The parlor went still.
Mrs. Cahill’s hand drifted to her chest. The two maids exchanged glances. Evander stared at the woman in the wedding dress,holding his nephew as though she had been born to do it, and felt something catch inside of him that he did not want to examine.
Tommy’s eyes fluttered closed. Within seconds, his breathing evened, and he slept.
Mary looked up at Evander. Her eyes were bright.
“He has Charlotte’s eyes,” she said.
Mrs. Cahill stepped forward, and together they lowered Tommy into the basket. The baby’s lips moved once, twice, and then he settled into the wool lining with a sigh. Mrs. Cahill tucked the blanket around him and lifted the basket with both hands.
“We’ll take him to the room upstairs, Your Grace,” she said. “The one we’ve been preparing.”
Evander nodded. The housekeeper carried Tommy out, the maids trailing behind her, and the door closed, and the parlor was quiet.
Mary wiped a tear from her cheek with the back of her gloved hand. She did it quickly, as though hoping he would not notice.
He noticed.
“Was there a note?” she asked. Her voice was rough at the edges. “With the baby. Was there a note left behind?”
Evander reached into his coat and withdrew the folded paper. He held it out to her. Mary took it and opened it, and he watched her eyes move across Richard’s handwriting.
Her lips pressed together. She blinked twice.
“Tommy,” she murmured. A small, fragile smile crossed her face. “It suits him.”
She folded the note and held it out. Their fingers brushed as Evander took it back.
Something passed between them. A jolt. Brief and sharp, like touching a door handle in winter. Evander pulled his hand away and pocketed the note in a single motion. He turned toward the window.
“What do you intend to do?” Mary asked behind him.
“Find Richard and Charlotte.” He kept his back to her. “Ensure they marry. Make Tommy their legitimate child. That is the beginning and the end of it.”
“And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime, I will raise him.”
“Alone?”
“With a full staff and a nursery maid I am hiring this afternoon.”
Mary was quiet for a moment. “Charlotte’s belly would have been showing. That is why they disappeared before the wedding. She could not have walked down the aisle without all of London seeing.”
Evander turned. He had not considered that. He filed it away and resented her for being the one to think of it.
“That still does not explain why they vanished rather than confide in their families,” he said.
“No. It does not.” Mary crossed her arms. “But it explains the timing. And it means they planned this. Both of them. Together.”
Evander remained silent. She was right, and he knew it, and the knowing made the anger worse.
“You cannot raise Tommy alone,” Mary said. “You cannot shut my family out and pretend Charlotte played no part in bringing this child into the world. He is as much ours as he is yours.”
“The child is in my home. Under my roof. My brother left him to me.”
“Your brother left him on a doorstep.” Mary’s voice sharpened. “That is not the same thing.”
