Hewasshocked. He was hugely shocked that Annelise could be so credulous, but he tried to hide it. ‘Of course not,’ he lied. ‘If we could choose who we fall in love with, and vice versa, life would be a lot easier.’ And wasn’t that the truth? he thought. ‘Was it love at first sight?’ he asked, despite the pain the question caused him.
She shook her head. ‘No. But when it hit me, it was acolpo di fulmine.’
‘Sorry?’
‘It means I was hit by a thunderbolt. Which is nothing compared to what I feel I’ve been hit with now. Will you promise me something?’ she asked. Her face was so earnest it hurt him.
‘Anything.’ He meant it, too. He would do anything for Annelise. He had always felt that way about her.
‘You mustn’t tell anyone what I’m about to share with you. Do you promise?’
‘You have my word.’
‘I’m pregnant.’
Seconds passed while Stanley floundered, trying to find the right words.
‘Say something,’ she said.
‘Does he know?’
She shook her head. ‘I’ve only just guessed at the truth myself.’
‘You mean you don’t know for sure?’
‘I don’t need a test to tell me what I already know. I’ve been feeling sick every morning since I arrived home.’
‘But you might have a stomach virus, or— ’
‘No, Stanley, it’s a baby growing inside my body that’s causing me to have morning sickness. There’s no point in pretending otherwise. I may have fooled myself into believing everything Harry told me, but I’m nowlevel-headed enough to know that the folly of my actions has to be confronted.’
Listening to her calmly blaming herself for the predicament she found herself in filled Stanley with the need to get into his car and drive to Oxford to kill the man who had done this to her.
‘What will you do?’ he asked, when he trusted himself to speak as calmly as Annelise had.
‘Will I keep the baby? Is that what you’re asking?’
‘Yes.’
She sighed. ‘The thought of giving the baby up for adoption appals me, but if I keep the child, how would I be able to carry on with my work in Oxford? There’s not a hope of St Gertrude’s wanting to keep me on as an unmarried mother. My career would be over.’
Stanley took his hands out of his jacket pocket and wrapped them around Annelise’s cold fingers. ‘There’s one very easy solution to the problem,’ he said. ‘Marry me. I’ll help you raise the child. For all intents and purposes, it will be ours. Together. Nobody need ever know that it wasn’t our child.’
ChapterFifty-Five
St Mary’s, Melstead St Mary
December 1962
Florence
Billy and his parents had always been members of the Salvation Army, and while Florence often attended the services with her husband, she didn’t always. This particular Sunday morning she had fancied a change – and time away from hermother-in-law – and had come to St Mary’s. If she had stayed at home, even on the pretext of writing Christmas cards and cooking lunch, Ruby would accuse her of being godless and bound for hell. Who wasn’t in Ruby’s eyes? Apart from Billy, that was.
The Reverend Allsop had now drawn his ratherlong-winded sermon to a close, and the organist started playing ‘Thine Be the Glory’. With everyone rising to their feet, Florence glanced around at the congregation, wondering if it was one of them who was sending the anonymous letters. No one struck her as a likely candidate, but what did she expect the person to look like? Another thought then occurred to her. Who else here had received a letter? And was it only women who had been singled out?
When the hymn came to an end and they once again sat down to bow their heads in readiness for prayer, Florence spotted Julia Devereux amongst the worshippers. She was alone, which never happened. If she came at all, it was with her husband and invariably only for the special occasion services, such as Easter and Christmas.
When eventually the service was over and Florence was buttoning up her coat and pulling on her gloves, she joined the queue to get out of the church. While the vicar was engaged in conversation with a couple Florence only knew by sight and who had recently moved to the village, she found herself standing next to Julia.
