Читать книгу The Philanderer's Wife - Katherine Trelawney - Страница 3

“She’s pregnant.” Paddy spoke the words slowly, looking directly at his wife.

Joscelyn was shocked; terribly shocked but not surprised. She had sensed something from the arrival of that letter. The news seemed to confirm something that she already knew. This didn’t ease the pain, the intense terrible pain. This is, she thought, the worst thing that could ever happen to me. It is the worst thing that could happen and now it has happened. How foolish I was, she thought, never to have anticipated this moment. She had accepted that Paddy sometimes had sex with other women, but she had never, ever thought that any other than herself would bear his child. Paddy had always assured her that it would not happen. Besides it just wasn’t right. She was his wife. It was she who should be the mother of his child.

The pain that flooded in, with the news, was just too awful to bear. She didn’t know how she was ever going to bear it. But she was going to have to. Strong, and desperate, she forced those feelings away. It was a greater challenge than she had ever faced, but years of training had taught her well. “Just don’t feel,” her unconscious mind reminded her in a whisper. Just don’t feel. Just don’t feel.”

At the same time she looked at her husband’s face. His eyes were searching for contact with hers; she immediately felt the pull of his need for her. He was lonely. He looked desperately unhappy. His feelings flooded in, where hers might have been. Oh, what a relief that was!

She felt sorry for him.

“Oh Paddy,” she whispered. “Are you all right?”

“I feel dreadful,” he said.