Rose set her cup back on the tray, folded her hands in her lap, and stared at them. What this would take, she didn’t know if she had in her.
“I know.”
Rose looked up Emalyn.
“I’ ish never eashy, Rosh. Never.” She pointed at the door again. “What we have ish worth all the pain. You musht do thish. Now.”
Rose wiped her eyes. “Now.”
Emalyn nodded. “Now. Go.”
She did. Perhaps itwastime, after all. The door to Philip’s study stood ajar, and Rose tapped lightly on the dark wood. Her husband’s low, familiar baritone answered. “Enter.”
She pushed open the door, watching as he made a few more notations in a ledger before looking up. When he did, he straightened, leaning back in his chair. “Rose?”
She still hesitated. “May we talk?”
He stood. “Of course. Come in.”
She did, closing the door as he emerged from behind the desk and motioned toward the wingbacks near the fireplace. She shook her head. “I would rather stand.”
“Of course.” He crossed his arms, apparently as nervous as she was. “What can I do for you?”
So formal. But he looked godawful, which Rose knew probably reflected her own appearance. Deeply shadowed eyes and darkened lines in his face made him look far older than his three decades. Rose gestured behind her. “I just had tea with your mother...”
“Early. How is she today?”
“Angry.”
He gave a half-smile. “What has my father done now?”
Rose almost laughed at his words, so close to what he had said their wedding night. “Do the Ashton men always upset their wives?”
He braced his chin on his fist. “It’s a family trait.”
“Apparently.”
He blinked. “Rose—”
“She’s angry at us. You and me. Mostly me.”
His eyes widened. “Us? For what?”
She pointed at herself, then him. “For not talking. For not—for letting what happened to her take the place of what we should be doing for each other. I know you wanted to give me time, but—”
“We have been somewhat preoccupied.”
“She thinks that is an excuse.”
“We needed time—”
“Thomas, I’m with child.”
He froze. When he finally spoke, the word barely reached her. “What?”
She repeated it more calmly. “I’m with child.”
His face lost more of its color, darkening the lines around his mouth. “But we haven’t—”
