you’re not the child’s mother. I fear he would think he has more right to the babe than you do and he would try to take little Georgie away from you.”
“That’s exactly my fear. He can never know that I’m not George’s mother.” Lia worried her lower lip. “I know it’s quite impossible for you to come with us, Marjorie, but do you know of anyone who could? Someone who’s recently had a babe and would be willing and able to leave her home?”
Marjorie thought for a moment, then focused her gaze on Lia. “There might be someone, miss. There’s a girl in Abbotslede who is rumored to have had a babe two weeks ago, but the baby died.”
“Oh, how sad.”
“Yes. But if her milk is still flowing, she might be able to help you. Would you like me to speak with her parents? I don’t know them well, but mayhap they’d be willing to let their daughter leave until rumors die down.”
“How old is the girl?”
“She’s coming up on sixteen.”
“Oh. She’s so young.”
“Yes. It will be good for her to have something else to do other than think on the babe she lost. I’ll speak to her and her parents tonight.”
“Thank you,” Lia said as she walked to the nursery door. George had fallen asleep and was breathing slowly and deeply. Thankfully, he was unaware of the turmoil that threatened his young life. Hopefully, she would always be able to protect him.
Lia went to her room and penned a letter to her brother. She was sure Miles would agree to go with them. He was a different man from the day he left for the war. It was as if he’d seen and done things that had made him age far past his five and twenty years. He no longer seemed to fit in with the young men his age.
Lia had no doubt he’d be glad to escape the watchful, worrying gazes of their parents. It was only that they were concerned over their son and hoped that he would regain the cheerful optimism they’d known in him before he went to war. Now that she was in many ways a mother, she began to understand why they were on tenterhooks over her handsome brother.
When Lia finished, she went down to give her letter to Hobson and asked that someone deliver the missive. She turned to go back up the stairs when a deep, commanding voice stopped her.
“Do you have a moment, my lady?”
Lia turned and found herself face to face with the man who unsettled her so. “Yes, my lord. Did you wish to speak with me?”
“Yes. I have several matters to discuss with you. Would you join me in the library?”
“Of course.” Lia walked past him and entered the library in front of him.
She chose to sit in one of the two brightly woven brocade wing chairs that faced each other with a round tea table between them. It seemed the safest way to avoid contact with the man. She didn’t want to relive the reaction she’d experienced the last time they’d accidentally touched.
“A fortifying drink, my lady?”
“No, thank you. But please, help yourself.”
He did. With the glass in his hand, he settled his tall frame into the chair opposite her.
“What was it you wished to speak with me about?”
“Our journey.” He shifted so he could face her directly. “We don’t have much time to prepare, as we shall need to leave within the week. Have you made all the necessary arrangements for the babe?”
“I believe I have. I just posted a letter to my brother Miles. I doubt he’ll answer. Instead, I look for him to arrive ready to travel with us. If that is his choice, he should be here in three or four days.”
“And Lady Collinson?”
“Aunt Margaret has already instructed her maid to begin packing. There’s no doubt she will be ready well in time.”
“And you?”
“I shall be ready, as well.”
“That only leaves young George.”
“Marjorie can’t come with us, of course. She has a husband and family here that she can’t leave. But she suggested a young girl who recently lost her babe at birth. She will speak to her to see if she might agree to take the post as wet nurse for the babe.”
“Very good.”
Lia couldn’t help but study her sister’s brother-in-law. There was something very serious about him, as if his father’s hostility toward him had indelibly marked him.
“Is your estate very far from here?” she asked when a long period