Annie's Song by Catherine Anderson Read Free Book Online Page B

witnessed the rape, and I doubt they’ll talk, no one will know the babe isn’t mine. Given Annie’s affliction, there might be some speculation about why I’d marry her, but that would reflect badly on me, not you. After an acceptable period of time, I could claim irreconcilable differences and seek a separation. Annie could return home to be with her mother. It’d be the perfect solution for all involved. This is my brother’s child we’re discussing, after all. I’ve a responsibility for its welfare as well as for Annie’s.”
    “No.”
    With that pronouncement, the judge slapped his glass back down on the sideboard. Like a blind man, he made his way across the room toward the fire, hands groping for support on the chair backs he passed.
    When he reached the hearth, he grasped the mantel and pressed his forehead against the rock. Alex was shocked when he heard the man sob.
    “If you ever breathe a word of this,” Trimble whispered raggedly, “I’m ruined. Swear nothing I say will go beyond this room.”
    Alex shot a glance at the door to be certain it was securely closed. “Of course you have my word.”

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    “I know you think I’m a hardhearted bastard for wishing we could do away with the babe, but you aren’t aware of all the facts. Our Annie, she—” He broke off and heaved a jerky breath. “Well, you’ve heard the story. About the childhood fever that affected her mind?’’
    “Yes.”
    The judge brushed his cheek against the shoulder of his jacket. “She was stricken with a fever. That isn’t a lie. When she was five or six, somewhere around then, and her strangeness began after that, coming on slowly, growing progressively worse as time wore on until she became what she is now.”
    Alex didn’t know what to say or if the judge even expected a reply.
    “The thing is,” he went on, “I’m not absolutely sure her affliction was caused by the fever. Edie insists it was. And because spreading that story has made it possible for us to keep the girl at home without it reflecting too badly on our family, I’ve pretended to believe it. But the truth is, one of Edie’s uncles went mad. Stark raving mad. The mental imbalance began in childhood, just as Annie’s did, and he grew progressively worse until he had to be physically restrained and institutionalized.”
    Alex clenched his teeth, not wanting to hear this.
    The judge slowly straightened and turned to face him, his blue eyes sparkling with tears, his face pasty white. “Until now, the truth was never that important. I just bided my time and prayed Annie would never get so bad I’d be forced to send her away. It’d kill her mother to put the girl into an asylum. Even the best of them are horrible places.”
    Alex had heard the stories.
    The judge lifted his hands. “But now—well, I can’t continue to bury my head in the sand, not with a child on the way. Annie’s affliction could be hereditary. Knowing that, I can’t allow you or anyone else to adopt her child. A few years hence, it might go mad.”
    Alex dropped his gaze, shamed to his core that he voiced no objection. Madness. Dear God. Not even he would want to take the risk of being saddled with a child like that.
    “Now you see the problem.”
    Alex pushed up from his chair and started to pace. He wished to hell Douglas were here right now to witness the pain and heartache he had inflicted, not just on Annie, but on everyone around her.
    The judge pinched the bridge of his nose. “The way I see it, I’ve only one option, and that is to send Annie away until the child has been born and can be put in an orphanage. I’ll see to it that those in charge understand that it should never be adopted out.”
    Alex nodded. It seemed to be the only alternative to him as well. “Where will you send Annie? Have you relatives who might take her in?”
    The judge shook his head. “A couple of elderly aunts