Читать книгу Christmas At Pemberley - Katie Oliver - Страница 35

Chapter 28

After lunch, Caitlin made her way upstairs to Gemma’s bedroom and knocked on the door.

‘Come in,’ Gemma called out.

‘Hello,’ Caitlin said hesitantly as she hovered in the doorway. ‘You said you wanted to see me?’

‘Yes! Your bridesmaid’s dress arrived in the post, and I want you to try it on.’

‘But the seamstress fitted me in the store,’ she pointed out. ‘There’s no need to try it on again.’

‘Of course there is,’ Gemma said, her tone brisk as she took the plaid dress from the parcel and shook it out. ‘That was nearly a month ago. You might’ve gained – or lost – a bit of weight since then.’ She held the dress up.

‘Oh,’ Caitlin admitted as she stepped forward, ‘it’s lovely.’ And it was. It was simple, with a long, bias-cut skirt and bodice fashioned out of deep-green plaid. A sash of black velvet tied at the waist, ending in a bow at the back.

‘And it’ll be even lovelier on you,’ Gemma observed. ‘Go on, take it into the dressing room and try it on. You needn’t worry – Dom’s gone.’

‘Is everything all right with you two?’ Caitlin asked as she took the dress and draped it over her arm. ‘I thought I heard shouting this morning.’

‘Oh, no, everything’s fine,’ Gemma assured her. ‘Dominic just needed a bit of...persuading.’

And a Louboutin up his arse to remind him who’s boss, she reflected darkly.

A few minutes later, Caitlin’s muffled voice drifted out. ‘Can you come in here and help me do up the zip? I can’t seem to manage it.’

‘No problem.’ Gemma opened the door. ‘All right,’ she said as she entered the dressing room, ‘let’s just get you zipped in and then we’ll have a look at you.’

But although she tugged, and pulled, and tugged again, the zipper would go no further than it already had – midway up Caitlin’s back.

‘Oh, shit,’ Gemma said in dismay. ‘You’ve gained weight! Quite a bit, too, it seems.’

‘Could it be let out, do you think?’

‘I don’t think so.’ She leant forward and examined the seams with a frown. ‘There’s nothing much left to let out, I’m afraid. Perhaps if we drape a dark-green pashmina round your shoulders...’

‘Perhaps,’ Caitlin said, doubt plain on her face.

Gemma studied the younger girl critically. ‘Crikey! You’ve definitely gained weight. Even your boobs have got bigger.’ She raised a brow. ‘One would almost think you’re pregnant.’

Her half-joking words were met with an ominous silence. ‘Actually,’ Caitlin said after a moment, and lifted a frightened gaze to Gemma, ‘I am. Pregnant, that is. And I don’t know wh-what to do about it.’

And she burst into tears.

Gemma was at a loss as the girl stumbled, weeping, into her arms. ‘You’re...pregnant? Are you sure? Does your mum know?’

Still sobbing, Caitlin shook her head. ‘No. No one knows. Only you.’

‘What about the baby’s father? Does he know?’

Caitlin broke away and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. ‘No,’ she said, and shuddered. ‘He can’t ever know.’

‘Why on earth not? He deserves to know,’ Gemma said, and added tartly, ‘not to mention, he needs to help you figure this out. He’s partly responsible for putting you in this situation, after all.’

‘He can’t know,’ Caitlin cut in, her expression teary but determined, ‘he can’t ever know, because he’s married. And because his son is staying here as a guest at Draemar.’

‘Not...Jeremy?’ Gemma asked, her eyes wide.

‘Yes – Jeremy!’ she cried. ‘He’s Niall’s son. I didn’t know he was, until it was too late...now Niall will never leave his wife, he’ll think I’m trying to trap him... Oh, it’s all such a bloody, bloody mess!’

‘That,’ Gemma muttered as Caitlin sobbed into her shoulder, ‘is the understatement of the year.’

It took the better part of the afternoon, but Gemma finally persuaded Caitlin to go downstairs and tell her mother the truth.

‘Well, Mum?’ Caitlin asked anxiously a short time later. She’d found her mother in the drawing room, flicking through a magazine. After closing the doors and blurting out her story, her rush of words were met with silence. ‘Haven’t you anything to say?’

Mrs Campbell stood by one of the windows, staring out, her eyes unfocused.

‘Oh, I have plenty to say.’ She turned to face her daughter. ‘First of all – what do you plan to do about this?’

Caitlin chewed on her lip. ‘I – I don’t know. I can’t go through with it, obviously... I can’t take care of a baby and go to university, after all—’

‘So you’re having an abortion?’

She flinched at her mother’s plain speaking. ‘Well, I don’t know. I suppose I might—’

‘Have you discussed the situation with the child’s father? Who is the child’s father?’ Penelope demanded, turning round to study her daughter.

A tear slid down Caitlin’s cheek, then another. ‘He’s – Niall is...he’s one of my professors. Or he was. He’s the reason I g-got booted out of uni.’

Her mother let out a tiny, disbelieving laugh. ‘He’s a professor! Well, isn’t that lovely. So he’s older than you, obviously. And well educated. But not, it seems, smart enough to stay away from you.’

‘Mum!’ she exclaimed, shocked.

‘Let me ask you this – is he married?’

Miserably, Caitlin nodded. ‘He says he’s leaving his wife, though.’

‘You stupid girl.’ Penelope spoke with contempt. ‘All married men say that when they take a woman to bed for the first time. They make all manner of extravagant promises, none of which they intend to keep. They turn a woman’s life completely upside-down – not to mention the poor child’s ‒ but suffer little consequence to their own. I thought you were so much smarter than this. I’m so very, very disappointed in you.’

Without further discussion, she swept out of the room, leaving her daughter trembling and weeping into her hands, and closed the door quietly but firmly behind her.