“You really are a simpleton, aren’t you, brother? Is it not obvious? Poor Lucy was the same.”
Who the fuck is that?
“Mr. Faulkes’s late wife—Nicola’s stepmother. When she fell pregnant, she was unwell almost all the time, sickening in the mornings. Nicola said it was enough to drive her insane—but then, Nicola detested Lucy.”
Sweet heaven—Olivia waspregnant?
Charles caught his breath as a nugget of joy ignited in his heart.
She’s expecting my child?
Jacob grinned. “I’d say so, though perhaps you should wait until she tells you herself.”
No wonder she’s distressed, given that Faulkes’s wife died in childbirth.
“In childbirth?” Jacob said, frowning. “Who told you that?”
My wife.
Jacob shook his head. “Lucy Faulkes fell down the stairs and broke her neck.”
Like Mother…
“Dr. Cheam delivered her child, but it was too late. The baby was stillborn.”
Dear God Almighty!
Jacob took Charles’s hand. “Forgive me, brother, I ought not to have mentioned it. Lucy Faulkes slipped on a stone, or a marble, or something, at the top of the stairs.”
Then why had Olivia lied about it? Or had Nicola lied to Olivia?
“It was an accident,” Jacob said. “You needn’t fear for Olivia. But if you’re concerned, you can always send for her family—she’s always speaking fondly of her sister-in-law.”
You care for her, don’t you?
Jacob laughed more softly. “Only as a brother cares for his sister.You’rethe one who loves her.”
He was right. And when Charles next saw his wife, he had every intention of finding a way to tell her exactly that.
I’m going for a ride. Would you care to come?
Jacob’s smile broadened and a flicker of delight shone in his eyes.
“There’s nothing I’d like more.”
The two of them exited the breakfast room and Charles made his way upstairs in search of his riding gloves and his wife. The former were in his dressing room, but the latter was nowhere to be found. Then he heard laughter outside and peered through a window to see Olivia, arm in arm with her friend, a basket over her arm, moving along the path toward the forest. He might disapprove of Nicola, but ifshe lifted his wife’s spirits, then he’d tolerate her for Olivia’s sake.
He pressed his hand to his heart and stood watching while they wound their way along the path then disappeared into the forest.
Then he made for the stairs, pausing at the top to glance at the longcase clock. He blinked and the image formed in his mind, the memory of the marble he’d retrieved from beneath the clock some weeks before.
What had Jacob said?
A stone…or a marble.
Chapter Thirty-Six
The path wascovered in a layer of frost that glistened in the winter sun, forming tiny diamonds on the ground. Olivia’s breath misted in the air in short, sharp puffs as she approached the forest, Nicola by her side. Before they reached the tree line, she paused and caught her breath.
