Salting the Wound by Janet Woods

Author:Janet Woods [Woods, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Historical
ISBN: 9781780103785
Google: 1eusngEACAAJ
Amazon: 0727879685
Barnesnoble: 0727879685
Goodreads: 7263131
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Eleven

Seth was puzzled that a lawyer was here to see him. He had no surviving relatives, and couldn’t help thinking that the man had mistaken him for someone else.

‘Mr Wyvern?’ The two shook hands, ‘How can I help you?’

‘I’m acting on behalf of a client of mine, Sir Charles Barrie.’

Even more mystified, Seth gazed at him. ‘I’m afraid I’ve never heard of him. Are you sure you have the right person?’

‘Yes, Colonel Hardy. We’ve had you investigated.’

‘Investigated? I don’t understand,’ which was not to say he was happy about it. ‘Get to the point of your visit if you would, sir?’

‘I believe . . . know you have the child John Barrie living under your roof.’

‘There’s nobody living here under that name. My stepson is called John Hardy, now.’

‘It will go easier on you if you don’t deny it, Colonel. The boy’s mother was named Mary Barrie and he was named after his father. You formed a relationship with Mary Barrie in Tasmania.’

His brow creased, as though he was trying to remember something. ‘You’ve made a mistake.’

‘You deny being in Australia?’

‘Of course not. I was posted there with my regiment. But I married a widow called Mary Ellis.’

‘Her maiden name. She was actually married to my client’s son before his death. John Charles Barrie was the son they had together, and is the boy who is now living with you. It’s a waste of time denying it.’

‘Mary was ill . . . an ailment from which we both knew she’d never recover.’

‘Then why did you marry her, Colonel, for her property? Her husband had a legacy that would have been hers had she thought to claim it . . . and yours if she’d married you legally.’

Seth laughed, but without humour. ‘Mary had no expectations of legacy. She had nothing but the clothes she stood up in, and her son. Quite simply, I admired her courage and I fell in love with her. John took my name. And if there is a legacy from his father, then it belongs to John.’

‘Even while knowing she was living off her—’

‘Be very careful what you say, Mr Wyvern. If you offer one insult towards my late wife’s memory I’ll be obliged to take you by the scruff of the neck and throw you out, and to hell with the consequences. If you speak of Mary, do so with all respect.’

‘I beg your pardon. I’m not here to fight, but to exchange facts. There is no record of your marriage in the Hobart church.’

‘We said words over the family bible in front of witnesses. It was recorded inside. Mary and John took my name, and we made it legal. That’s all Mary would accept from me. She said she could never be a proper wife to me, and despite everything she’d been through, she wanted to honour her first husband, a man she’d loved with all her heart.’

Edgar gave a little murmur of approval.

‘I looked after her as best I could. She put her son in my care and I promised on her deathbed that I’d bring John up as my own.

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