guilty and so ungrateful! I never even allowed for the possibility that her motives might have been anything other than selfish.”
Effie rose then and walked toward her. She wrapped her arms about Callie and gave her a fierce hug. “My darling girl, you were a child who needed her mother! Of course you were resentful and angry… and yes, now that the truth has come out, you know that anger was misplaced. But it doesn’t change anything from your past. You cannot take on so and hold yourself accountable for how you felt when you only knew a small portion of the story. If that were so, I’d be as much to blame as you. I wasn’t a child, and even I, Callie, harbored great resentment for any woman who would be so foolish as to abandon a daughter so precious as you.”
Callie felt tears threatening. She blinked at them, but a few slipped free regardless. “You’re not old enough to be my mother. You never were. How could you, at the age you were, take on the raising of so many young girls alone?”
“I knew the truth of my mother, Callie. All along. I knew that she deposited me on my father’s doorstep without a backward glance. I’d been the product of her attempt to trap him into marriage and elevate her own standing in the process. And when I failed to serve that purpose, she was done with me,” Effie confided. “I always felt the lack… the lack of a mother’s love. And any child I encounter in my life who needs that as much as I did will always have it from me. That is my purpose in this world. To mother the children of other women who cannot, will not or have been deprived of the opportunity to love them.”
Callie heard the sadness in her mentor’s voice. There was a longing in Effie that she hadn’t ever considered, that perhaps her school and the unwanted daughters of others weren’t quite enough for her. So she hugged her back, the two of them comforting each other in the stillness of the evening as the younger girls gathered below for their dinner. After a long moment, Effie drew back.
“Now, there is another matter we must discuss… the Earl of Montgomery. I sense that there is more at play here than simply his wish to protect one of his employees,” Effie said. “Is there anything you wish to tell me, Callie?”
Callie shook her head. “There is nothing to tell.”
“You’re certain?”
Caught, she could tell by the tone of Effie’s voice, Callie capitulated. “He kissed me.”
“Just a kiss?”
“Well, more than once… and perhaps a bit more than,” Callie admitted. Recalling his words from the night before, she added, “Nothing that has transpired has been irrevocable.”
“I see.” Effie sat down on the bed again. “Did you want him to kiss you? And these other things , did you want them as well?”
“Well, the first time I wasn’t expecting him to, but when he did, I didn’t mind it. Not at all. Quite the contrary, in fact. And then the other morning, we were disagreeing about something and it just sort of happened. But last night—” Callie broke off.
“Last night?”
Callie sighed wearily, “It wasn’t a matter of him kissing me as much as that I kissed him. And I would have allowed him to do infinitely more. Things halted as they did only because he is an honorable man. And William asked him if he would marry me and now it’s complicated everything.”
“Perhaps… perhaps not. I asked a friend of mine to check up on your charming earl,” Effie said. “And by all accounts, he is a very good man. That is rarer than you think. If his intentions toward you are honorable, and based on the concern he has shown for your safety, I can only assume they would be, there will be no more kisses or there will be a proposal in your future. You must think, Callie, which of those two things you’d prefer.”
“And if I don’t know?” Callie asked.
Effie smiled. “Then I’d advise refraining from either until you do. I’ll send up a tray with some cold meats and bread in case you get hungry later. Good night, dearest.”
When Effie left, Callie continued to sit in her chair. The book lay forgotten by her side and she eventually fell into a fitful doze.
*
The pub on the waterfront was hardly the sort of place where Winn would typically spend his