It would not be proper for a single woman to call at the Priory with only single young men in residence. “Perhaps you could go through the place with me, see what we have, where to put the bed, what we need to do to put everything in order for a baby.” Tom Bryson is a good woodworker he could probably make you one.” “There might be something you could use in the attic, at least temporarily. I haven’t the slightest notion how to get a cradle, either.” I don’t remember seeing a room with a cradle. “Don’t worry about that,” Thea assured him quickly. That is a good deal to ask of you, I know-” And, well, whatever else needs to be done. I need to make the Priory inhabitable for an infant-hire a staff, get a housekeeper, reassure everyone that I am not operating a house of ill repute. “I should not say our, should I? You may not wish to help me. “Perhaps our time would be better spent making a home for Matthew.” He glanced at her.

Thea thought of the baby’s sunny smile, the silky texture of his curls, the way he fell asleep so trustingly in her arms, and her heart melted all over again. “There is scarcely anything I can do but provide for him, is there? If there is the slightest chance that he is Jocelyn’s child, I cannot turn him away.” Gabriel smiled faintly. I think I shall write to my businessman in London, get him to hire a runner to look into it.

Jocelyn-or whoever left Matthew-seems to be rather adept at keeping out of sight. She was careful to stay at a distance, to bring the baby to Chesley only to leave him. “It seems clear she does not want me to find her. So I hoped that she would be nearby, that if I looked for her, I would find her. I thought maybe she was waiting to see what I would do, that she feared I might reject her and the child. When I saw that brooch, for the first time in a long time I thought I would see Jocelyn again.

A winter scandal by candace camp