Page 115 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
‘Then would you fetch him? Tell him my brother is here.’
The footman disappeared.
‘Go into the drawing room and sit down, Robbie. I will fetch George and Iris.’
Questions about Caro hovered on his tongue, but he held on to them. Surely, she would come downstairs to see him.
The maid appeared, to help him remove his coat, and take his hat and gloves, then she went off to bring some water and cups for tea, while he settled himself in a chair near the fire. He stretched out his left leg. The cold had made it hurt more than usual.
When Mary returned, Caro was not with her.
‘Uncle Bobbie!’ George charged across the room.
‘Where is Caro?’ Rob asked, as he caught George and lifted him onto his lap, wincing with the pain from his mending arm and thigh.
‘Oh, no, you do not know. Of course you do not. Have you even noticed I stopped writing because you never replied? Caro left us.’
‘Is something wrong?’ Fear lanced into his chest.
‘No. She moved to the cottage in Maidstone. She is happy there.’
Happy…Not missing him, then. Nor regretting her choice.
‘Shall I ring for tea and biscuits?’
‘I want biscuits, please,’ George said.
‘I have already spoken to the maid because I knew you would.’ Rob smiled at George then looked back at Mary. ‘You must tell me where Caro’s cottage is before I leave. I will visit her on the way back.’
63
Caro’s palm rested on her stomach as she sang quiet nursery rhymes. Beth was out, shopping. She had lit the fire before she left, so Caro could sit here in the warm.
Every morning when Caro woke, she expected to feel blood between her legs. Or in the day, a sudden pain in her stomach. Any day now she knew she must say goodbye to her child, yet with every day that neither the pain nor the blood came hope drowned out what her memories told herwouldhappen.
She breathed in and sang the rhyme again, her palm brushing over the pinafore that covered her dress and helped hide her condition. If the child held for much longer, she would have to admit her situation to Beth, but she did not think the housekeeper was someone who would be shocked or judge.
Rob came to her mind, as he did every time she spoke to their child, in the moments when hope whispered, because if the child held, he should know about him or her.
A fluttering feeling of movement in her stomach had her sitting forward. She sat still, holding her breath. The sensation of movement stirred again. The child. She was sure it was the child.
Her heart pulsed quickly, a smile parted her lips and she laughed. ‘Hello, little one. Did you like my singing?’
Clunk. Clunk.
The doorknocker struck unexpectedly and made her jump.
Caro got up. ‘Hello!’ she called towards the door, wondering if Drew was in Maidstone and had called by. ‘Who is it?’
The door opened into the sitting room. Once she opened the door there was no privacy.
‘It is Rob. Caro, is that you?’
Her heart lurched as she turned the key and opened the door quickly. It was him, not a figment of her imagination.
‘Rob.’
‘May I come in?’
