Chapter 14
That night, we threw an impromptu engagement party for Lucinda and Harry. Alongside a joint of ham, Max opened a bottle of his finest wine from the cellar. He said he had been saving it for our ten-year anniversary, but as that was a while away, we might as well drink it now.
Lucinda could not really drink as she was breastfeeding and had to excuse herself a few times to go to the nursery. So Jane and I drank her share and went to bed giggly and tipsy. I woke up with quite a sore head.
After a late breakfast the next morning, we all gathered out front to bid farewell to Lucinda and Harry.
‘I will see you again, little one,’ she whispered to Freddie, whom I was holding in my arms. ‘Be good for your mama and papa.’ She kissed him on the cheek, and he clutched at her hair, entangling it in his fist and holding on tightly until Max sorted it out. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried not to see it as a sign.
But as Harry’s carriage moved off down the drive, Freddie let out a shocking bellow and started wiggling around in my arms.He knows,I thought tearfully.He knows his real mama has left him.
‘Quick, Fliss. Take him inside before Lucinda hears, and they turn the carriage around,’ said Max, and we hurried inside with our thrashing child.
Freddie settled down eventually and went to sleep in his cradle.
A short while later, the wet nurse arrived, and Max and I greeted her in the parlour. Rebecca—or Becky, as she asked us to call her—had come from an appointment in a nearby village. She said she was looking forward to a less demanding experience than feeding twin boys.
With her neat cap and dress, she seemed young, but knowledgeable. She asked me quite a lot of questions about my breastfeeding experience as I was showing her to the nursery, which I had to dodge. I simply said that it had been ‘painful’ and ‘not pleasant’ and that I was glad she was here.
‘Oh, ain’t he adorable?’ she said, peering into the cradle at the sleeping Freddie.
I hoped she would still think so once he woke up and found out that the bosom presented to him wasn’t Lucinda’s. Like Dorian, Freddie seemed to have particular tastes in women; and if the wet nurse wasn’t to his liking, I had a feeling he was going to let us know about it.
‘Do you ... do you have much trouble with babiesrejecting your milk? After they’ve been feeding from the mother, that is,’ I asked her.
She glanced at me curiously. ‘Not usually. They’re too small to know the difference, ain’t they? A tit is a tit to them.’
‘Ah,’ I said, wincing at her coarse language. ‘Very true. Well, I will show you to your room and leave you to get settled in before Freddie wakes.’
‘Thank you, ma’am,’ she said, bobbing a curtsy.
I tried to imagine Max’s expression if Becky had proclaimed that ‘a tit is a tit’ to him and could not!
Crossing my fingers that Freddie would not know the difference, I told Jane that I wanted to stay near the nursery (as she had suggested going for a walk). She agreed that it was wise, and we retired to the parlour after luncheon.
I was half-heartedly reading a novel and Jane was writing something at her desk when there was a faint squeal from upstairs, which made my shoulders tense.
‘Did you hear that?’ I asked Jane.
‘Hmm? No?’
‘It sounded like a woman squealing,’ I said worriedly.
‘Relax, Flissy, it was nothing.’
A few minutes later, I heard it again, and myheart beat faster in my chest. There was definitely something occurring in the nursery. Should I go up and interfere or leave Becky to deal with it? She had a lot more experience than I in matters such as this.
Twenty minutes later, during which I heard several more squeals, each making my fingers tighten on my book, there came a knock at the door.
Please please please, God, don’t let Becky leave,I prayed.
Opening the door, she was standing there, her face inscrutable. ‘May I have a word, ma’am? It’s about Freddie.’
My heart sank. ‘Of course, please come in. This is my friend Miss Austen. Do you mind if she stays?’
Becky shook her head. ‘If you both don’t mind me speaking plainly.’
Oh no,I thought.More tit talk.
