“Polly.” I smile, taking the chair that Sophia pulls out for me.
“You’ve got fat.” She looks up with a blank expression, like a delinquent child.
“Jack's been taking care of me too well,” I laugh, wishing she could just understand my motive behind all this.
“You're not fat at all; it’s all baby. I think it suits you.” Sophia tries to lighten the mood by rubbing my tummy and,as appreciative as I am for it, we can’t beat around the bush anymore..
“I’m full term now; the baby could come anytime. I thought we should maybe start making some plans.” Just saying the words puts a lump in my throat. How can so much have changed in such little time? How couldIhave changed so much?
“Selena’s been getting quite comfortable here. I don’t think she wants to leave.” Sophia nudges her and gets a glare back from her in response.
“It was one time, and I was very, very drunk,” she admits.
“It was three times, and you were barely tipsy,” Polly corrects her, still looking miserable that I’m here.
“I’ve promised Jack I’ll stay for a week after the birth so I can recover, and?—”
“You don’t recover from something like this.” Polly scoffs a cruel laugh, getting up from the table and heading for the corridor towards the bedrooms. I go to stand up, slowed down by the heavy load I’m carrying, and refusing Sophia’s offer of help.
“Don’t walk away from me like that.” I follow after Polly, entering the bedroom I assume is hers. “We need to talk about our plans.”
“I don’t want to talk about plans.” Polly shakes her head, moving over to the window and looking out of it to distract herself.
“Polly, I wish you’d understand that I’m doing this for us. For our freedom. You can’t be okay with knowing Jonah is out there. He could be watching us all right now.”
“Do you haveanyidea what you're letting yourself in for?” She laughs that cruel laugh that's really starting to piss me off.
“I know labour isn’t going to be fun, but this is ten million pounds we're talking about here, Pol.”
‘Labour is the easy part.” She turns her head to look at me, and the unshed tears in her eyes make my heart sink. “Yeah, it hurts, but nothing compares to handing over that little person that grew inside you, knowing you’ll never see them again.”
“Polly.” I step closer, reaching out to take her hand when I notice it trembling.
“I was fifteen when I got pregnant; my parents had just died, and I was too scared to tell Jonah.”
“Who was the father?” I rest on the edge of her bed, taking in what she’s telling me, and wondering how I’m just finding out that Polly had a child.
“He was one of the customers at Ravenshaw’s stately home brothel. One of the nicer ones, but not nice enough to take responsibility for it.” She sits beside me, seeming almost relieved that her secret’s been shared. “I hid it for as long as I could; I convinced myself that maybe I could make enough money to get us both away from everything. I know it sounds crazy, but I was desperate to keep it.” Her laugh is less bitter and much more sad. “I started to show; I started feeling protective, and when I refused to do something I thought would hurt the baby, one of thegentlemenmade a complaint. That complaint got back to Jonah, and when he found out, he was furious.”
“You were still working while you were pregnant?” I’ve heard about what kind of things happened at Ravenshaw's secret club, and I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been for her.
“Pregnant or not, working has never been my choice. Jonah always had me under his control…until you.” The slight smile she makes lets me know she’s grateful, and it gives me hope we can get past all this.
“So what happened to the baby?” I ask, knowing it’s going to be hard for her to answer, but having to know.
“Jonah did what he always did. He monetised the situation. I was too far gone to have an abortion, but he managed to finda couple who were desperate enough for a baby that they would pay his price. In fact, he found three couples.” She closes her eyes and breaks down. “You have no idea how hard it was for me; stringing them all along, watching them get excited and thinking they were about to become parents.”
“You conned them?” I’d like to say I’m surprised, but nothing surprises me when it comes to him.
“Two of them were conned. Jonah, at least let me pick which couple would actually get the baby when it came.” She wipes her tears with her sleeve.
“I picked a good couple. They lived in Scotland, in the country. I always wanted to live somewhere like that when I was a child, so I figured my child would want that.”
“Polly, I had no idea. Why have you never told me this?” I thought the two of us were close. Ever since that day she came to me and told me what kind of person Jonah really was, we've been inseparable.
“Because it hurts, Grace. It burns like an empty hole in my heart and stomach, and although our circumstances aren’t entirely the same, you're going to burn too.” This time she grabs both my hands, likeI’mthe one who needs sympathy.
“Polly, you know me. I go into every job focused; I knew what this was, going in. This baby isn’t mine.” I try not to let the sting of those words show on my face.
