Why would Simon take them away instead of demanding the professor leave?
“You can’t stop me,” Simon said.
“I won’t have you treating your wife and daughter like horses.”
“You shouldn’t meddle, Dad.” The last word, drawn out, sounded like a sneer.
“You are welcome to leave on your own, Simon, but I’ll cut off your inheritance if you take Izzy and the baby. The three of us will manage just fine without you.”
“I don’t need your money.”
“You’re a fool, Simon. Your mother left her family in Cleveland for a reason, and she’d be devastated if she knew you’d returned to their schemes.”
Simon mumbled something else, but even with her ear hovering over the register, she couldn’t catch it.
“How are you going to provide for your wife and daughter?”
Her husband stepped under the vent. “I’ve looked after Izzy’s child well enough.”
“Izzy’s child?” the professor asked.
“She’s certainly not mine.”
Ice swept through her veins. Was Simon losing his mind too?
“Greta looks just like you!” the professor snapped.
“And Isadore isn’t my wife.”
“Of course she is—”
“We never married.”
Never married?Izzy dropped back on the floor, clutching her stomach. What was happening? They’d had their wedding last year. She had a ring.
“Izzy seems to think you’re married.”
“She knows the truth,” Simon snapped. “She never even asked to sign a license.”
Izzy’s head spun. She’d obtained a license to drive in Elms. Did she need one for marriage too? Simon’s friend, a reverend in Cleveland, had married them. The man would have told her if she needed to sign a paper.
Unless he wasn’t a reverend at all.
Oh, Lord.What if the whole thing had been a sham? What if she wasn’t really married?
That’s why Simon didn’t want her usingMrs. Farrowas her married name. Because it wasn’t true. And now, it seemed, he’d gone and married someone else. A woman probably twice his age.
Olivia Belle.
Had she gotten the license for marriage? The woman likely knew about such things. And she seemed to have plenty of money, even if she didn’t spend it on clothes.
Had Simon married Olivia for the money, after he found out Izzy’s parents didn’t own a paper mill?
Smoke drifted up from the parlor, and she scooted away from the grille, afraid she would gag. And then both men would discover her eavesdropping.
Simon didn’t know it yet, but she had another baby growing inside her. And how could she tell him now? He’d probably say it wasn’t his.
Or maybe she should tell him right away. He would have to divorce Olivia and get Izzy, the mother of his two children, a license.
