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Jane played with her hands beneath the table. “We are newly married, My Lady.”
“A fact you keep throwing in my face. But where is my beloved father? You say he is resting, for all we know, you’ve dumped his body in a river and left him for dead!”
Heavens, what terrible conversation for the table!
Thankfully, Mama intervened. “He is recovering in his rooms, I shall arrange a meeting after supper.”
Jane shot an impassioned and yet terrified look in her mother’s direction. How were they to manage that?
Epiphany fed more pre-digested food into her baby’s maw. “I look forward to it.”
Mama leaned in to Jane and said, “Keep Lady Piff busy and I’ll get everything set. Send the footman my way.”
Lady Piff? Oh, she meant Epiphany. Jane held back a giggle. It lightened her heart for a moment, before the heavy duty of lying about the Baron’s health needed to be done. Jane begged the Lord to forgive her such a terrible sin. She was not doing it for herself, she was doing this for all the staff, who were in a far more vulnerable situation than she.
******
Hands sweating with fear, Jane opened the doors to her master’s rooms. Liberally applied rose water and sandalwood filled the air, along with burnt sage and something she couldn’t identify. The curtains were drawn as the evening closed in. The low candlelight supplied a warm yellow glow. Her husband was supine in the bed, with a night cap covering a good deal of his forehead and brows, and the covers pulled all the way up to his neck.
Despite the poor light, the person in the bed was most definitely Baron Ealing, not Mr Foote taking on the role.
To her (muffled) shock, the man’s hand rose from one side of the covers.
“Nuff, dayback.”
“Do you have a cold, dear father?” Epiphany asked.
Something miraculous happened. The covers rose ever so slightly above his chest. He wasn’t dead after all, he still breathed!
“Horrid, stay back,” he said again.
Joy filled Jane’s heart! Her husband was alive. They were saved! She had more chances to make sure she was with child, and the staff were safe. In a few days the Jardines would be gone and she could begin her newlywed life with her husband.
What wonderful news!
Epiphany held her babe in front of her and lifted the folds of his clothing to reveal his bare skin beneath. “I have been delivered of a son!” She declared.
Baron Ealing grunted again and said something that sounded like, ‘Well done’.
“He shall be the next Baron Ealing, father.” Epiphany declared.
Jane cleared her throat at that. “Not if my child is a boy.”
Epiphany turned on Jane with the speed of a striking snake and loomed closer to her.
“You cannot possibly be with child. It has been yet one day!”
Jane stepped back towards the doors, an urge to flee rising.
“Well, I… cannot say for certain, but I may be.” A stream of wee flew out from the boy child in Epiphany’s arms, missing Jane’s clothing and landing on the Aubusson rug. Surely her gag-reflex was already proof she was pregnant? “There is a good chance I may yet be with child.”
Epiphany narrowed her eyes yet did not say anything further. Instead, she stormed out of the room and shut the doors behind her, leaving Jane in the dark.
“Is she gone?” her Mama’s quiet voice said.
“Yes,” Jane said, looking in the dim light to avoid the darker patch on the carpet. Mama was here? That had to be good. “Where are you?”
Mama stepped out from the dressing room.
