Page 118 of The Secret Love of a Gentleman
‘You may have lost children before, Mrs Farnley, but I am happy to say this child is healthy.’
Tears gathered in her eyes and distorted the room in a blur. ‘But is my womb weakened? The doctor said to my husba?—’
‘I cannot say why he said that, but all feels perfectly normal at this stage, and the child has a strong beating heart.’
‘Is there a chance I might be able to give birth to the child?’
‘I see no reason why not. I will leave you with Mrs Griggs to help you dress.’
Caro’s hands shook as she dressed.
Her child was healthy and moving within her, with a strong heart.
Once she was dressed, she paid the doctor and left with a desire to skip along the street, and stop every stranger to tell them,I may have a child.
When she returned to Maidstone, she was tempted to drive on to Drew’s and tell him and Mary, but if she told anyone it should be Rob.
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Caro had never travelled in a mail coach before. But it was the only way she felt comfortable travelling to London. She was not confident enough with the ribbons to take the trap, and so at seven in the morning she waited at the Maidstone coaching inn for the mail coach to arrive, her heart racing.
The inn’s yard was full of horses and men cleaning out the stables and washing off the cobbles with buckets of water.
How would Rob react? She had worried over that thought all night.
She expected him to be angry with her for keeping the secret for so long, and his moralistic view of the world would mean he would no longer ask but insist she married.
A high-pitched horn called from the high street, announcing the coach’s arrival.
‘Mind out the way, madam!’ a groom called as the coach came through the arch.
Caro stepped back.
When it halted, bags were thrown from the top to the ground,and six people climbed down from the roof-seats. Caro had purchased a ticket to sit inside.
A groom opened the carriage door. Caro showed her ticket and climbed in.
A large gentleman slid across to make room for her by the window. The woman opposite her nursed a big basket on her lap taking up space and making the journey uncomfortable as the heavy coach raced across rutted roads.
No matter that Rob would be angry, she longed to tell him, to receive his reassurance. He would have hope too – she knew it. She smiled as she realised that she did not fear Rob’s anger, it would be just, and it would be gentle, and then, he would promise to look after her and their child.
When she reached the coaching inn in London, a half a dozen carriages were disembarking.
She had written Rob’s address down so she could remember it. She asked a hackney carriage driver to take her there.
Caro watched the houses pass, her heart skipping.
There was the door.
The driver pulled up before it.
She freed the door latch with shaking hands, climbed out and took the coins from her reticule to pay the fare, placing the money in the driver’s outstretched hand. He slipped it in his pocket and urged the horses to trot on.
Caro turned to the door.
Rob walked along the street, trying to make his bad leg take the same stride as his good one. He was riding again, with his friends, and shooting in Manton’s gallery. Doing his best to regain the strength in his arm and leg.
He was on his way to his apartment to pack the last of his possessions for John’s men to collect. His possessions were being sent to the property in Yorkshire tomorrow and he was following them on Saturday, in his uncle’s carriage. A groom was going to drive Rob’s curricle to Yorkshire because Rob thought it too far for his weakened arm to manage the straps.
