Behind the Courtesan - By Bronwyn Stuart Page 0,82
we’ll circle back. If you find a safe place to cross, do it and check your place. We have to hope she made it across the river or is searching for a way over somewhere else.”
“The closest crossing is miles away and it’s getting dark.”
Blake sighed. “Then we better hope to find her quickly.”
Within minutes the pair, along with Daemon, were stocked with the essentials for a search and set out into the blinding rain. Blake couldn’t help but remember the other time they’d searched in the dark for a girl who didn’t want to be found.
He only hoped in this instance they were more successful. Sophie would not be so lucky a second time around.
* * *
“Do you believe things happen for a reason?” Violet asked, her face pale as sweat dripped from her brow.
Sophie shook her head. “Not really. Do you think this happened for a reason? That I was out here because Matthew was not?” No need to explain that Matthew wasn’t there because of her.
“No, I mean that you are here at all.”
“As in alive?” Sophie asked. Were they to get philosophical at a time when Violet wore nothing more than a nightshirt and Sophie’s hands were covered in her blood? There was so much blood.
Violet braced for yet another contraction, a long groan filled the air to drown out the pattering of rain on the roof. Once the worst was over, she continued, “No, I mean here, in this house, in this moment. When Matthew wrote you, you didn’t reply. We thought you refused to come.”
“I didn’t want to put you in this position. I didn’t want to taint you or the babe with my presence, but he’s my brother. I could no more deny him than my next breath.”
“You twist my words. It’s not that I didn’t want you to come. I did want to meet you. I just didn’t think you actually would.”
Sophie was about to reply when another contraction gripped her sister-in-law. They were getting closer, but still no baby. Only blood. With every contraction more trickled out to stain the sheet. “Violet, is there supposed to be blood?” She hadn’t wanted to ask but she was ill equipped for any of this.
Violet nodded but didn’t shed any light. Instead, she went on. “Why did you come?”
“I had to. Matthew asked.”
“You didn’t have to. Please, be honest with me. From one woman to another, why did you come?”
Sophie’s hands rested against her own stomach as her heart skipped a beat. “I was pregnant.”
“Was?”
“I lost the baby. I couldn’t face another party, another ball, another man.”
“I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you say something?”
Another contraction passed before Sophie answered. “It was for the best. A woman like me has no business raising a child.”
“A woman like you?”
“A courtesan. A harlot. A common prostitute.”
“There is nothing common about you. You did what you had to to succeed. I see that now. That makes you unique and cunning, not common.”
Sophie could almost believe Violet respected her, the decisions she’d made. Almost. “You are kind, Violet, but we both know the truth. It’s why you wouldn’t have me in your home.”
“You’re right and that is my shame to bear. I didn’t want a courtesan in my home, around my baby. I am truly sorry for that.”
“Thank you, Violet.”
She’d been wrong about so much. About life in the country and about being accepted somewhere where people did know her name. Could she have been so wrong about Blake too? She doubted it, since he was the one who had started so many of their fights. Perhaps they were both too stubborn to see what was in each one’s way? If she could change her perceptions of him, then perhaps she could change his perception of her?
“Oh, God, oh God, oh God.” Violet’s moans filled the air along with her blasphemy and Sophie had no more time to think about Blake or his thick head.
“Is it coming?” Sophie asked. “Is this it?”
Violet nodded and made the strangest sounds. Sounds Sophie would never in all her days forget.
She held the toweling for what felt like forever until finally a fuzzy head appeared. “Oh, I can see it, I can see the baby’s head.”
“What... What color is...his head?”
Through all the muck in the hair and on his skin, it took a few seconds to see but eventually she replied, “Pink. His head is pink.”
Only ten minutes later and Sophie held the baby in her hands, staring at her red face as