She looked up sharply at Daniel, eyebrows high. “Did he?”
“Well, I asked him about you. How you were ... and everything. He deduced the rest himself.”
“I see.”
“And your son. What do you call him?”
“Dr. Taylor and I were just discussing that very topic. I have decided to call him Edmund, after my grandfather.”
“That was my father’s name as well.”
She looked away from both men’s gazes. “Yes,” she murmured. Charles Harris smiled through fresh tears. “You honor me.”
Charlotte’s gaze shifted to her sleeping son. “It was not my intention.”
“May I ... see him?” he asked.
She looked at Harris, clearly confused by his attention, but she complied, shifting the little bundle to her other side. Harris laid out both forearms on the bed to receive him. In the lamplight, Harris studied the small face, the tiny hands, and a new wave of sorrow stole over his features.
“He is beautiful ... perfect ...” He forced words over his tears. “Like his mother.”
Charlotte’s eyes filled with tears of her own at the man’s obvious awe layered over raw grief.
She smiled, causing a tear to run down each of her cheeks. She whispered, “Actually, he looks a great deal like you.”
Charles nodded, tears coursing down his face too.
Daniel stood there feeling the worst of interlopers and had just decided to leave the sad pair to themselves when Charles changed tactics.
“I cannot help wondering ... how will the two of you get along? I would help you if I could, but you know I haven’t any money of my own at present. Perhaps in time, but for now ... how will you live?”
“I do not know exactly, but we will manage.”
“Will you? Charlotte, forgive me, but I must ask. You are young, you might yet marry and have more children. Katherine, as you know, is much older. The pregnancy was very difficult for her and she has vowed never to bear another child should anything happen to this one.”
Charlotte stared at him. “What are you saying?”
“Charlotte ... think about it before answering.”
“Before answering what?” Her voice rose.
“Charlotte. Think. You could go back to your old life. Reenter society. I would raise him as my own.”
“He is your own! And that has never tempted you to any duty before now.”
“I do not deny I have treated you ill. But I would treat Edmund very well. You know I would be a good father to him. And Katherine ... You would be saving your cousin from a broken heart, from the brink of insanity.”
“It is you who is insane. Do you think I would just give my child to you? How dare you ask such a thing? He is my son!”
“He is mine as well.”
“He is yours no longer. You gave him up when you married my cousin.” She gathered her infant back into her arms and held him close.
“I had no choice.”
“You had a choice. And you made it. Now leave us alone. Leave, this instant.”
Daniel took a step forward, ready to escort Harris from the room, feeling none of the satisfaction he had anticipated now that Charlotte had refused him. There was no happy ending for such a situation as this.
