Lady of the Highway by Deborah Swift

Author:Deborah Swift [Swift, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2016-06-05T04:00:00+00:00

14: The Quickening

The next day I slept late. My body seemed sluggish, my stomach churned. I felt unlike myself, so much so that I could not bear to get out of bed. My back ached like the devil. I must have dozed because next thing, Abi was shaking me awake.

‘Where’ve you been?’

I was still groggy. ‘Nowhere,’ I mumbled.

‘You and Cutch weren’t in your beds last night when I came up, and I searched everywhere. I was worried to death. I waited till gone midnight.’

I did not answer; just slid out of bed and reached out with my toes for my wool slippers.

‘Kate, it’s too dangerous,’ Abi said. ‘Forget the debt to the Diggers. Highway thieving isn’t the answer. Aren’t we in enough trouble—’ Her hand clapped over her mouth as I stood up in my thin cotton nightdress. She looked me up and down as if she had never seen me before. Her face was stricken, as if with amazement.

‘What?’ I said. ‘What are you looking at?’

‘Your belly. We have had scarce any food these last months, yet still your belly is swollen.’

I looked down at my belly, rounded under my nightgown. Her words brought me up short. I placed my hands on my stomach as if to protect it.

‘Your breasts too, they are heavier.’

‘No they’re not.’ I said the words, although they sounded thick, like they were glued to my mouth. I hunched my shoulders, trying to look smaller. I already knew what she would say.

‘And you’ve been riding, like a madwoman.’ Her eyes widened, then narrowed into accusation. ‘In this condition! You fool. Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘I was going to. I just wasn’t sure…’

‘A child. And you thought I would never notice? This changes everything. And Thomas missing. Doesn’t he know you’re having his babe?’

I shook my head. ‘Not Thomas’s,’ I said.

Abi’s eyes widened, her voice came out as a whisper. ‘Whose then, Kate?’

I rubbed my hands over the swelling. It seemed impossible there could be another living thing in there. I looked up. ‘Ralph’s,’ I said.

‘Are you sure? Could it not be—?’

‘No.’ I bit off her question with my reply. ‘I have never… not with Thomas.’

‘But when did you… I mean—’

‘The night of the rebellion.’

‘Lord have mercy.’ Abi slumped down on the end of the bed, and pulled at her apron with her hands. ‘I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.’ She shot me an accusing look. ‘Who else knows?’

‘I noticed the changes, but I don’t know… I guess I did not think it could happen to me. I don’t feel old enough… I mean, I still can’t take it in.’

Abi was already counting on her fingers. ‘The night of the rebellion…that’s five months! Kate, you’re five moons grown already! And you, still riding out!’

‘I feel fine.’

Abi did not hear me. She could not take her eyes from my stomach. ‘That means the baby will come in May. And then what will you do?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘If it’s not Thomas’s, what will your stepfather do if he finds out? Adultery, it’s a sin for a woman.

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