Page 22 of A Very Roguish Boxing Day
Chapter10
It took three wicked widows pushing from below and a lot of pulling from Mrs.Robinson, but Gwendolyn managed to get back into her room before the sun had risen over London.
An hour later, Mariah brought her a breakfast tray.“Did you do it, Miss Gwendolyn?”she whispered.
Gwendolyn’s cheeks flushed red, but she nodded.“I did.Thanks to you.”
“Good!”Mariah dropped her voice low.“From what I hear, yer brother has one of his doctor friends coming this afternoon.To confirm if the deed has been done.”
Gwen swallowed.She had suspected Joseph would insist on an examination.While she had been surprised how natural it had felt last night to bare her body before Tom, the thought of one of her brother’s vile friends inspecting her most intimate areas filled her with dread.
She shook herself.She had come this far.She would let nothing come between her and her rightful future.She could bear any affront, face any humiliation if it meant she would be able to live out the remainder of her life in peace and happiness in Aunt Agatha’s cottage.
“I’ll get through it,” Gwen told Mariah.
The maid nodded.“You’ll have some support.We’ll make sure there isn’t any funny business.”
Gwendolyn wasn’t sure what support Mariah could possibly offer her.Surely Joseph would not allow anyone else to be present in the room during the exam.But she said, “Thank you, Mariah.”She seized the maid’s hand before she could leave, squeezing it.“For everything.”
That left Gwen cooling her heels for the remainder of the morning.She wondered which of her brother’s horrible friends he would summon to perform the exam.Joseph had at least two friends who were physicians, and she would not have trusted either of them to remove a splinter.Harry Hastings and Andrew Mapplethorpe were not what you would call dedicated to the medical sciences; much to the contrary, they were every bit as dissolute as her brother.
Gwen was fairly certain her brother would send Harry Hastings.She shuddered at the thought.Harry had a leering way of looking at her and a habit of standing too close.Several times, he had brushed her bosom with a shoulder or the back of his hand.Gwen didn’t think it had been an accident.
She shuddered to imagine what an exam with Harry would be like.
When the knock finally came, it was well past noon.Joseph entered the room, but to Gwen’s surprise, he was accompanied not only by Harry Hastings but also by a dignified man with spectacles and a grey beard who carried a leatherbound notebook in one hand.
Joseph looked as though he had just drunken bile.“Gwen,” he said acidly, “you know Dr.Hastings.And thisgentlemanwho has insisted on joining us is?—”
“Dr.William Pickering,” the man said, offering his hand to Gwendolyn to shake.“I am here at the behest of your barrister, Mr.Finnimore.”
The glare Joseph turned on Gwendolyn was murderous.“I was not aware that you had a barrister,sister.”
Gwen hadn’t been aware, either.It was the Wicked Widows’ doing, no doubt.But she lifted her chin.“I do.”
“Splendid.”Gwendolyn could tell by Joseph’s look that she was going to pay for this new development, but she returned his glare with a mulish look.She was inches from victory, and she was not about to back down now.
Dr.Pickering clapped his hands.“Let us proceed.I am sure Mrs.Simpkins will want to conclude this matter as expeditiously as possible.”He turned toward the open door.“Mrs.Whitby, if you will join us.”
Joseph held out a hand.“That won’t be necessary.”
“Certainly, it will,” Dr.Pickering said firmly.“A female practitioner is an absolute necessity.She will be conducting the physical portion of the exam if Dr.Hastings insists that one is necessary.”
“It absolutely is necessary,” Joseph snapped.“And the exam will be performed by a physician of my choosing, not by a woman with no qualifications of any sort, who is being paid by my sister’s barrister!”
“No qualifications?”A petite woman who looked to be in her fifties, with grey streaks in her light brown hair had appeared in the doorway.“I have thirty years’ experience working as a monthly nurse, assisting some of London’s most prominent accoucheurs with their deliveries and attending the mother in the weeks that follow.On nine occasions, when the babe came early and the physician could not be summoned in time, I delivered the baby myself, and on all nine of those occasions, both mother and child survived.I have attended three duchesses, six marchionesses, and many more countesses, viscountesses, and baronesses during their labors.And I feel confident that many of them would be willing to testify as to my upstanding character.”
Gwendolyn had never seen her brother look so furious as he came to understand that he had been outplayed, which was really saying something.
“Fine,” Joseph spat.“Have your own doctor, and your monthly nurse, for all the good it will do you!”He leaned forward, and Gwen could smell the sour-vinegar scent of his breath after yet another night of drinking.“I inspected your bedding.Personally.We both know the marriage wasn’t consummated!”
With a final glare, he stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind him and leaving Gwendolyn alone with three strangers.
“Well,” Harry grunted, starting toward Gwen and reaching down as if to grasp the hem of her skirt.“Let’s get this over with.”
Dr.Pickering stayed him with a firm hand on his shoulder.“Not so fast.I believe it likely that we will be able to resolve the question at hand through an interview.”
Harry scowled at the older man.“An interview?Nonsense.The only way to tell for sure will be through a physical exam.”
