The Discarded Wife by Camille Oster

Author:Camille Oster [Camille Oster]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Goodreads: 39676215
Published: 2018-03-27T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

SOPHIE'S ROOM WAS LARGE and comfortable. The bed was perfect and she slept like she hadn't for a while. Coming here truly had a calming effect on her—perhaps because she knew what she faced now. This was where they would live, and it really was wonderful.

The gardens were beautiful, the plants all old and established, and well maintained. There were parkland and a pond. A well-stocked library, and she even had her own salon.

In the last few days, that cloying nervousness inside her was starting to loosen its grip. It had been there for a long time, since long before Doug had died.

The tension of Lord Aberley's appearance had only caused her more distress, but here, finally, she felt as though she could lay her weapons down a little. That Alfie was happy made it so much easier to feel at ease. He loved everything about Sommerfield Hall and explored every part of it. Mr. Herman was an excellent tutor and Alfie looked forward to the lessons.

There was nothing Sophie needed to fight. The tension was still there with Lord Aberley, but it relented when out of his presence. In a way, it felt a little like they were competing for the same prize, which was a ludicrous notion. He was just such a disagreeable man; it was part of who he was.

She only saw him as they dined in the evenings. Needing to tend to the estate, which apparently he had neglected quite shockingly, he was gone most of the days.

For the first time in years, Sophie had time on her hands. When Alfie had his lessons with Mr. Herman, she wasn't needed for anything. Even the domestic duties of the house were not hers to deal with. She was a guest, not the mistress of the house. This meant she didn't really have anything pressing on her.

Mostly, she spent her time in the library or tuning the instruments in the music room, which included a harpsichord rather than a piano. It could well be that pianos hadn't been invented when this room was last used. It was both interesting and informative trying to tune a harpsichord.

All instruments were of excellent quality even though most were old. A few had to be discarded due to damage from the years. The sheet music was brittle and faded with time.

Perhaps she needed to speak to Lord Aberley about a piano, but her insides strived against accepting his assistance, or in any way asking for it.

Lord Aberley didn't like her clothes and she understood that they were jarringly out of place here, but accepting his help again made her feel indebted, even if she would never earn the money to acquire the kind of clothes he wanted her to wear.

Pulling on her woolen shawl, she walked out of the house toward the garden. The ground was soft from recent rains. Over to the right was the more practical part of the estate where the barns, stables and farming equipment was. The estate had extensive lands.

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