Meant to Bea

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rising to her feet, Bianca began making her way to the drawing room where Lady Atkins awaited her arrival. She wondered about the woman's visit throughout her journey to the drawing room, but she never came up with a suitable reason.

When she entered the drawing room, a woman was seated on the sofa. The first thing Bianca noticed as she slowly began moving toward Lady Atkins, was her hair. Rather than the extremely curly mass of red hair to be pulled into a suitable hairdo, the baroness wore her hair down. It tumbled over her shoulders that were left exposed by her green off-the-shoulder dress.

She rose to her feet as Bianca approached, a smile creasing her freckled face. But it wasn't her freckles that forced Bianca's legs to a halt, it was her eyes...

Green... And blue! Two completely different colors! Both eyes neglecting to come to a consensus on what color they wanted.

Realising that she had been staring for too long, Bianca curtsied.

“Your Ladyship.”

“Please, call me Bea.” Lady Atkins smiled, covering the distance between herself and Bianca. She took her hand and gave it a small squeeze. “And you must be Mrs. Belington, Race's wife?”

Bianca could barely respond, her mind stuck on the name; Bea. Race had began to call her Bea because he said she reminded him of someone. It became clear to her in that moment, who that 'someone' was.

Slowly, she nodded. “Please sit.”

Lady Atkins released her hand and resumed her position on the sofa.

“Would you like some refreshments?”

She nodded. “Please, I am starving.”

Bianca reached for the bell on the coffee table and rang it. When a maid appeared, she ordered a bottle of red wine, desiring the alcohol if only to calm her raw nerves.

“Oh, no wine for me.” Lady Atkins laughed nervously. “Perhaps some tea? Green tea, to be precise. ”

Bianca thought it odd the baroness would reject a glass of wine. While many women of the ton didn't like to indulge in wine before the men, they did enjoy a few glasses in the absence of men. Unless of course the woman was pregnant...

Her eyes immediately darted to the baroness's flat stomach. She wore a rather stylish green dress, one that required a corset. Lady Atkins however, wasn't wearing a corset.

“Three weeks. ”

Bianca gasped, her eyes immediately darting up to the baroness who sat nodding.

“Forgive me, Your Ladyship, I did not mean to pry.” She was saying when the maid reappeared with a pot of tea.

Thankful for the distraction, she watched the maid pour tea into two teacups.

“Do not worry about it, I certainly cannot keep a child hidden for very long now, can I?”

Bianca didn’t know why the young widow spoke so openly about the child she was to bear. It certainly couldn't belong to her husband who died over a year ago. But, Bianca decided she liked Lady Atkins. She was nothing like Carla described.

“Congratulations." She murmured, reaching for her cup.

“And my condolences, ” She glanced at Bianca's flat stomach. “For your loss, Mrs. Belington. ”

Bianca shrugged, unwilling to consider her own loss. “Please, call me Bea.”

***

Loss easily translated into guilt, and guilt, into anger. Race decided anger was the only way he could deal with the news of the loss of their baby. But his anger wasn't directed toward Bianca, it was toward himself. He should never have touched her! He should have known when she snuck into his bedchamber that evening, that she was pregnant! He should have noticed from the changes in her body. But he had instead given into his lust, and it was lust that led to the death of their child.