I've been sending you invitations," Melanie started.

"I've been ignoring them. The last time I met with you, you spoke of not liking my husband and seemed fine with us not having a relationship. Is it because of him that you are acting a bit differently?" Alessandra asked, looking outside at the man her mother came with. He looked nervous as he gripped his hat.

"My husband has a way of talking some sense into me," Melanie answered.

"You know, it doesn't make me think of you any better that a stranger has to talk some sense into you for you to speak with me. I suppose those dinner invitations had something to do with the sense he talked into you. It's not that you care. Is it that he is pushing you?" Alessandra asked and somewhat hoped her mother would say no.

Melanie hesitated at first as she knew Alessandra would hate her answer, but she was here to be honest. "I am here because it is what my husband wants me to do. He and the girls have been angry with me," she replied.

"I see. When you answer like this, with everyone but you seeming to care, do you think of my feelings?" Alessandra asked. Why was her mother here when she didn't want to be? "I don't want to speak with you if you are being forced to. I told you that I am satisfied with the fact that you are alive, and I've had enough of us meeting. Why are you here?"

"I've come to tell you a little more about my relationship with your father in hopes you can understand me a bit more. Understand why I find it so hard to bond with you as I should. It is not something that I enjoy speaking about. I've buried it in my mind, and it's a part of why I have never returned to Lockwood when your father was alive," Melanie said, clasping her hands as a way to get through this.

"I  wasn't happy with him, and I did not want to give him a child simply because his other friends had children,  but you know how Desmond was. He didn't want to be left behind in anything, so he took it upon himself to ensure that he would soon have a child whether I agreed to it or not. That was how you came about."

"Oh," Alessandra frowned as she understood what her mother was saying. She had such a good day with all her friends, and she wouldn't have minded if this was something told to her another day.  Bad things about her past just kept piling on top of each other.

"I did care for you so much when you were born and first placed in my arms, but as time went on, each time I looked at you, I was reminded of what your father had done. How he hurt me and how he was nothing like the man I fell in love with. It became hard to be your mother and be his wife so I decided to do what was best for everyone and leave. I have to be honest and say that I do not regret leaving. I had to find my happiness," said Melanie.

"I wish that I could bond with you emotionally and be there for you how you need me to be, but it is hard for me. We've just reunited with each other, and though your father is dead, I think of him when I see you. I just need some time to deal with the truth of what happened. I have never spoken about it, but I want to now so I can stop distancing myself from you. I wish to have a relationship with you, Alessandra. It is alright if we start slowly, like friends getting to know each other."

"That was a lot to take in. This might be harsh for you to hear, but it is what I feel. I'm sorry that my father hurt you, but you've had plenty of time away from him and me to start healing. I have never been in your position to know how long it should take, but I think enough time has passed for you to have started worrying about me and stopped pushing me away because of my father," Alessandra said. 

"You started a new family. You had daughters you saw daily.  You see how much Claire and Melody need you. How they could not be without you. My father hurt you, but couldn't you have thought of me without him? Even now, with this story, I fail to understand you.  I cannot ignore the fact that you do not want to be here. I know you came here to tell me this story in hopes that I would understand the distance between us, but I wish you had not come," Alessandra added, looking outside at Edgar, who stood with folded arms.

"I've already dealt with enough in my life. I did not need to hear that my birth surrounds you being hurt by my father. What am I to think of myself after this?" Alessandra asked.