Lavinia squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, seemingly unable to speak. Edith nudged her over on the bed and sat beside her to stroke her hair away from her face.
“It is all right,” Edith crooned. “You needn’t tell me now. Just have a good cry. I won’t leave you.”
Lavinia looked up at her with shimmering blue-green eyes then buried her face into the covers and sobbed harder. Edith kept her word and stayed to comfort her friend until she was spent. When Lavinia’s tears began to dry, Edith retrieved a wet cloth from the washstand.
“Thank you.” Lavinia sat up on the bed. Her shoulders slumped forward.
Edith waited patiently while Lavinia wiped away the evidence of her tears before holding her hand out for the cloth. Once she’d returned it to the washstand, she sat beside her friend on the edge of the bed.
Lavinia grabbed her hand and held on tightly. Her expression was so dire Edith knew whatever she was about to reveal would be dreadful news. Edith’s heart knocked against her breastbone. She steeled herself.
“I—” Lavinia’s whispered voice broke. “I am pregnant.”
Edith clenched her teeth. If the marquess had tossed Lavinia aside after learning of her current state, Edith was going to bloody his nose. Better yet, she would ask Mr. McTaggart to perform the task. He would do just about anything for Lady Thorne and her kin, and Edith suspected he might enjoy punching a Sassenach, especially one who deserved it.
“That dirty, despicable blackguard! Where is he?” She hopped from the bed. “Is he still in the castle?”
Lavinia blinked at her. “Who? St. Ambrose?”
Edith’s hands landed on her hips. “Of course I’m referring to St. Ambrose. Tell me where he is and I’ll make sure he gets what he deserves.”
When Lavinia continued to stare with a slack jaw, Edith waved an impatient hand in the air. “Forget I asked. You are in shock, you poor dear. He couldn’t have gotten far.”
Edith tried to storm for the door, but Lavinia launched from the bed. “No!” Her friend nearly tackled her to the floor. Fortunately, a plush chair broke Edith’s fall. She lay sprawled across it, no less in shock than Lavinia now.
“For pity’s sake, Lavinia. Were you trying to kill me?”
“Oh, dear!” Lavinia rushed forward to grab her under her armpits. “Edith, I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?” She tried to lift Edith, but she didn’t have the strength, and with the way Lavinia had Edith’s arms locked straight out at her sides, Edith couldn’t push herself up.
“Just let me go,” Edith snapped. “You shouldn’t be lifting in your condition.”
Lavinia released her and stepped back. “Sorry.”
After several moments of wrestling her skirts, which seemed determined to keep her prostrate across the chair, Edith managed to stand. She plopped her bum in the chair with an exhausted sigh and yanked her skirts hard to straighten them.
Lavinia giggled.
Edith glowered in return.
“Sorry,” Lavinia said again. If she was truly contrite, however, she had an odd way of showing it. She burst into laughter, doubling over and holding her stomach.
“Lavinia!”
She laughed even harder. Her laughter was infectious, and soon Edith couldn’t help joining her friend in cackling like a lunatic. She didn’t even know what was funny—Lavinia was having a baby. Her benefactor might have ended their association—and yet Edith hooted with Lavinia until tears streamed down her cheeks.
Eventually their laughter began to die down. Lavinia sat on the arm of the chair and grinned down at her. “I’m truly sorry,” she said.
Edith patted her leg. “Stop apologizing and tell me what has happened. Is Lord St. Ambrose angry? Has he left you here?”
“He doesn’t know, and you cannot tell him.”
Edith swiveled in the chair so she was facing her friend. “Lavinia, you are withchild. How do you expect to keep this information from him?”
“It’s impossible, I know. But I can’t tell him until we are far from Scotland. If August learns I am having his child, he will insist on marrying at once, and there aren’t many obstacles in Scotland to keep us from becoming husband and wife.”
Edith frowned. “You can’t think to remain unmarried now. Your child would be a bastard.”
“Don’t you think I know the consequences?” Lavinia surged to her feet and paced several steps away before turning to face Edith. “It is early yet. What if the pregnancy doesn’t progress as it should? If August marries me now and something happens…” Tears flooded in her eyes again. “I will not trap him in marriage. I wouldn’t be able to live with the knowledge he could have done better.”
