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"Then you realizedyou ith child Iwas afraid you would goto him outof desperation and tell him I kneould marry youthen Even if he believed the child was not his, he would have o tell hi to hiht, lied toyou, andconvinced you totake yourself off to thecountry to havethe child in seclusion Once youwere gone, I told him and everyone else that you had runoff to elope with a stablelad Andthey believed it Then Iwaited for an todrinkheavily Onenight he got quite drunkand I was there, insisting on seeing him home Of course, once there, I wouldn’t leaveuntil I was surehe wasall right
"Ihad thoughtthathe wouldturn tomefor coave a harshlaugh
"But Inearly had to rape hih, and sloppy, and he keptcalling your name He passed out on top of meIwaitedtill near dawntobesure that his servantwouldseeme leave - inapanic, ofcourse - so that hecould report it to hismaster lest hewassodrunk he would not recall that he hadtakenmy innocenceThenI waitedI expected hi andpropose to meThenext tietic as could be, but he didnot propose I was furious, butplayed sweet andwaited
"I had hopedthat our onetiain Iwas disappointed So againI lied I told hiht At last, he did the honorable thing Wewere ht, he walkedme tomy door, kissed mein a fatherlyfashion on the forehead, then walked off to his own rooain Foolishly, at the ti over hoould explain that reat plan to fool the ton I wouldrenancy, have thechild there, and notreturn for ninemonthsatleast so thatno one shouldsuspect thatwe had nancy He said that was fine, even saw me off Then Ica or how he could contactrand, because then I would not needlie or fear his findinganyenerations of Beecha, LadyBeecham peered athersister "Of course, you realizenow that your child did not die I had him taken to a nearby inn with aservantuntil I could persuade youto leaveon a boat I reht months had passed since my arrival; then returnedtriu John with an heir would seal our relationshipThat he would be gratefuland learn to care for me
What Ihad not expected was his complete indifference
"He barely evenlooked atthe baby, nor ainDid not even speakto his own sonas he grew And I realizedwhat a huge mistake I had made My life with himwas as cold and barrenas a fallow field in winter"
"Poor you"
Meg gave a start at Valoree’s words and glanced at her in surprise, asdidLadyBeechaust"Surely you are not falling for this sad tale and feeling sorry forher? "she saidin asnarl "She ruined your life Shestolethe man who loved you, youronly child, and your very life! You should have ended up here, happily a passel of BeechamsInstead you endedupmarried toa drunk in the islandsAnd it’s allher fault"
"Nay It isnot" Meg said quietlyValoree gaped at her "She is right: I did not fightfor him, and I should haveInsteadI ran away like a coward And it is not her faultI married Gilchrist
Thatwas entirelymy own decision I made my owndecisions, made a mess of my ownlife"
"But if she had not - "
"Yes, she liedShe toldseveral whopping lies And I never took the time torectify or even check onthemI letpride lead one to John thatfirstday hecut ht havebeen insulted, oreven hurt, but Iwas hurtalready, andat least things would thenhave beencleared up ButI did nothave theconfidence in that confidence, I should never have made loveto him"
"Fine, " Valoree snapped i to forgive her forthe relationship up between the twoof you But she’s beentrying to kill you since you cato takethe bla tokillher"
BothMegand Valoree looked over doubtfully at that, but it was Valoree who spoke "Letto killher; you were si traps If shefellinto one of themore careful? "
A flicker of impatiencecrossed Blanche’s faceat that"Idid notbait traps, eitherIt wasJohn"
"John? " Meg gasped in dismay "My own son wishes me dead? "
"Iam afraid so"
"Does he not realize that she is histohim the day I spotted you inthe dressmaker’s I feared you would approach him and tell him anyway, so I did it first"
"Ifhe knows she ishis rimaced "I fear it is precisely because she is hisher merelystared ather blankly, Lady Beechamexplained, "He fearsthat if it co’s, he will lose histitle andeverythingthat goeswithit"
"Becauseyou were marriedtoBeechamand his true mother was not? "
"Exactly"
"Well, surelythat is not reallythat bigadeal? No matterthe mother, he isstill Beecham’s onlyson Noone would contest his inheritance"
"Ifearhe is not willing to take the chance"
"I can see you did a fine job of raising him, " Valoree said sarcastically
"It isdifficult to raise a child properly whenthe father ive a da soed the subject"So youintend to simply] stand by and let himkill us? "
"Nay, ofcourse notI slippeddown here toset you free"
"What! Well, whythe devil didn’t ye say so? " Va-loree rolled her eyes "Never ive you atip, Lady Beecha on her heels "When in times ofperil, ’tis usually bestto leavethe explanations until all parties are safely away Or at least to explain ontheway to safety We couldhavebeenhalfway to Spain by - "She pausedabruptly as she reachedLady Beecha on theher expression, Blanche Beechain alarone to yourclub"