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“Not feasible? What does that mean?” Gertrude asked, her dark brows pinning together.
“It means…” Ophelia trailed off and lowered her head, looking down at her stomach. The news the doctor had given her changed so many things. “I am with child, Gertrude. No annulment would be granted.”
Gertrude was clearly shocked, with her lips parting. No words came for a second, she merely made a squeaking sound.
“I know,” Ophelia whispered. “It was a shock to me too.” She released Gertrude’s hand and stood to her feet. The fact remained that she had first departed from Elliot’s side because she did not want a child of his to be without a father, but now she carried his child, too—another little one to possibly grow up without their father.
I cannot let that happen.
She had a duty to her child to protect their life and give them the best start. That meant making Elliot a part of the child’s life, too. With the thought, she laid a hand to her stomach, thinking of the life that was growing there.
I know what is in the back of my mind. Someday soon, I will have to see Elliot.
“Let me call for some tea. I would like to speak openly with you. It has been so long since we have seen one another.”
“Yes, tea. Yes, that is what we need.” Gertrude’s fast words showed she was reeling in her shock.
Ophelia rang a bell for a maid and stood by the door, waiting for the maid to arrive as she thought back to hearing the doctor’s news that morning. The first feeling she had felt at discovering she was with child was overwhelming happiness. She was to be a mother! She was to have a child she could love and watch grow.
But the second feeling that had come was incredible sadness. What sort of world was this child coming into when their parents were already separated?
Parents should be together. They should be in love. It is the best thing for a happy home.
Ophelia laid a hand to her stomach, thinking of the child.
I promise you this, little one. No matter what happens now, I will protect you and I will love you.
That may mean seeking out Elliot again. It would be hard and excruciatingly painful knowing of Elliot and Celeste, but it must be done.
When the maid appeared, she lowered her hand and smiled at the maid.
“Could we have some tea, please?”
“Of course, Your Grace.” As the maid moved off, Ophelia turned back to look at Gertrude, seeing the woman was staring into the distance.
“Are you well, Gertrude?” Ophelia asked.
“Y-yes,” the woman stammered. “Of course. I am a little shocked, that is all.”
***
“You are sure of this?” Margery asked as she sat in the carriage.
“I am certain,” Ophelia assured her friend as she sat forward, peering out of the carriage window. “Gertrude was upset this morning. I have disregarded her for too long. Yes, we have been driven apart by her want of money, but perhaps that is in the past now. Today when she sat and talked with me… something more was on her mind. I must speak to her, Margery. I must try and remedy what there was once between us. I owe that to my father.”
She turned back to face her friend, watching as Margery smiled.
“Then I wish you luck.”
The carriage came to a stop outside of the house Gertrude was renting for her stay in Cheltenham. Gertrude could no longer stay at the house they had once called their own, as it had passed to Ophelia instead of her.
Ophelia had at one point considered going back to that house, but as it belonged to Elliot as much as herself these days, he would have had to hear from the staff of her presence there. It would have been a poor place to hide, as much as she missed it and longed to see it again.
In the carriage, Ophelia’s eyes rested on the building before her. She hesitated for a second, until Margery pressed the bag of chocolates that she had purchased earlier that day into her hand.
“To tempt you to eat.”
“Thank you,” Ophelia said, taking the bag and stepping down from the carriage. As she approached the door of the house, she couldn’t help eating the chocolates, finding her appetite had quickly returned.
