Page 2 of Once Upon a Winter's Tale
“I will see it is done,” answered the housekeeper.
“Good. I must attend to his lordship but will return to check on everything shortly.” He bathed his hands and arms in the basin before smoothing down his sleeves. Before closing the door, he looked back. I have a bad feeling about this,he thought, closing the door.
The butler announced him and opened the study door. He found the earl sitting behind his desk with his back to the door. Without preamble, he rose and stepped from behind the desk. “The child cannot stay,” he said. “And my wife needs something to calm her.”
The countess had been right. The doctor stayed quiet and listened until the earl gave him leave to talk, something his father had taught him, saying it was the best way to collect important information a doctor may not know to ask.
“My lord, you have a healthy daughter—” the doctor started.
“I donothave a daughter. The child is not mine and is as good as dead to me,” Wharton returned angrily. “My wife is not well.”
What was he saying?A fissure of alarm shot down Dr. Sprocket’s neck. The man had barely looked at his wife. “My lord, your wife is—”
“I will pay you handsomely for your services. You are dismissed,” the earl said, cutting him off with a look of finality.
Words failed the doctor, and he gave only a nod. “I will check on your wife and gather my bag.”
“And then you will leave.” The earl spoke without looking in his direction.
When he returned to the countess’s apartment, Dr. Sprocket found her holding her child against her chest and lightly touching her dark curls.
“I shall call her Brianna, after my mother,” she said, kissing the child’s cheek.
“You need your rest, my lady, and I want to make sure you are doing well before I leave,” he said wearily, relieved to see her nod.
“My lady, I will return in a few minutes with more clean linens,” the housekeeper said before giving them privacy.
“You were right about what his reaction would be to your child, my lady,” he began. “I am sure the earl will rethink his reaction. Have your maid get word to me if you need my help,” he added meaningfully.
“I will. Thank you, doctor,” she returned in a whisper. “I appreciate your offer of assistance.” She turned to her lady’s maid. “Jane, please bring me the family Bible and a quill. Let no one see you.”
“Yes, my lady.”
*
“Lawrence, darling, Ineed to speak with you,” the Duchess of Kendall said, almost bursting into her husband’s study. “We have a situation, and I desperately need your help.”
Her husband, the Duke of Kendall, stood quickly from behind his desk. “I can refuse you nothing, my dear. Pray tell, what has happened?” It was most unusual for his wife to burst into his study, upset.
“Alaina, the Countess of Wharton, is here with her newborn baby. Her husband, the earl, insisted the child be sent away. It is hard for me to understand the details of the situation, but her doctor escorted her. Perhaps he can supply those.”
“Her doctor? How unusual,” Kendall murmured.
“That was my thought exactly. They left in the middle of the night to get here—to see us. I am her dearest friend, and she has no close family.”
It had been years since he had known anything to so upset his wife. “My dear, I am stuck on what you started with—Alaina, the Countess of Wharton, is here,now, with her baby. She has to have just given birth. Does she expect the earl to follow her?”
“I didn’t ask. Perhaps I should have,” she said, twisting her hands. “My God! I have never known a man to reject his daughter!”
“I cannot believe it of Wharton. The last time I saw Felix, he mentioned Alaina’s pregnancy and his desire to produce a male heir, but if what she has told you is true, it is unfathomable,” Lawrence replied. He walked from behind his desk and motioned for her to sit with him on the sofa in front of the fireplace.
“Darling, she is most upset and wishes to speak with you. Of course, I told her she could stay,” the duchess said. “I noticed the last time we saw them in London, he seemed more distant, but this behavior… I find it hard to believe.”
“Did he ask her to leave?” her husband inquired softly.
“No. She is a jumble of emotions. But the best I could make out was that the doctor helped arrange it after she sent word to him. A doctor doesn’t get involved in things like this, but Alaina feels the baby’s life is in danger”—she took a calming breath—“from her husband.”
“So, she did not come in the ducal coach. Where is she? We should speak to her together.” The duke helped his wife up from the couch. He tugged the brown velvet rope, and his butler, Mr. Chambers, appeared.
