“You are here to see Mrs. Dunweedy?”
“Oh yes, Dr. Taylor has offered to come look in on me,” Margaret Dunweedy said. “He’s a good friend of my son. School chums, they were.”
“An awfully long way for a house call, is it not?” Katherine asked.
Dr. Taylor looked at the cottage and saw Charlotte in the window, her face pale and somber, eyes pleading.
“Not so great a distance,” he said. “I come this way now and again on business.”
Katherine Harris followed his gaze and no doubt caught a glimpse of Charlotte before she stepped away from the window. “What sort of business, I wonder.”
“Dr. Taylor, I should tell you,” Mrs. Dunweedy interjected, “I’ve taken a boarder since you were here last.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, her name is Charlotte Lamb, but I believe you knew her in hospital as Charlotte Smith. She has her daughter with her. Poor fatherless angel ...”
Lady Katherine appeared incredulous. “You mean to tell me you are not here to deliver ... to act on my behest of last autumn?”
“But of course I will,” Daniel said. “Now that I am here.”
As soon as Lady Katherine’s carriage disappeared down the road, Charlotte turned away from the window and faced him, her expression downcast.
“Dr. Taylor, please forgive me.” Charlotte all but pressed young Anne into his arms and took three long steps back. “I had no right to presume ... to claim your child as my own. How awful that must have made you feel.”
“And you would know,” he said softly.
She glanced up at him quickly, as though fearing censure. He smiled grimly, hoping to put her at ease.
He looked down at Anne for a moment before saying, “I had no idea, until this moment, just what an awkward predicament I placed you in, asking you to do this.”
“It is not your fault.”
“Still, I am not sure if what I am about to tell you will be a relief or a greater trial.”
Her gaze flew to his face. “What is it?”
He chewed on his lower lip. “Lizette is better.”
“That is wonderful. You—” she began, but he cut her off soberly.
“She wants Anne home with her.”
Charlotte’s mouth opened, but for three full ticks of the clock no words followed.
Then she said quickly, “Of course. How wonderful. I am happy for you. And for your wife. And, Anne—Anne should be with her mother.”
“Thank you,” he said with a single nod, then studied the floor. “Considering ... what just happened here—how difficult this is for you—and the fact that it will become, I’m supposing, only more difficult, I won’t ask you to come with us,” he said. “I will find another nurse and release you to find a more appropriate post ... or to return home.”
“I shall not be returning home,” she said.
“What will you do, then?”
“I do not know. I imagined I would be occupied with Anne for the foreseeable future. I should have been better prepared.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She smiled admirably, then asked, “Are you returning to London?”
