Perhaps all relationships required more effort than was apparent. Perhaps the calm and warm behavior she saw between the couples now was merely a result of working through the maze of male/female differences.
As long as both members of the couple were willing to do so.
Was Hugh willing?
He’d returned last night. Although he still believed she had betrayed him, lied to him, and trapped him in order to father another man’s child, he’d made an effort at beginning their marriage with some aspect of intimacy.
Was that all about sex?
He’d needed some comfort.
And this morning, he’d held his hand upon her abdomen and expressed curiosity about the babies.
She wished he could trust her. She wished he had believed her. Oh, how different things might have been between the two of them if only he could be certain that these babies were his.
Would further discussion bring them closer together or wedge them further apart?
There was only one way to know.
Until then, she must lie abed. It was late in the afternoon already, but the sun remained high in the sky. The urge to move about, to seek out her new husband even, was strong indeed. It was going to take a great deal of self-discipline to curtail her activity, but she would follow the midwife’s instruction. She would listen to what her body told her.
Rose escorted the woman out and was just now returning with a tray loaded up with tea and sandwiches. Apparently, she took instructions from the midwife much better than she did from Penelope.
She assisted Penelope to a reclining position and handed her a cup of hot tea. “Drink up, Pen.” She placed a tiny sandwich on the saucer as well and watched her closely. “And eat. I’ll not take the blame if anything happens to your little ones. We’ve come too far to finish this race empty-handed.”
Penelope raised her brows. This was, in fact, something of a race. A race of endurance and strategy. Taking a bite of the sandwich, she nodded. “We won’t, Rose.”
Rose bit her lip and looked down at her apron. “And what of Danbury?”
Penelope considered the question thoughtfully. “It’s high time he jumped into this race with us, Rose. And not as an opponent. We need him to become a member of this team.”
Rose nodded in agreement.
How she would accomplish such a feat? She did not know for sure. But it was time for some plain speaking between them. When he returned, that was.
Ifhe returned.
He’d made a bad habit of disappearing in the most inconvenient times lately.
Chapter 22
Hugh knew he’d ill-used Penelope this morning.
Except that… she’d found completion as well. And she’d not been angry with him at all. As he contemplated the events of the past twenty-four hours, he had to admit to himself that he was not so filled with anger as he’d been before the wedding.
During the ceremony, he’d felt hostile resentment. Standing beside her, solemnly swearing to keep her and honor her for the rest of his life had left him feeling dead inside—cuckolded before he even signed the license.
It had been hiswedding.
It had felt more like his sentencing.
And yet, when he’d returned on his wedding night, he’d found a profound satisfaction with her. It had been different than any other lovemaking he’d experienced. He’d been tempted by the barmaid, earlier that day, aroused even when she’d sat in his lap, but it was as though his body knew he was no longer an unmarried man. He’d felt compelled to return to his home—to his wife, by God!
And Penelope had not been shy with him. At first, perhaps, but as the night progressed, she’d been adventurous and uninhibited.
He did not allow himself to dwell on those moments when he’d lost control of his emotions. Even though the emotional release had untied the knot he’d carried around for the past week.
He’d cried.
