“He hasn’t told his mother,” she said flatly.
A defensive gleam lit in Hannah’s eyes.
“He just wants to get her to agreewithoutresorting to that,” she protested. “It’s not that hewon’tif it comes to that.”
“Hannah,” Phoebe said, really, truly digging deep to try to sound understanding, “it already has come to that. The longer this plays out, the more obvious it will be when the babe arrives early.”
At the wordbabe, Hannah blanched so dramatically that Phoebe feared that her sister was either about to swoon or to cast up her accounts right there over both of them.
Thankfully, however, Hannah did neither. Her voice was somewhat weaker as she said, “He will convince her. It will be fine. He’s just… a good son.”
Phoebe ground her molars together until she could control her temper. Loyd, to her reckoning, sounded pathetic. What kind of man was so afraid of his own mother that he couldn’t face the consequences of his own actions? If Loyd hadn’t wanted todisappoint his mother, maybe he ought to have thought about that before he got Hannah in the family way.
But complaining about Loyd’s weak character wouldn’t help Hannah. For one, she was already expecting the man’s child. There was no way to turn that clock back. And for another, even when she was practically weeping over the fellow, there was a gleam of infatuation in Hannah’s expression that told Phoebe that she would get nowhere by insulting the Viscount. All she would manage to do was alienate her sister.
“Does someone need to have a word with him?” she asked instead, her mind racing through the possibilities. Loyd likely wouldn’t listen to Phoebe herself, which meant that she would likely have to ask Aaron. That was a decidedly unpleasant thought—with everything so uncertain between them, she didn’t want to ask him for a favor, especially favors that revealed that her familywasalmost certainly about to be embroiled in scandal.
Could she ask Ariadne to ask David to do it? The, well,wildDuke of Wilds would probably enjoy playing the role of an avenger seeking reparations for a young lady’s honor, but presumably, Aaron would eventually find out that she’d sought aid from another man. Would that offend him? It seemed likely.
Phoebe resisted the urge to rub her temples. Marriage was so complicated.
“No,” Hannah said firmly, and Phoebe oughtn’t have felt so relieved that she didn’t need to take on this burden—at least not yet. “He will convince her.”
Phoebe sucked in a breath.
“Very well,” she said, then added, “for now. If things haven’t resolved themselves in a few weeks…”
She settled on trailing off ominously rather than articulating a clear threat, mostly because she did not have one.
Or rather, shedid. She really would have to go to her own husband; that much was clear—but she didn’t want to.
“All right, Phoebe,” Hannah agreed, shoulders slumping in relief. She scooted next to her sister and then laid her head on Phoebe’s shoulder. “Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
Phoebe swallowed against the hard knot in her throat. It was clear that now was not the time to discuss her own troubles, given how distressed and vulnerable Hannah clearly was.
Besides, Phoebe reasoned, if there was one good side to coming here today, it was that her own problems no longer seemedquiteso terrible. At leastherhusband was just annoyingly high-handed and frustratingly attractive. It could have been far worse—he could have been a pathetic milksop who was too scared of his own mama to do the right thing.
Phoebe pressed her cheek against the top of Hannah’s head, glad that her little sister wasn’t looking at her and therefore couldn’t see any of the thoughts running through Phoebe’s mind.
“Never fear, sweetheart,” she reassured her little sister. “You’ll never have to find out. I’ll always be here. Always.”
Phoebe’s mind stayed on this promise as she took the carriage back home—strange, that she was already thinking of Aaron’s house as her home—even though her eyes remained fixed on the gentle fall of snow outside the window.
It really was a remarkably snowy winter, particularly for December. She spared a cheerful thought for all the children who were likely eagerly hoping for a white Christmas.
That was a bit of good spirit in the midst of all this… complication.
The thing was, Pheobe could promise that she wouldn’t leave her sister. That was true. Nothing short of death would keep her from her sister’s side whenever Hannah wanted her.
But that didn’t mean that Phoebe knew how to solve this particular problem.
With a sigh, she rested her cheek against the thick windowpane, the chill from outside penetrating even the high-quality glass.
It grounded her, a little, that press of cold against her overheated face. It made her feel as though maybe, just maybe, everything was under control.
That lasted only until the moment she stepped through the front door of her new home… and found the place in utter chaos.
Phoebe opened the door herself, which was already odd. There was usually a footman posted at the door day and night. But there was nobody there as she hauled open the heavy oak doors.
