The Firstborn

Chapter Five

Sophia stepped away from one shelf in particular, displaying an array of watch fobs that had caught George's attention. "Some sugar, I think." She didn't need any sugar, but she did need an excuse to loiter about the shop until she'd shaken the chill from her bones, and sugar was the first and only thing to come to her mind.

While Mrs. Kirkland reluctantly filled her order, Sophia switched George to her other hip and gave his mittened hands a squeeze to make sure they weren't bothered by the nip in the air. Without a word, Mrs. Kirkland dropped the paper-wrapped cone of sugar onto the counter and named a price that Sophia knew was higher than the one given to other customers.

Sophia sighed. There were several people throughout the town who insisted on treating her like a pariah, no matter that she had arrived in town months before claiming to be a proper widow charged with the care of her child and younger sister. She knew the gossip that had begun to circulate not long after their arrival, gossip that increased tenfold after Lucy had taken it upon herself to abscond from Stantreath without any word as to her whereabouts. The stories went that Sophia had never been married at all, or that she had been mistress to some titled gentleman who had tucked her away in the country once her husband had died and she'd found herself heavy with the man's child.

After taking the overpriced sugar and tucking it into the bag she had slung on her arm, she exited the shop prepared to be struck in the face by another great push of wind from the direction of the coast. But it was an uncommon stillness that met her as she stepped out onto the main street, the sound of the various types of traffic—both wheeled and pedestrian—sounding especially loud now that they weren't swept away by the wind to another corner of the county.

It wasn't until the roof of the vicarage came into sight that the first drop of rain landed on her forehead. She was about to turn her steps back towards home when the rumble of carriage wheels came up beside her, the harness of the horses jangling as the driver ordered them to a halt.

Sophia glanced up at the carriage and smiled. A moment later, the window dropped down and an elderly bonneted head poked out of the small, rectangular space. "Silly girl!" the lady's reedy voice came from beneath the oversized piece of millinery. "What are you on about, taking a child out in such frightful weather?"

"Lady Rutledge," Sophia replied with a curtsy. "I was just on my way back to the cottage."

"Nonsense!" The feathers on the old lady's bonnet shivered in accompaniment of her feigned horror. "You'll bring that baby into this carriage at once, and then I'll see you back to Rutledge House for cakes and a bit of warming in front of the fire."

Sophia knew not to argue, and so allowed the carriage door to be opened to her, and even permitted Lady Rutledge to settle a blanket over her legs before the carriage set off again.

"Now, give me that child!" Lady Rutledge held out both of her spindly arms, her bejeweled fingers sparkling in even the dim light inside the carriage.

Sophia obliged and passed George to the other lady, who took him eagerly before bestowing a loud kiss on the boy's nose. "Such a treasure," Sophia heard her remark under her breath. "Such a heavy thing," she then said at a much louder volume. "I believe he's grown since... Oh, when did I see him last?"

"It was Tuesday." Sophia settled back in her seat, feeling a quiet pride at the boy's obvious good health and appetite.

"Hmm, Tuesday?" Lady Rutledge counted it out on her fingers. "Too long, too long," she muttered. "And if it wasn't for my nearly running over the two of you in the road, I wouldn't be able to see you today either. You need to escape that dreadful hovel of yours. Keeping yourself locked away won't do any good, either for yourself or for this little terror." She pressed another kiss to the child's head.