The voice came from the other side, where Erasmus sat against a stack of pillows, from which he gazed at the baby. He had a hand on the child’s blankets while the boy dozed, reassuring himself that he yet breathed.
She could think of one thousand things to ask him, her new husband, but the question she picked first surprised even her.
“Why did your parents name you Erasmus?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve heard that name before.”
He chuckled, shifting his gaze from the infant to her. “They came from a long line of dissenters. Quakers.”
“They were nonconformists?” she asked. But then, those with food on the table could afford to hold unorthodox ideas.
“By my parents’ time, the family had drifted into a learned sort of disinterest in religion. My mother and father worshiped the great philosophers, Erasmus of Rotterdam above all.”
“Is Rotterdam in Berkshire?” she asked.
“The Netherlands. Across the Channel,” he said. “I visited while serving abroad.”
“You were a soldier?” she asked. He didn’t seem like one.
“A diplomat. Specialist in languages.”
Her heart felt as though she’d jumped from a hayloft. Her husband was an expert in other languages, and yet she couldn’t do more than the very simplest reading in her own.
“What’s that frown?” he asked. His hand twitched like he wished to touch her, but he stayed where he was.
“I fear you’ll find me a poor wife, Mr. Mange…”
“Mangevileyn.”
“It’s just that, until two weeks ago, I was simply a laundress at a workhouse.”
“Mrs. Mangevileyn.”
“Yes?” she asked, holding her breath.
“Did you know it was Lady Day when you found your way into my barn to deliver our son?”
“The Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” she responded by rote. “March 25th each year.”
“At least one of us knows Church doctrine,” he said, smoothing the baby’s hair.
“I didn’t have the slightest sense of time or even season when I reached your land. I simply thought I would die if I didn’t rest a bit before moving on.”
“It would seem fate brought us together. Who am I to question it?” he said.
“I didn’t mean to cause such problems for you. When I’ve recovered, I can carry on with my journey.”
“Where are you headed?” he asked, staring into the fire that had been banked for the night.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I needed to get away.”
She didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t press her. Had he, Amy would have fled into the night the moment he fell asleep. But she had a sense that Erasmus Mangevileyn was a patient man.
“Would you object to my sleeping here so I might assist with Phineas?” he asked, gesturing to the baby resting safely in a basket between them.
Amy laughed. Was this how fine gentlemen behaved with their wives? No wonder they had so few children! Asking permission to stay in an enormous bed he owned!
“If I said no?” she asked, her brow arched. Suddenly, she felt a little like her old self. Like the girl who teased and quipped despite her hands being chapped by lye and cold water. She twisted her fingers together, conscious of how far she was from a refined lady.
“I suppose we’d have to hire a nurse for Phineas — so that you might getsomesleep,” he said, all seriousness, as if she had a choice and he’d pay the wages based on her whim.
