‘I will make enquiries,’ said Thea, ‘but I think you may be missing the point, George. I am bothering you with it as the baby is yours.’ Fury still bubbled inside her, winning against the fear.
He sat up at that, and his eyes flicked this way and that. She saw the moment there was a spark of recognition. ‘The brown haired one who does the fires?’
Thea stared at him. ‘No. Annie is blonde and manages your children, not fires.’
‘Ah,’ he said, scratching himself. ‘That one.’
‘Yes,’ said Thea, clenching her jaw. ‘That one.’ But she also made a mental note to check on the fire girls.
‘I see,’ he said, sitting back and drumming his fingers on the seat, actually looking like he was thinking. ‘At least we have Edward. There will only be problems with inheritance if it is a boy.’
‘Inheritance?’ asked Thea, incredulous.
‘If it’s a girl it has no claim,’ said George, ‘but a boy would be a problem. Edward inherits the estate but if anything happens to him my bastard son could make a claim on the estate over the girls. Perhaps we should have another son?’
Thea felt sick at the thought. ‘I believe Doctor Cope said that would be a bad idea, after the trouble I had with Abigail.’
George glanced at her. ‘I didn’t realise you had trouble. What about the girl then, we can’t have the son of a commoner having a claim on Hawkdean.’
‘You didn’t seem to mind that when you got her pregnant.’ She knew she shouldn’t have said it, but it was out before she knew. He stared at her angrily.
‘That is different,’ he spat, ‘and I would encourage you to remember it. ‘How far on is she? Is it too late to do anything about it?’
Thea only stared at him. If she thought she could get away with it she would have strangled him there and then. In fact she might, if she stayed here. She had to get out, just for a little while.
‘I’m going away,’ she said. ‘To Milford, and I am taking the children. I will be back before the shooting party.’
‘You will not go without my permission,’ he said.
She took two steps toward him. ‘I am going,’ she said definitely.
‘How long had he been – doing it?’ asked Thea to her lady’s maid as they looked over rolling countryside. They stood on a hill outside an inn at Petersfield where they had stopped to change the horses. After the conversation with George she had instructed the staff and left for her family’s house at Milford. She knew she had overstepped with George and she shouldn’t have done it, but she couldn’t see any other way. She had no doubt she would face the consequences on her return. She wouldn’t leave either Annie or Joan in his presence without her being there to protect them, so that meant that the children were along for the ride, too. She tried to push him out of her mind for the time being.
‘Not long,’ said Joan, looking at the view in the other direction. She was clearly as uncomfortable with this conversation as Thea, but neither of them wanted to add to Annie’s distress by making her recount the details. ‘It was only while Miss Bellegarde was up in town being treated for… well, being treated by the doctor.’
Thea looked at Joan who glanced at her and then away again. Clearly her husband couldn’t even keep it in his breeches for a couple of weeks after he had obviously infected his mistress. With something from one of the Covent Garden ladies he had enjoyed whilst in town, Thea supposed. Then another thought hit her.
‘I shall ask Doctor Speckle to speak to Annie, too. Get her a preparation of some sort.’
‘I think that would be appreciated,’ said Joan.
Blast her husband – no consideration for anyone or anything other than himself. The anger bubbled up in Thea, but she had tokeep it together. Now everyone was here, she was in charge once again, whether she liked it or not.
‘Did he… did he ever try it with you?’ she asked, with a thick throat. It made her want to vomit just thinking about it.
Joan paused. ‘No,’ she said. ‘But he did make it clear that he could. It is easier for me to be out of his way as I am mostly in your apartments and around people in the downstairs.’
Thea nodded.
‘And anyway, he…’ she stopped.
‘He what?’ asked Thea, wondering what else there was.
‘He made it clear that I would be a last resort, because I am brown, and I would be lucky if he gave me his time.’
Thea gritted her teeth but couldn’t stop the word coming out.
‘Bastard.’
