Given the circumstances, Spencer had to admit that his wife was reacting well.
She remained still for a moment, and he knew that it would go one of two ways once she moved. Either she would fly into rage, destroying everything in her path while cursing his name, or she would enter the room fully and want to listen to him.
Mercifully, she chose the latter, though she did not acknowledge him. Instead, she walked over to the boy, looking at him for a moment in silence before clearing her throat.
“I shall send for tea,” she said quietly, leaving.
Sophia looked at him, and then at the empty doorway.
“She seems… nice.”
“She is. I told you that she would understand.”
“I do not know that I believe that, but she seems nice. Gentle.”
“When she wants to be,” he chuckled. “Even if she is angry, it will not be with you. Come, sit down.”
“I am aware that I am intruding, Spencer. I will only stay if she allows it.”
“And she will. Enough of that for now. My wife wishes to host her guests, and that should be proof enough that she is happy for you to be here.”
Sophia sat down without further protest, and Spencer sat a short distance away. When Anna returned, she sat by Gilbert, who was staring at her with the widest eyes that Spencer had ever seen.
“Hello,” she said softly. “My name is Anna.”
“Mama!” he announced, clapping his hands together.
“I think Aunt would be better,” she laughed, looking at Sophia. “Might I play with him?”
“If you wish.”
There was almost an ease to the air, one that Spencer had not expected. It was as though a weight had been lifted from hisshoulders, for at last his wife knew the truth. It was a relief to know that he no longer had to hide his sister.
Half-sister, he remembered, wincing at the term. It was not how he had felt about Sophia from the moment he learned of her existence. She had always simply been his sister, but she did not see it that way.
“We shall not be here long,” Sophia said without needing to be asked. “I would not have come at all, but my son is unwell, and I did not know where else to turn.”
“You are more than welcome to stay as long as you need,” Anna replied.
“I told her that you would say that,” Spencer said. “I know that my actions might not have been the correct ones, but I knew that you would not make things difficult for her.”
He had perhaps said it with rather too much enthusiasm, for both ladies narrowed their eyes at him. Anna poured Sophia a tea and sat beside her, and Spencer felt as though he was the intruder more than anyone.
“You have made a lovely home here,” Sophia told Anna. “It is somehow homely even with how large it is.”
“Oh, thank you! That was my concern when I began. It is difficult to add warmth to stone walls.”
“Believe me, I know. My little house is the same, and I wish that it were more like this. This feels like ahome.”
“Where do you live? My dear husband has not told me.”
“He has not told you anything,” Sophia chuckled sadly. “He did not say a word of you to me, either. You must have thought that he was living a double life of sorts.”
“It was precisely that! We all thought that he had a secret family, but we did not once consider that the family was by blood.”
“Well, here we are.”
“Here you are.”
