“Yes.”
“Did he know whose child you were carrying?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “What a sordid mess.”
“Does anyone else know?” Mrs. Overtree asked. “Besides Stephen and those of us in this room?”
“I haven’t told anyone,” Wesley said. “Though Mr. Keith suspects the truth. As does O’Dell.”
Sophie remembered the noise she and Stephen had heard when they were talking in the hall about her past with Wesley, thinking they were alone. And again later with Wesley, when he suggested sailing away to France or Italy together. Had Miss Blake been in the passage behind the squint, watching and listening? Or Winnie? Sophie inwardly groaned.
“It’s possible someone else here knows,” Sophie admitted, head bowed.
“Meaning Mr. Overtree and I are not the first to come upon you in such a compromising position?” Janet Overtree’s eyes blazed.
“No, I didn’t mean that,” Sophie said. “But someone may have overheard Wesley and me... arguing.”
“What a nightmare. We must endeavor to keep this within the family. And if we can spare Katherine, let’s do. And my father! Heaven help us.”
“Wesley, you must put all thoughts of her from your mind,” his father said. “I cannot pretend to approve of what’s happened. In fact, I am shocked and appalled. But what’s done is done. Shall we add charges of adultery to your sins? Shall we invite yet more scandal to the Overtree name? No. Stephen is her husband. And you must abide by that. We all must.”
“What am I supposed to do when the child comes?” Wesley threw up his hands. “Pretend I don’t care? Give the babe a rattle and pat his head like a fond uncle and go on my way?”
“Yes. That is precisely what you must do.”
“I won’t. I can’t.”
“You will. Or you will drag us all down into the mud with you. What about your impressionable young sister? Her marriage prospects? And what about our friends and neighbors? Our church family? Our vicar? What are we to tell them, hmm? Are we to be shunned from the congregation that worships on our very grounds?”
“That’s not my problem.”
“Of course it is.”
“Oh, what are we going to do?” Mrs. Overtree wailed. “We are ruined. All ruined!”
“Be calm, Mrs. Overtree. It isn’t as bad as all that. Yet.” Mr. Overtree looked from one to the other. “We will pray and consider what is best to be done.” He gestured toward the paintings. “In the meantime, put those back in the crate and nail it shut. And, you two, stay away from one another. Do I make myself clear?”
At the door, Mrs. Overtree turned back with a final scathing look. “And don’t think I didn’t see those cats upstairs. Get them out of the house by day’s end—or I will do it myself.”
chapter 31
Sophie remained in her room that night, not going down to dinner. She was too mortified to face them all, and too upset to eat. Libby brought her a light supper, but Sophie only picked at it.
Her mind still reeled from that awful scene with the Overtrees and from learning that Wesley had sent a letter to Stephen, telling him she and Wesley still loved each other. What else had he written? Had he intimated she regretted marrying him? Preferred to be with his brother? Her stomach twisted at the thought.
Sophie laid a hand on her uneasy abdomen, feeling a kick in reply. “I’m so sorry, little one,” she whispered. “I have made a mess of everything.”Oh, God, please forgive me. Please bring somethinggood out of all this bad.
The next morning Sophie wrote a letter of her own. Then she counted the days it would take to reach Lynmouth, and how many for a reply to arrive. In the meantime, she stayed to her bedchamber as much as possible—having meals sent up on a tray and venturing down only when the post arrived.
Kate came by to check on her, concerned and curious, but Sophie simply claimed fatigue. She was certainly weary. Soul sick too.
At least Kate brought with her one piece of good news. Mrs. Overtree had given in to her daughter’s pleas and relented, allowing the kittens to remain in the house until they were weaned. After that, Kate and Miss Blake would try to find homes for them all. They had asked Mr. Harrison to help them when the time came, and he’d agreed. But for now, Kate, Winnie, and even Miss Blake would enjoy Gulliver’s offspring while they could.
One morning, Kate and Angela stopped by and invited Sophie to go upstairs with them to play with the kittens, but Sophie declined. She wanted to be on hand when the post arrived.
She went down to the hall at the usual time that afternoon. But instead of entering with a silver tray of letters, the butler entered with an announcement. “A Mrs. Thrupton to see you in the morning room, madam. If you are at home to callers?”
