The Colonel and His Daughter by Teresa Ashby Read Free Book Online

at this crumbling, frightened girl in front of her, Trudy found that hard to believe.
    “What about the baby’s father?”
    More tears. Trudy thought it best to decamp to the coffee bar across the road. In Diana’s current fragile state, being in a shop surrounded by wedding dresses wasn’t the best place to be.
    Diana declined coffee. It wasn’t good for the baby she said. She had freshly squeezed orange juice instead.
    “Does the Colonel know?”
    “He’ll go spare,” Diana said. “Look at me. Nearly thirty and about to become an unmarried mother. It’ll break his heart, especially when I tell him I’ve given up my career so I can be a proper mother.”
    “You don’t have to give up your career,” Trudy said. “The Colonel and I could look after the baby for you.”
    Diana’s face creased again, this time with a smile.
    “How kind you are. You’re going to be a smashing stepmother and a wonderful grandmother. But my job is very demanding. I work long hours and while I want to support us,” she halted for a moment and gently rubbed her flat stomach. “I also want to spend time with my baby. I was thinking of maybe just working two or three days a week at a local firm, just doing wills and a bit of conveyancing.”
    Diana seemed quite calm now and Trudy decided to risk bringing up the subject of the baby’s father again.
    “How does the baby’s father feel about all this? Won’t he support you?”
    Diana smiled. “He probably would. He’d see it as his duty. But how would I know he was marrying me because he loved me and not because I was pregnant?” she asked.
    “Do you love him?”
    “With all my heart.”
    “Is it Bill?”
    “Yes, it’s Bill. We met up when he was in London a few months ago, just as friends, but our companionable lunch together turned into a date and then another,” she broke off, her eyes shining with the memories. “It was a real whirlwind romance.”
    “But he loves you, Diana. He told me.”
    “But does he mean it?” Diana asked uncertainly.
    “There’s only one way to find out,” Trudy said. “Talk to the man.”
    “I can’t, Trudy,” Diana said. “I feel such a fool for getting myself in this situation in the first place. Can you imagine what people will say? And how can I tell him? I’ve tried and tried to find the words, but I just can’t.”
    “It takes two, Diana,” Trudy said. “And it doesn’t matter what other people say. It’s no concern of theirs.”
    “But you know Bill. He’s thirty-five and he’s never shown any sign of wanting to settle down. He may think he loves me, but those feelings may change when he learns the truth. Which is why I don’t want him to know.”
    Trudy took a sip of her cappuccino. It was delicious. She took another sip.
    Diana smiled at her. “Trudy . . .”
    “No, you’ve had your say,” Trudy said firmly. “Now you must listen to me. You can’t keep the baby a secret, not if you’re planning to live with your father.”
    “But Trudy . . .” Diana tried again and this time she stroked her top lip with her finger and wiggled her neatly arched eyebrows.
    “Bill’s going to put two and two together and it’s just possible he could make five and think the baby belongs to someone else. Then he’ll be hurt.”
    “Trudy, your . . .”
    Diana stroked her upper lip again, then licked it and nodded towards the older woman.
    Trudy was well aware that pregnant women sometimes did strange things. Why her own sister used to eat marigolds. And they got all sorts of odd itches and tickles. She’d never been in the family way herself, but she’d seen it often enough in others.
    It would be best just to ignore it rather than draw attention to it.
    “Trudy,” Diana hissed. “You’ve got a milky moustache.”
    It took a moment to sink in, then Trudy took the paper napkin Diana was holding out to her and dabbed her lip with it.
    “I didn’t realise,” she said, blushing. “How silly of me.”
    “I can see