He paused midway through turning a page.

“So, I’m sorry. I should have told you when I decided to stick at it.” I looked at my socked feet and drew in a deep breath that I slowly let back out.

Dad sighed and slipped a bookmark into his book, then set it on the coffee table before he patted the other side of the sofa for me to sit down. I did as he’d asked, hugging one of my legs up against my chest.

“I’m not angry with you, Gabriella. I’m disappointed.”

“That’s not any better.”

“I suppose not, but I’m not disappointed in you. I’m disappointed you didn’t feel as though you could tell me. You must have had a reason not to, and it’s likely that reason is something I did.”

“I don’t know.” I fiddled with the hem of my dress. “You’re so determined for me to date and marry well that I felt like me wanting an education and a career might prove problematic to that.”

“I do want you to marry well. Nothing would make me happier than to see you with the title you deserve.”

“I don’t deserve anything.”

“Oh, you do. You deserve to be the Duchess of Hastings given that between you and your brother, you’re the only one who cares about this estate.” Dad finally met my eyes. “I wish for you to marry someone who can give you an equal title, but it appears I forgot to consider your wishes in that.”

I swallowed. “I want to pave my own way,” I said softly. “I love gardening, and I’ve learnt so much since I started this course. I know I want to continue on, but that doesn’t mean I can’t meet someone and get married while I do that. Daddy, I love that you want the best for me, but that’s not the best for me right now.”

He sighed again, this time rubbing his hand down his face right after. He pushed up off the sofa and walked over to the window. He cut a strong figure as he stood in front of the towering window, clasping his hands behind his back.

I’d always admired my father for his strength, for the way he held himself with the utmost dignity despite how he felt.

“You are so much like your mother,” he said softly, staring out at the garden. “She didn’t want to marry me; did you know that?”

I shook my head, stopping when I realised he couldn’t see me. “I didn’t.”

“She didn’t want to be a duchess. She didn’t want the pomp and circumstance that came with our family seat, but when she realised she’d enter as a countess and not a duchess, she softened. She spent a lot of time in Cheddar and grew to love the local people and the surrounding areas, and it was that that made her agree.”

“A bit like how the Queen Mother didn’t want to marry King George VI, right?”