Only Olivia

Chapter Twenty

The Dowager Countess of Linville had never laughed so much in her entire life. But her son had never been quite so amusing. She clutched at her stomach with one hand, the other resting on the table to hold her body upright.

"Oh, Ellis," she cut off, another bout overtaking her. "You must be jesting!"

Ellis, to his credit, stood before his mother with a straight face. "I am not, Mother, I have a mind to marry." He should have known just how his mother might react. Most of the ton would delve into unmitigated laughter at the prospect of the eligible Earl of Linville finally on the marriage market.

The serious edge to his tone killed all her amusement. "Who?" She wondered, face clearing of mirth.

He raised his shoulders, palms open-faced. "I do not know."

"So, you have thrown over all of your mistresses?"

"Yes."

Amelia straightened her posture, black eyes intent upon him. "You will subject yourself to the marriage market then? Throw yourself at the mercy of tittering debutantes and their scheming mothers?"

"I thought all mothers craved grandchildren."

"I know the confines of both my sex and my class, Ellis. We are expected breed and rush young relations into matrimony to birth more sons. I did my duty as best I could though the process was not one I relished." A shiver overrun her body. "Pregnancy is difficult. It is not sunshine and roses and despite our scientific age, there are many women who die in childbirth. I am loathe to encourage any young woman to that end." She levelled a warm look on her son. "I have dearly loved you. But motherhood is not for everyone."

"Yes, I have friends from school who lost their wives in such a fashion. Ones barely out of the schoolroom and married only nigh a year."

"That does not even countenance the orphans and unwanted babes left at churches or to die in the streets." Amelia approached her son and rested a hand on his arm. "Do not marry to please me. Marry to please yourself. I will not be around forever. Your wife will be. God willing."

He arched a brow. "You are a peculiar countess, Mother."

"It is droll to be like everyone else." The grandfather clock struck two and his mother adjusted her turban. "Do think on what I have said, but I have an appointment with my dear Salomon." She swept out, her scent floating in the air behind her.

The idea that some women may eschew motherhood had not once occurred to him. He, of course, went to great lengths to protect against pregnancy with his mistresses as bastards always tangled the affairs of nobility. He did not know that many women even had the conscious choice. He had seen many haggard mothers with broods of children, sometimes in double digits. They all dressed in rags and the husband continued to fill her with more children. This cycle even killed some women. There were those who took steps to educate women, but the practice was met with vehement anger. Childbearing was the sole duty of a wife.

If he was not going to marry to simply sire a child, then for what did one marry? Wealth. Property. Companionship in old age. Love? Ellis chuckled in the empty library.

Love. What a thought! Love did not do many favours for those of his acquaintance, save the Baynes. They seemed to be the paragon of a marriage based purely on love. But Cat's large dowry did not harm the proceedings.

He considered the current heir to his earldom, a sickly cousin with a battle-axe of a mother who acted as if she would never die. The late earl may already be rolling in his grave considering the thoughts of his son.