Page 117 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
She could not hold back. She rose to her toes, wrapped her arms about his neck and kissed his lips quickly, then released him. ‘I do love you. I think of you hourly. But now is not the time.’
‘Goodbye,’ he said, again, then turned away.
Rob’s mood was sombre when he walked into the family drawing room at John’s.Think… I have done enough thinking.
His father stood and walked over to speak to him. ‘Are you engaged?’ he asked in a quiet voice because the children were in the room.
‘No. She wants more time. But she did not say no, and she did say she loves me still.’
His father nodded. ‘You have hope then.’
‘I do, but I wish I had more than hope.’
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Caro pulled the hood of her cloak a little further over her head, though it was almost impossible that anyone might know her. She had travelled to Tunbridge Wells to avoid anyone in Maidstone seeing her.
She crossed the busy street, then stopped before the doctor’s house and took a breath.
She had come to ask about the child because the sensations of movement had continued.
She knocked the fox head forged in brass down on the brass plate. A moment later, the door opened and a woman stood there. ‘May I help you?’
‘I have come to visit Dr Marsh. Is he at home?’
‘Is he expecting you?’
‘No, but a friend recommended I come to him.’
‘I shall see if he is available, madam. Come and sit in the hall. Who may I say is waiting?’
‘Mrs Farnley.’ She made up the name.
Caro stripped off her gloves. Beth loaned the simple gold ring on her left finger to her. It had felt awkward within the leather,she was not used to the feel, but she wore it to prevent judgement. She tucked the gloves into the pocket of her pelisse and sat on a chair. The woman closed the front door, then walked off and entered a room further along the hall.
Hope pulsed along with the rhythm of Caro’s heartbeat as she waited.
The door the woman had disappeared behind opened. ‘You may go in,’ the woman stated.
Caro stood and walked quickly, possibly too keenly.
Within the room, the doctor stood behind a broad desk. ‘Hello, Mrs Farnley, please sit. How may I help?’
As he sat down, Caro sat in the chair on this side of his desk. ‘I am with child. But I miscarried five times in the past. A doctor told me I would never be able to carry a child full-term, yet, this child is moving now… I am afraid and I hope, and… I wanted another doctor’s opinion. My housekeeper gave me your name.’
He nodded. ‘Then let me take a look. If you go through the door there, there is a bed. Please undress to your chemise so I might examine your stomach. I will ask Mrs Griggs to help you.’
The woman who had let Caro in helped undo her clothing. She put Caro’s clothing on a chair while Caro lay on a hard bed.
A gentle knock sounded. ‘Are you ready for me?’
‘Yes,’ Mrs Griggs called.
The doctor lifted Caro’s chemise, held a horn-like brass trumpet to her stomach and listened. Then his fingers gently pressed over her stomach.
‘All feels well,’ he said. ‘I would say you have completed your first trimester and are progressing through the second. This baby was likely conceived towards the end of July or the beginning of August.’
A flutter stirred in her stomach.
