Knight's Acre: Till Death Do Us Part by Margaret Brazear

Author:Margaret Brazear
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2021-05-29T22:00:00+00:00

***

Time seemed to be racing by, much faster than normal. Or was it only because Jessica was dreading each coming month. Summer was drawing to a close, nights drawing in and autumn nearly upon them. Where had the time gone? Jessica thought she had time but Jack lingered on and she had still made no plans for the baby and what to do about it.

She had gone up to the Castle that morning, to tell the Earl how much worse her father was and to ask him what was to become of her if he died. He was very kind, but he didn’t invite her in. He never invited anyone in.

“Don’t you worry about that,” he said. “I’ll not see you homeless. Have you had a doctor to him?”

She shook her head.

“He won’t have one,” she said.

“Well, I say he will,” said the Earl. “I shall send for my own physician this very day. And don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of everything for you.”

“Thank you, My Lord,” she said, but she noticed that all the time he was talking to her, he was looking at her ring. Her father’s words came back to her, how he believed it was the Earl who had given her that ring for their engagement, because he recognised it. He had seen it in the Castle, on one of the days His Lordship opened up the great hall to the townsfolk and the villagers.

“Did Simon Swinburne give you that ring?” the Earl asked suddenly. “For your engagement?”

“He did, yes,” she said. “Why?”

The Earl bit his lip thoughtfully. He could see she had gained weight and he believed she was with child, but he would not mention it. He glanced at the ring again, then made up his mind. This girl had enough on her plate, with her father ill and her fiancé deserting her. She did not need to know that the man she had given herself to was a thief as well.

“Nothing,” he said. “Go home. Be with your father. Expect a visit from the physician this afternoon.”

Jessica forced a smile and turned away, hurried back to the village. The last thing she wanted was a physician who might discover the cause of Jack’s illness and she saw the way the Earl was looking at her ring; she also saw the way he was looking at her. She had managed to let out her dresses and it was nearly autumn, so she could hide behind her coats and long jackets, but she refused to tighten her corset like many women did. That didn’t seem right to her; surely a baby needed room to breathe. Simon’s child might be born out of wedlock, but it would be all she had left of him and she wanted it to be healthy.

But the Earl’s attention had made her uncomfortable; he had noticed. She knew he had noticed.

Pauline Atkin was there when Jessica got home, fussing around Jack, trying to persuade him to wake up and eat something.

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