Page 75 of Rules for a Bastard Lord
“He drew a picture of her and signed it with his name. He even wrote, ‘To my love, Anna’ on it.”
“What picture?”
She didn’t want to show him. It was her most private possession, but it was proof. And soon, she would show it to the earl. She needed to see how someone cruel and cynical like Mr. Hallowsby would react.
So she carefully pulled it out of her satchel. It was in its frame, but she had no glass to cover it. She moved aside the tea and ices on the table, then set it carefully before him. Then she pointed without actually touching the paper. “To my love, Anna. Oscar B.”
He looked at it. With her eyes, she traced the soft lines of her mother’s face. Jaw lifted, cheeks rounded, and eyes without wrinkles. She was laughing in the sunshine—or so she’d always imagined—and behind her were vague strokes like wisps of clouds.
Mr. Hallowsby turned the picture to study it more closely. His touch was delicate, his gestures slow.
“Not a talent, that’s for sure, but definite education. And he cared for her, I can see that.”
“He married her.”
He looked up. “I believe you. I believe that your parents were married in the church, their names recorded in the registry just as we saw. But I do not think he was the second son of the Earl of Cavener.”
“But itismy name. Maybelle Ballenger.”
He nodded. “Perhaps a cousin? That would be great enough, wouldn’t it? For your vicar’s son?” His voice took on a harder edge, and for a moment she wondered exactly who he meant. What vicar’s—oh!
Charles.
Yes. She supposed any connection to the earl would be enough for him and his father. “But I need to know the truth. Mum said they were married, but the earl would not approve. So they called the banns and told no one.”
“You cannot keep such a thing a secret.”
“Mum said they did. From his family. His older brother appeared as they were in the church. Richard Ballenger.”
“That’s the earl’s heir.”
“Then he can prove—”
“Died in an accident ten years ago.” He sighed. “Don’t you see? Anyone who will corroborate your story is gone. From their perspective, you’re a country girl making wild claims. The earl will not allow it. It would be the scandal of the Season.”
“There were others,” she pressed. “Mum said the earl and countess arrived the very next day, but they were all too late. Mum and Dad were already married.”
“And how much later were you born?”
She winced. She’d already made that calculation from the date in the registry. “Nearly eight months.”
His gaze was heavy on her face, but she lifted her chin. Many children were born early in a marriage. They were still legitimate.
“Then how did you end up in Hull?”
And that, of course, was the question. “Mum said that there was an ugly row. In the end, she was sent to Hull. She had money that came in now and then, but she was to claim to be a widow.”
“Why would your mother agree to that? If everything was legal, she must have known what people would think.”
She had. She did. “She said my father was to join them. After the earl calmed down. After he finished his studies and could provide for them as a don. That had been his plan. To be a don in Oxfordshire.”
She thought briefly of the men in black robes she’d seen earlier. That could have been her father, dressed like that…bowed to like that. If he hadn’t gotten sick.
“But he never came for her,” Bram said softly.
Maybelle looked back at the sketch of her mother. She read again the dedication and the signature. They were getting hard to read, the pencil strokes faded over twenty-four years.
“He loved her. Enough to defy everyone. If he is gone now, then I will speak with the earl.” She lifted her gaze to Mr. Hallowsby. “I will make him see me.”
