Gavin was led into a waiting room, and wait there he did. Perhaps it wasn’t as long as it’d felt, but because of his fears and worry, it seemed interminable, and the pain in his side didn’t help his dispostion.
Eventually the door opened, and a formidable-looking woman entered, gray hair pulled back so tightly into a bun that he wondered if she could blink her eyes. She gave Gavin a once-over, noting his disheveled appearance, and her lips pursed into a flat line.
He explained why he was there, relating Alice in detail, who had brought her in and what the circumstances were. He described his daughter’s dark, downy curls, her approximate age, the fact that she was ill with croup, and even the daisy-shaped birthmark she had on her left thigh.
The matron was unmoved. “We’ll have to make some inquiries—”
“No!” Gavin put his hand on his side and pressed, hoping to ease the pain there. “I want to see the babies now. She was brought here by a midwife. If you don’t cooperate, I’ll have the law in here faster than you can sweep your secrets under this faded Persian carpet I’m standing on.”
Alarm registered on her face. “I beg your pardon?”
“No place such as this is without its secrets, madam. Trust me when I tell you that if I am not ushered into the room where the most recent babies have been deposited, I will go to the ends of the earth to discover your secrets and make sure you pay.”
Suddenly the matron appeared to realize she was not dealing with some nobody. His threats were not empty. Although he was disheveled, she saw beneath his soiled clothing that he was a gentleman of some means.
She demurred. “Follow me, sir.”
• • •
Three weeks later, Gavin and Robbie sat together in front of a roaring fire, Alice on Gavin’s lap and Lady Perlina curled up next to her mistress.
Alice had been cared for at the orphanage; for that Gavin couldn’t take them to task. But to find her there in a room bare of anything but a crib made his blood boil. Twice she had been abandoned. Twice. She was still so very young; would there be scars? When he had ridden up in the landau with his daughter, Robbie had come running from the house, her skirts lifted high, her face wreathed in smiles and tears.
Colin had ministered to Gavin’s broken ribs, binding them so they would heal properly, and Gavin refused anything for his discomfort except a good shot of brandy.
“My life is full,” Gavin said, bringing Robbie’s face to his and kissing her.
“As is mine,” she replied, her eyes warm and shiny with happiness. “Your decision about the women was very generous, you know that.”
“I do know that,” he responded. “But what good would it have done to punish them? The villagers and everyone in the surrounding countryside knows what they did; that is probably punishment enough. I’m surprised Faith can show her face, although I did hear that she’s planning on returning to Edinburgh for good.”
Robbie wanted no secrets between them. “Eve told me something about Colin’s accident, that your mentor came along when it happened but didn’t intervene.”
“Yes, I know.”
She shot him a look of surprise. “How did you know?”
He squeezed her shoulder. “I’m not as out of touch as everyone thinks I am. I began having second thoughts about him when I learned that I had been the first choice for a position I had badly wanted in Athens. The position went to another of his pupils, one I knew did not have the qualifications I had. I looked into it and discovered he’d been bribed to pick the other fellow.”
“And how did you learn the truth about Colin’s accident?”
“I thought it strange that he should have such bitterness toward Faith, whom, I thought, was nothing like her uncle.” He gave her a grim smile. “Yes, I admit to being naïve about her. But I had learned where Colin was treated and wanted to make sure he got all of the help he needed, medically and financially. The doctor who treated him told me in confidence what had actually happened.”
“And you didn’t admit to him that you knew?”
Gavin shook his head. “If he had wanted me to know, he would have told me. I suppose he was trying to protect me, but by that time the halo I had envisioned over Professor Baker’s shiny pate had tarnished quite a lot.”
Robbie snuggled close and watched Alice sleep in her father’s arms. “And now Birdie is living at Colin’s townhouse. I hope Eve is as patient as I’d suspected she was.”
“Colin wants to marry her.”
“Has he asked her?” Robbie touched Alice’s dark curls, her fingers gentle.
“Do you think she’d accept if he did?”
“I don’t know. He should have threatened her with prison or marriage.” Although Robbie didn’t truly believe that. “I got a note from Eve the other day. She has introduced Birdie to some of her customers, ladies with connections. Hopefully Birdie will be content, at least for a while.”
“And Colin and Lydia are running a fine clinic down the hall.” Gavin paused, then asked Robbie, “Have you made a decision?”
Robbie knew what he was alluding to. One thing that had eaten at her since she left Edinburgh was the condition of the girls, the runaways who so often ended up in prostitution. “Yes. With Mrs. Murray and Maureen here to help with Alice, I think I can afford to spend one, no more than two, days a week counseling any of them who might come to see us.” She turned and looked at her husband. “All of this activity in your home must be disturbing for you, yet you act like it’s the most normal thing in the world.”
“With you by my side, I’m calm and steady. Whatever else goes on here is just an added blessing.” He was quiet a moment. “I do love you.”
Surprised, she turned to him. “You do?”
“I’ve fallen headlong, madly, deeply in love with you, Robbie Eliot.”
Robbie’s heart nearly burst with happiness. “And I love you more than ever.”
They sat quietly, enjoying each other’s company, the warm fire, the dozing pup, and the sleeping bairn. Their thoughts were entwined. Life was impossibly good.