‘If he’s catting about, then at least she can deny him the marriage bed– save herself all sorts of nasty diseases that way,’ said Susan philosophically.
‘The law won’t protect her.’ It was nearly impossible for a woman to gain a divorce; separation was the best she could hope for.
‘But the husband doesn’t seem the violent sort, just weak. You can tell from the chin.’ Susan pointed to her own firm jaw. ‘If she has any brain, she’ll work out an arrangement with him.’
‘Perhaps we should send you to counsel her,’ said Jacob. ‘She might appreciate the voice of experience.’
Susan, a widow, scowled. ‘I’ll have you know my husband never strayed– he didn’t dare!’
‘But you’ve seen plenty who have done– that’s all I meant,’ said Jacob, quickly trying to dig himself out of the offence he had unwittingly caused.
Dinner eaten, schoolwork marked, everyone departed, Dora and Jacob were finally left alone in the office.
‘Well, darling,’ said Jacob, folding his arms. ‘We appear to have a Ruby-shaped problem.’
‘You don’t have to keep to the engagement,’ said Dora quickly. She had been thinking about it. She had barely got used to the idea that he was serious about his offer and was expecting it to fall apart at any moment, so this didn’t come as a surprise.Someone of Jacob’s exalted social status did not marry a bastard daughter of a Liverpool merchant, especially not one who had made a profession for herself on stage.
Jacob shook his head. ‘You said you would consider marrying me, which from you is almost as good as agreement, and I’m not letting you back away from that– it was hard enough to persuade you.’
‘But if your brother?—’
‘My bloody brother has nothing to do with it.’
‘But he does. Ruby! The child!’ The more Dora thought about it, the bleaker she felt about their situation, trying to go against the wishes of everyone they knew. What good could arise from a marriage under those circumstances?
‘Your friend should be thinking of you for once.’
‘I can’t do this to her!’
‘Why not? I can’t understand why you are even friends with her. All I’ve seen is that she takes from you while offering scant back.’
How to explain the years of surviving together on the northern circuit, the laughter in rehearsals, the shivering together in winter, the dusty walks in summer sweating through the last item of clean clothing? Ruby had saved her life once, sending fishermen out to save her when she got in trouble in the water. They were comrades in hardship. For all her selfishness, Ruby would be there if Dora needed her, she was certain of that. And Ruby needed Dora now– needed her not to mess up the situation she had found for herself with a gentleman who was prepared to look after another man’s child. ‘I don’t expect you to understand.’
Jacob looked like he was biting back several choice responses to that. Instead, he said:
‘I refuse to live my life to please others. I suggest you do the same.’
He was right, of course, but how exactly was one to achieve that when aware of the cost? ‘Maybe after the baby… when things settle down.’
‘Settle down? Dora, look at our last few months. When will things ever settle down?’ He paced to the map and scowled at England. She knew what he was thinking. They had gone up and down the country several times recently, grieved for lost loved ones, hunted killers or been hunted by them– they hadn’t chosen a profession that promised peace and quiet.
She really didn’t want to hurt him, but neither did she want to hurt Ruby. ‘I’m sorry.’
He turned on her, real anger in his expression. ‘No, Dora, you don’t get to do that. You don’t get to spoil what we have because my brother is keeping a woman while he has a perfectly decent wife of his own. I save my pity for Diana.’
‘But Ruby has nothing?—’
‘The fact that his mistress is a friend of yours is neither here nor there. He is the one at fault, not us.’
‘But Ruby?—’
He ran his fingers through his hair, tugging at the roots in a frustrated gesture. ‘I’m not blaming your friend, Dora. I do realise that a woman in her situation has few good choices. But Arthur? He can bloody well reform and be the upright model husband and father he pretends to be and stop preaching at me for loving someone of a lower social standing!’
‘This isn’t about the quarrel you have with your brother,’ said Dora.
‘Oh, but it is. If he is prepared to throw over Ruby because I marry you, then that is on him, not me.’
‘We have to acknowledge that what we do has consequences.’
