33 

Do you ever think about the baby?”

Flora Banning’s question astonished Charlotte as she sliced into the cinnamon coffee cake she was serving in the parlor. No one else was home in the late afternoon on Saturday, but Flora had asked for the usual tea service. Charlotte calmly slid the slice of cake onto a china plate, laid a fork next to it, and handed it to Mrs. Banning, who was sitting in her favorite side chair.

“Yes.” Charlotte answered the direct question.

“I know Emmaline will take good care of him.” Flora picked up the fork. “I’m just unsettled about how it all came to be.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You looked after him. You must have developed some degree of sentiment.”

“Yes, ma’am. I was fond of him.” How could she deny her feelings?

Charlotte wanted to meld into the floral pattern of the rug under her feet, to slip into one of the crimson blossoms and feel it close around her, to be lost in the intricately woven colors. At the same time, she could almost feel Archie’s palpable nudge. The door was wide open. All she had to do was walk through it.

Tell the truth.

Open your mouth and say, “I love the baby because he’s mine.”

Charlotte turned back to the cart and poured Mrs. Banning’s tea, adding two spoons of sugar just the way she liked it and stirring thoroughly. She set the tea on the round table next to Mrs. Banning’s chair and stepped back to the cart to tidy up.

Flora put down her cake plate and picked up the matching teacup and saucer. “Every time I think of it, my blood boils. Emmaline took advantage of my hospitality and went against my direct wishes. He’s a charming child, so it’s no mystery that she should become enamored of him, but she’s a single woman. He could be in a home where he has both a mother and a father.”

Charlotte moved the sugar bowl over a quarter of an inch, shirking off the sense of Archie’s presence in a room he had rarely entered while he served on Prairie Avenue.

Flora sipped her tea. “Samuel has given up his legal investigation, but something tells me this is not over. If I think about it long enough, surely I will come up with some legal ground he could use to recover the child.”

Charlotte swallowed and forced herself to say, “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m sure Louisa would still take him,” Flora said.

Unexpected courage swelled through Charlotte. “What if his mother turned up?”

“She would have some explaining to do.”

“And what if she had a good reason?”

Flora put her teacup down and stared at Charlotte. “I would be very interested to hear what would make a mother abandon her child. If you had a child, you would understand how monstrous that is.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The knot in Charlotte’s throat enlarged instantaneously.

“I certainly could not imagine walking off and leaving any of my four children.”

“No, ma’am.” Charlotte suppressed a shiver—nearly.

Flora squeezed her eyebrows toward each other. “Charlotte, do you wish to say something?”

Charlotte shook her head.

“You may speak freely with me.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Banning. I don’t mean to upset you further.”

“Does this have something to do with the child? I do wish I knew his name. I can’t bring myself to call him ‘Teddy.’ That just reminds me of what Emmaline has done.”

“I . . . I suppose I miss him,” Charlotte finally said. That much was true.

“That’s understandable. After the scullery maid proved unreliable as a nanny, his care was left to you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Flora put the last of her coffee cake in her mouth and chewed, as if waiting for Charlotte to say more.

Sarah’s presence joined Archie’s, both of them urging Charlotte forward.

“Mrs. Banning, if I may—”

The front door opened and Leo hastened to close it behind him. He strode immediately across the foyer to the parlor and slid out of his overcoat. “Oh good. Is the tea still hot?”

Charlotte dipped her head respectfully. “Yes, sir. I’ll just get another cup from the dining room.” She scurried out of the room, trembling.

“I couldn’t do it!” Charlotte told Archie on Sunday afternoon at Mickey’s shop. “I just kept thinking how angry she’ll be if she knows I’ve had a child for more than a year and she didn’t know.”

“Surely since she knows the child, she would have compassion for the baby’s mother,” Archie responded.

Charlotte shook her head. “I’m not sure. She thinks any woman who would walk away from her child is a horrible monster.”

“You didn’t walk away from him.”

“No. I did worse. I gave him away as if he were an expensive toy. I knew Emmaline could afford him and I couldn’t.”

“You don’t mean that.”

Charlotte put her elbows on the table and hung her head between her hands.

“You thought he was in danger,” Archie reminded her, “and you as well. Someone like Mrs. Banning cannot imagine how difficult that choice was for you.”

“Even you thought it was the wrong thing to do. You didn’t speak to me for days.”

Archie took her left hand and forced her to lift her head. “It’s only been a few weeks, Charlotte. We can still fix this. Actually, I have good news.”

Charlotte met his brown eyes.

“I’ve had an official response to my inquiries,” he said. “The State of Illinois has no record of you ever being married. You’re perfectly free.”

“But . . . my name. Are you sure you checked under the right name?”

Archie nodded. “You told me Farrow is your grandmother’s name. Your maiden name is Charlotte Mae Freeman, and according to the State of Illinois, you have never been married.”

Charlotte put a hand to her mouth.

“You could probably press charges of fraud against Lathan Landers. Clearly he intended to deceive you from the beginning.”

Charlotte shook her head vehemently. “I just want him out of my life.”

“He is out of your life, and I am in your life. Nothing is holding you back from telling the truth about your son.”

“They’ll be so angry,” Charlotte said. “The Bannings, Mr. Penard—everyone. They’ll throw me out.”

Archie lifted his shoulders, then dropped them. “So? I have a secure position with a steady salary. I don’t care how angry you make them as long as you agree to become my lawfully wedded wife as soon as possible.”

Charlotte laughed and cried at the same time. “You seem awfully sure of yourself.”

Archie lifted the fingers of her left hand to his lips. “I can’t give you a diamond—yet—but I can give you my heart, and my promise that you can never make me angry enough to throw you out.”

“I never imagined I could feel this way—not after Lathan.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Yes!”

Archie leaned in and pressed his lips to Charlotte’s, and she put both her arms around him to freely return the kiss.