Fosterson stared at her, an arrested look in his eyes.He spoke slowly, feeling his way.“A good man who made one admittedly hefty mistake gets a second chance instead of hanging.A man who behaved badly, constantly, has learned about consequences and will do better.It’s a bit like doctoring, isn’t it?”
“Often down to the gore,” Piers agreed cheerfully.“Shall we go to dinner?”
Chapter Fifteen
“You know,” April said, brushing out her hair before bed that night, “I wouldn’t be surprised if, in an odd way, this didn’t benefit Becky’s self-confidence.She seemed so surprised that anyone could feel as strongly about her as Barley did.And that Edward wouldn’t sully her reputation by naming her.”
“Edward certainly seems to have benefitted from being hit on the head.If the change lasts beyond his recovery.”Piers, who had come up to bed with her for once, was sitting up against the pillows in his ornate dressing gown, his knees drawn up with an open book resting against them.He wasn’t reading it but watching April’s familiar routine.Just over a year ago, when he had first met her, her hair had been short, dirty and knotted.Now it shone like a halo.“It could have been a great deal worse.”
April nodded, her gaze meeting his in the glass.“Barley won’t offend again, will he?”
“He knows I’ll be watching.”
April smiled, believing him—rightly, as it happened.These days, Piers juggled so many tasks and issues at a time, that he suspected sometimes he would break beneath the burden.Only he never had.So far.On the contrary it helped keep the old blackness away.
Or perhaps that was all because of April.
She laid down the brush and stood up from the dressing table.She wore only a nightgown, a flimsy piece of lacy nothingness that made the pulses race, and a thoughtful expression.
“I wouldn’t even be surprised if Becky and Edward formed a more serious relationship.”
“Like Mr.and Mrs.Park?You are an incurable romantic.”He raised the bedcovers.
“You think I’m wrong?”she asked, climbing in beside him.
He tucked the covers around her, his hands lingering.“I didn’t say that.”There was much he had to say, however, though he didn’t quite know where, or how, to begin.He drew in his breath to try.
“I’m surprised you came up to bed with me,” she said.“I thought you would take part in the nightly ritual in the library.”
“We are here for a fortnight.And I’m not blind to the difficulties you have faced among these particular strangers.”
She was always generous.“They are less strangers than they were.”
“I’m glad to see you more at ease with them.”
“Do they still worry you?”
