“Looking back,” she said, “it seems as if he was always that way, which isn’t true, naturally. My point is that I knew what it looked like. I don’t recognize it in you.”
“I walked for a very long time.”
“Mm. Perhaps that’s it. Jeremiah drank.”
He nodded. “So I’ve come to understand.”
“He never had a slow boil. Only a rapid, raging one.” Lily fell quiet again then made a visible effort to shake herself off. “I don’t know why I told you that. We were talking aboutVictorine.” She pulled out a chair and sat at a right angle to Roen. He poured tea into her cup and she reached for the sugar. “When is the baby due?”
“I didn’t ask and she didn’t offer.”
“Well, then, how far along is she?”
In response, he cupped his hands in front of him to indicate the swell of Victorine’s belly.
Lily shook her head. “That’s the best you can do? You make your living calculating things.”
“All right.” He flung his mind back to the last time he had been intimate with Victorine and worked from there. “My best estimate is that she’s at least six months. If it’s less, I cannot be the baby’s father.”
“Perhaps you can insist that she have an examination. Ridley might be able to accurately determine the length of time.”
“Lily, it doesn’t matter when she conceived or when she gives birth. I am done with her. I had to remind her that sheshotme. I didn’t think I’d have to remind you as well.”
“I hadn’t forgotten. She must be foolishly desperate if she’s turning to you.”
“Foolishly desperate? She’s lost her mind.”
“I know it must seem that way.”
Roen’s low growl came from the back of his throat.
Lily paused in stirring sugar into her tea and looked at him askance. “Oh, I recognize that simmering sound. Do you need to go outside to clear your head?”
Roen rubbed the back of his neck, rolled his shoulders, and finally stretched his legs under the table. “No,” he said. “I’m fine. But if you feel safer in the front room with Lizzie, I’ll understand.”
“I feel safe here.” And it was true. She was not afraid he would hurt her physically, but she was also not unaware that she was vulnerable to other kinds of hurt. She sipped her tea. “What do you suppose she will do next?”
“I thought a lot about that while I was walking. I don’t know. If she had sense, she would leave, but I don’t imagine that will happen anytime soon. Did I tell you she hired a private investigator? That’s how she was able to find me.”
“Were you hiding from her?”
“No, but only because I didn’t expect this.” He laughed humorously. “I would have made a better job of it if I’d known she’d come for me.”
“She could have surprised you and shown up unannounced. It’s curious that she sent you that telegram. Why do you suppose she did that?”
“I don’t like pretending that I know how she thinks. It’s uncomfortable and, if I’m honest, a little frightening.”
“Guess.”
“All right,” he said, resigned. “She sent it to needle me. It gives her pleasure to take a poke at me. I told you at the outset I wasn’t sure she would even come. She’d derive some satisfaction knowing I was looking over my shoulder. I know it’s an exaggeration to say Victorine’s lost her mind, but you have to believe me when I say she isn’t well.”
Lily nodded slowly. “I believe you.”
He went on as if she hadn’t spoken. “Her recounting of the end of our relationship was a fantasy. She said she was the one who broke it off. She changed her story about being with other men, denying it totally, saying my accusation stung and that she admitted the affairs in retaliation.” He snapped his fingers. “That quick she was to explain it all away.”
“Or perhaps not so quick,” said Lily. “She’s had a lot of time to practice her lines. She’s shrewd, Roen.”
“And unwell.”
