He frowned. “You’ve had a much harder road than I in that area, but the world is changing quickly. You’ve still got time to find the person who will best help you settle in and bear the burden of your inheritance.”

Sophia’s face jumped into her memory, those dark eyes staring into hers last night as if seeing her for the first time. The image left her feeling anything but settled. Still, it did make her feel something powerful, something transformational.

“But what if my person, the one who challenges me to be better without ever making me feel lacking is . . . I don’t know, is there more to the partnership than social acumen?” She shook her head. She couldn’t keep dancing around the issue any longer, not here in a chapel beside the only person in the world who understood the stakes. “Are you in love with Mother?”

He stiffened beside her, and she glanced up to see an aggrieved expression on his face. “I won’t pretend it doesn’t hurt a little that you had to ask, but yes, I am. I am not an overly demonstrative man, and maybe I don’t wear my feelings on my sleeve the way others do—”

“No,” she said quickly, “I didn’t mean to imply you were somehow deficient. Of course you show love. My question, I only meant . . . Mother can be, well—”

“Ah.” He relaxed a little more into the pew as his expression softened. “Your mother is not an easy woman, but that’s all the more reason to admire her. She’s strong and complex, and she’s of her own mind. A weaker woman would’ve wilted under the kind of scrutiny this life carries; a weaker woman would’ve allowed me to surrender to my own weaknesses as well. I never wanted an ornamental rose to rest on my arm. I fell in love with your mother not in spite of her strong personality, but because of it.” He turned to her and smiled. “And I’m glad I did, because I see so much of her best qualities in you.”

She rolled her eyes.

“Don’t.” He placed a hand atop hers. “Don’t let your conflicts blind you to her best qualities. If you do, it’ll be harder for you to respect those same traits in yourself.”

“I’m nothing like her.”

“She is strong-willed and principled, but also graceful and gifted at reading people.”

She snorted. “You must be in love to see those things. I’ve never once considered her a people-person.”

He laughed softly. “Understanding what drives people and letting them control you are very different things. Learning the difference isn’t easy, but it’s an invaluable skill.”

His words wiggled their way into her brain. “Even if I turn around and use it against her?”

He kissed her forehead gently. “Especially then.”

••••