The Roswell Legacy by Frances Statham (ebook pdf reader for pc .TXT) 📕

“But when did you find out? I mean, that your first wife was still alive?”

“Several weeks ago.”

“But how? Where is she, Papa? Here in Washington?”

“Yes.”

“Who is she?”

“Cassie didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

“Well, perhaps she doesn’t know. I can’t imagine Cassie telling you only part of the story if she knew all of it.”

“Who is she, Papa?”

Charles hesitated. “I can’t tell you without her permission, Ginna. You see, she married again also.”

“Then what are you two going to do?”

“Nothing, Ginna. There’s nothing to do except remain silent for everyone’s protection—your mother’s, hers, yours, and Nathan’s.”

“Because if the truth becomes known, we’ll be in disgrace, like Cassie said? That Nathan and I are considered illegitimate?”

“Ginna, I don’t really know. But I do know that you both had a right to be born, a right to a bountiful life filled with love. And the legal right to a name you’re going to shed soon is a moot point. You’re going to be Jonathan Meadors’s wife.”

“No, Papa. I won’t be marrying Jonathan.”

“And why not?”

“I … I couldn’t. Not with this stigma hanging over my head.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Ginna.”

“I’m not being ridiculous. I’ll return his ring immediately.”

“Ginna …”

“Thank you for telling me, Papa. And now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll walk back home instead of riding the rest of the way with you.”

“You don’t need the carriage today?”

“No, I have the one-seater. But I doubt I’ll be going anywhere today.”

“Don’t do anything rash, Ginna.” Charles glanced at his watch. “I have a scheduled operation that I can’t put off. But promise me you won’t do anything until we’ve had a chance to talk again after supper.”

“I suppose a few more hours won’t make that much difference, Papa.”

A heartsick Charles watched his daughter walk slowly in the opposite direction. What could he do to keep her from making a tragic mistake?

Glancing at his watch again, Charles realized that if he hurried, he would have enough time to seek Allison out before signing in at the clinic. He desperately needed to talk with her, to warn her, before Ginna did something that they would all regret.

CHAPTER

20

“Miss Ginna, Mrs. Meadors is in the parlor downstairs. I told her your mama is away, but she says she came to see you.”

Clara’s voice penetrated through the closed door to the darkened bedroom where Ginna lay. In a panic, she removed the wet cloth from her forehead and sat up.

“I can’t see her, Clara. Please tell her that I’m indisposed.”

“Your headache isn’t any better?”

“No. If anything, it’s worse. Oh, Clara, please. I can’t see her looking the way I do.”

“Then I’ll ask her to come back another time.”

“Yes. Tomorrow afternoon. Ask her to come back tomorrow, Clara. I should be well by then.”

Ginna listened as the front door finally closed and the creak of the carriage wheels dwindled into silence.

Alone in the bedroom, Ginna finally arose. She could not afford a long, languishing mourning period for what she had lost. And she had to stop depending on others and make plans for her own life. Society’s customs and manners, which had constricted her as tightly as the stays of any corset for as long as she could remember, now no longer bound her. Ideals had to be rethought, reforged, in the light of her disgrace.

Yet in losing her status as a lady, she was gaining a certain freedom to be herself. But for one who had never stepped outside the bounds of society before, it was an awesome challenge.

She remembered poor Sarah Trevalyne, forced from school by a hateful letter sent to the headmistress. “Mr. Eastminster and I shall be forced to remove our three daughters from your care if you continue to keep Miss Trevalyne as a student. Her mother has absconded to Italy with a man who is not her husband. And we feel that our daughters might suffer through an association with her daughter.”

And so the headmistress had gotten rid of Sarah. Ginna wasn’t sure whether it was a matter of moral principle or the fact that it would be better financially to lose one student rather than three. Would Nathan also be forced from school if the truth as to his parentage got out? Sweet, kind Nathan, whose only sin had been to label Stanley’s muttonchop whiskers “Piccadilly weepers.”

Ginna knew that she would gain nothing by running away, unannounced. So she carefully packed her valise and then sat down to write her father a note.

Papa—

Because of the circumstances, I cannot remain in this house a moment longer. Since I have enough money to see me through the next month, I have decided to go to Mrs. Gregory’s boardinghouse on Pennsylvania Avenue and room with Martha. So that no disgrace will accrue to you, I will not use your name but will be known as Ginna Biggs, taking my mother’s name.

Please do not attempt to make me come home. I am grown now and have decided that this is the best course to take. I love you and appreciate all you have done for me in the past. Please take care of Nathan until I am able to send for him.

Ginna.

When she had finished the letter to her father, Ginna wrote a note to Jonathan, breaking off their engagement. She would send the note and the ring by Barge in the carriage and then hire a hack to take her to the boardinghouse, which was half empty at this time of the year.

The boardinghouse on Pennsylvania Avenue was a gray-shingled affair, with cupolas and gingerbread trim and a porch that wrapped around two sides of the multistoried house. Set back from the street, it seemed to sprawl over the grassy acreage with the grace of an aging behemoth.

But its looks from the outside belied its reputation as one of the finest residences of bachelor lawmakers and married men whose wives chose