Hope swallowed as anger rose thick in her throat. She clenched her jaw, fingers tightening around one another as she continued to sit straight-backed on the chair.Hersituation? Did this woman not understand that it took two people to make a baby, and that Gus wanted this child just as much as she did? That she hadn’t somehow trapped him into staying with her, into providing for her and welcoming her into his life? She stayed silent, knowing that if she opened her mouth she might very well say something she’d come to regret.
‘Of course, my son understood the right thing to do, although from what I gather you gave him very little choice when you announced your?—’
‘First you call my pregnancy asituation, and then you infer that I gave your son no choice in the matter?’ Hope said, her voice an angry whisper. ‘Your son loves me, whether you choose to believe it or not, and I didn’t trap him, if that’s what you’re insinuating. That couldn’t be further from the truth, and I dare say you know it.’
His mother watched her with both eyebrows raised into points, continuing to speak as if she hadn’t heard a word of what Hope had said. ‘As I was saying, now that he’s away, I’m certain he’s been relieved to have the time to rethink his decision. Which is why I’ve asked you here today.’
A line of sweat broke out above Hope’s top lip. This certainly hadn’t been a social call. What a fool she’d been to think his family had changed their minds about her! His mother was as awful now as she’d been from their very first meeting.
‘I’d like to offer you an alternative, and I hope you’re clever enough to acknowledge my generosity once you hear my proposal.’
‘An alternative to marrying your son?’ Hope asked, barely able to breathe. Who did this woman think she was? ‘An alternative to being welcomed into your family? Do you understand that I am soon to become your daughter-in-law?’
‘You will never be welcomed into this family, Hope. I want to make that very clear,’ she said. ‘You will not be accepted as our daughter-in-law, and should my son return and marry you, he will be forced to make his own way in the world, so please don’t entertain any fantasies about beingwelcomed.’ She said the word with a shudder, as if it were truly abhorrent. ‘Although I’m certain he would have come to his senses well before he made the biggest mistake of his life, with or without my intervention.’
Hope thought she might explode, her face was so hot, her chest like a furnace. ‘You would do that to your son, for choosing love? You would cast him out simply because he didn’t want to marry a woman of your choosing?’ Hope asked, shaking her head. ‘How a woman like you raised such a wonderful, loving man is beyond me. You don’t deserve him.’
Hope should have held her tongue, she knew that, but she couldn’t sit and let this woman speak to her in such a way. She was acting as if Gus had somehow been tricked into being withher, as if their baby hadn’t been conceived in love, as if he didn’t want to be with her just as much as she wanted to be with him.
‘Love?What do you know oflove?’ his mother scoffed. ‘You targeted my son because you knew he came from money, and you convinced him to be part of your illegal business. Need I remind you of your little enterprise? Or have you already forgotten what could happen to you if your involvement was discovered?’
Hope did hold her tongue then, because even though Gus’s mother couldn’t have been more wrong, she wasn’t going to argue about it. Not now. Not without Gus at her side. He’d told her to wait for him, and that was exactly what she was going to do. She didn’t need to argue with a woman who’d already decided she hated her. She also didn’t need anyone to tell her how she and Gus felt about each other.
Hope rose, one hand protectively touching her middle. ‘One day, when you’re an old lady sitting alone in this house, you’ll wish you hadn’t been so cruel to me. You’ll wish you had a son and a grandchild who were part of your life, that you hadn’t tried to cast us out. And it will be your fault that you’re alone.’
‘But my dear, that’s where you’re wrong,’ she said, as the maid re-entered, holding a crisp white envelope that she passed to Gus’s mother. ‘Now this is for you, and I suggest you take it. Then we’ll never have to have a conversation like this ever again, and we’ll never have to talk about what it might be like for you to find yourself in handcuffs, should the authorities discover what you’ve been up to.’
‘You wouldn’t,’ she whispered. ‘You wouldn’t do that to your son. To our unborn child.’
His mother’s steely gaze told Hope that she was wrong.
She fought against her better judgement and reached for the envelope, opening it even though the knot in her stomachsuggested she turn and walk away. She slid her nail beneath the seal, sucking in a breath as she realised what she’d been given.
The envelope was filled with money.
‘I don’t ever want to see you again, or meet your bastard child,’ his mother said, dismissing the maid with a nod of her head. ‘I want you to leave France, and my family never wants to hear from you again, or else I’ll make certain that you’re arrested.’
Hope lifted her chin. ‘Mybastardchild? That’s truly how you want to speak of your firstborn grandchild? You would really have me arrested and your grandchild born in prison?’
Anger simmered inside Hope, the word used to describe her baby making her want to scream. But she refused to give this woman any ammunition to use against her, to help her prove her point that she was somehow inferior.
‘You were wrong about my wanting to choose my son’s future wife,’ she said. ‘I just want to ensure that the woman he falls in love with comes from a respectable family. A woman who understands her place in the world. A woman deserving of a man like him.’
Tears burned in Hope’s eyes. She had money; Gus had left her with everything they’d made so far, but she knew there was only so long it would last if she had no other way to earn more. Especially when she didn’t know how long he would be gone.
‘The money in the envelope is for you, Hope, on the condition that you disappear. If you take our money and don’t leave France within the fortnight, then we’ll have no choice but to turn you over to the authorities immediately. I’m certain they’d be very interested in hearing all about the illegal activities you were involved in, and I’ve made sure to keep the evidence.’ The words were spoken with a dismissive shrug. ‘I’ll also make certain that they understand my son was an unwitting participant in your criminal goings-on.’
‘You truly think they’d believe that a girl like me knew how to distil alcohol? They’ll know it was Gus, and you know it, too.’
‘Are you prepared to risk it? Because Gus has known the local policeman since he was a boy, and I think he’d be only too happy to ensure that you were arrested instead of him.’
Hope’s blood ran cold at the thought. She and Gus had known the risks they were taking, but that was before. Before the baby, and before he’d had to leave. But instead of replying, she simply rose. She didn’t want to sit here a moment longer—couldn’t—and she knew she would only say something else she’d regret if she did.
‘Oh, and you asked if we’d received word from Gus,’ his mother continued, her smile filled with no hint of happiness. ‘The answer is yes, we have, and now that he’s had the time to think about your situation, he agrees that this is the best way forward. It would be preferable to everyone involved if you left and were never heard from ever again, so I sincerely hope you accept my offer.’
Hope might have been able to stay silent before, but she certainly couldn’t now. Tears welled in her eyes and she balled her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms. She was yet to receive a letter from him, but she didn’t for a moment believe he’d have written to his family and said any such thing.
‘You call my child a bastard and now you’re trying to lie to me about the way Gus feels about me?’ she spat. ‘How dare you. We’re to be married the moment he returns, and there is nothing you nor anyone else can do to stop us.’
