Chapter 26 #2
They sat down to wait, and a few moments later, Dr. Finch entered. “This is a pleasant surprise.”
Anne said, “Miss Fitzjohn would like to meet Robbie, if that’s all right.”
“Uh, y-yes. That is, let me just ask Ros—”
Rosa entered the room while her name was still on his lips. In her arms, she held her darling child with fair hair, round rosy cheeks, and blue eyes—eyes that looked almost green in the sunlight.
“Oh, Miss Fitzjohn. Anne. Welcome. This is my Robbie.”
Katherine swallowed, then asked, “May I hold him a moment?”
“Of course.” Rosa handed him over. “Always a risk, mind. But I changed him a few minutes ago, so you might be safe.”
Katherine paid no heed to the warning, having no apparent worry for her black silk dress.
She held the boy in the crook of one arm, angled so she could look fully into his face.
Tears filled her eyes. “Good heavens. He’s got Jude’s eyes.” She bit her lip and formed a trembling smile. “Though he mostly looks like you.”
She carefully handed him back and said, “I have some news to tell you. I hope you will be pleased.”
“Oh?”
They all sat. Miss Fitzjohn pulled a handkerchief from her reticule, dabbed her eyes and nose, and began. “The will you brought back from Gloucester. The one Mamma had written to the solicitors about, asking for revisions?”
“Yes. Whatever happened to it?” Rosa asked. “I thought she’d hidden it beneath her pillow, but when we changed the bedclothes after she died, it wasn’t there.”
Katherine nodded. “I had already taken it. When Dr. Marsland ushered everyone out so I could have a private farewell, I leaned down to kiss Mamma’s cheek. I rested my hand on the bed for support and felt something protruding from beneath her pillow.
“I took it into my room to look at later and discovered she had added a codicil in her own hand. And even though the revised will had not been signed and witnessed before her death, I plan to honor her intentions.”
Rosa and her uncle shared uneasy looks.
“Mamma wanted to leave some money in a trust for your son. To provide for his future, his education, and a modest annuity for you as well. I hope you will not refuse it out of . . . well, justifiable anger toward our family in general and Jude in particular.”
“No. I’m grateful. And I am endeavoring to forgive and move on, for Robbie’s sake.”
For a moment Katherine looked off into her memories. “It’s funny . . .” she began, her voice cracking and tears once again filling her eyes. “He was so worried she had written him out of her will, so determined to find and destroy it to prevent her from disinheriting him.” She shook her head.
“Had she intended to?” Anne asked.
“In the end, she did not. I don’t think she wanted to be one more parent figure to abandon him.
Despite his many failings, she loved him.
And so did I.” Katherine met Rosa’s gaze.
“He was not all bad, Rosa. Please remember that. This little lamb’s father was not all bad.
” Her voice shook with emotion. “As a boy he was . . . What did Mamma say, Anne?”
“Like the son she never had. Affectionate and funny and winsome.”
“Yes,” Katherine nodded, the word a mere breath. “And with such a loving mother and great-uncle . . . I trust Robbie will be all of those things and much more besides.”
“With God’s help, I hope you’re right,” Rosa said.
“So do I. With all my heart.”
When Anne returned to Yew Cottage, she found a letter waiting for her from her father saying that of course he would come for her.
He named a day and time sooner than Anne would have expected.
He even wrote that he missed her and was eager to see her again, which was a balm to Anne after leaving his house feeling rather unwanted.
The following day, as Anne was packing up the last of her things, Dr. Finch once again called at Yew Cottage.
“Miss Loveday, I wonder,” he began, “have you met Mrs. Cox and her daughter?”
“No, I don’t believe so, though I have heard them mentioned.”
“They are local lay practitioners of smallpox inoculation using cowpox—taught and encouraged by Dr. Jenner himself, who even provides the lymph.”
“Ah yes.” Anne’s father had variolated all his children in this manner.
The procedure involved scratching the skin with a lancet and matter from a cowpox blister.
Much less dangerous than introducing smallpox itself.
Yet many medical men were reluctant to change, and many poorer people could not afford to take their children to an expensive physician or even a surgeon, so volunteers had taken up the cause.
Dr. Finch went on. “Miss Eliza is taking over for her mother and mentioned she could use some help with the new pupils at the boys’ endowed school as well as the girls’ benevolent school.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “Thanks to their efforts, Painswick has been almost untouched by smallpox for well over twenty years.”
“That’s wonderful.”
He nodded again. “Perhaps you would accompany me and assist as well? I also thought we might visit the mill worker Joe Webb mentioned—the man who lost his arm last year—and see if there is anything we can do to help him.”
We. To Anne’s surprise, tears filled her eyes.
His own eyes widened in dismay. “I am sorry. I had no intention of causing you distress. You are certainly under no obligation to accompany me. I just thought, now you are no longer needed at Painswick Court . . .”
“I am not distressed. Not in the way you mean. Those are exactly the kinds of things I’d love to be involved in and would find very satisfying.”
“Then why are you crying?”
“Because I can’t. My father will be here to collect me any minute. I’m leaving today.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you meant to leave so soon.”
“Nor did I, but he wrote back directly saying he was eager to see me again.”
“That’s good. How . . . nice.”
“Yes. Very nice.” But still the tears flowed.
“You will come back, won’t you? Tell me you will come back.”
“I . . . hope so.”
His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Well. Good-bye for now, Anne Loveday.”
She nodded, but did not trust her voice to reply.