Whitefern (Audrina 2)

“I’m so happy for you,” Mrs. Billings told us.

“Me, too,” Sylvia said. I hadn’t noticed, but she had some chocolate soufflé on her lips. “I love chocolate.”

No one spoke, Sylvia’s words hanging in the air.

“Thank you, Flora,” Arden said to Mrs. Billings, before turning to Mr. Billings. “Here’s to a bull market.”

“Amen to that,” Mr. Billings said, and we walked out.

The valet brought our car around, and we got in.

“Did you enjoy your dinner, ladies?” Arden asked as we drove off.

“They could have cut the carrots better,” Sylvia said.

Arden laughed loudly.

I said nothing until we had gotten home and I had Sylvia get out of her clothes and prepare for bed. Then I went to our bedroom, where he was already in bed, browsing through one of his business magazines. He looked up sharply when I entered.

“Everything is set with Mrs. Matthews. She’ll be here tomorrow. I’ll take a break and come home, but you had better prepare Sylvia for her.”

“What were you saying at the restaurant? What is this plan you have?” I asked.

He put down his magazine and put his hands behind his head.

“Everything you said about how Sylvia’s child would be treated is true, and everything you said about how difficult it would be for her to be any sort of mother is even more true. Now, no one knows that Sylvia might be pregnant. Hardly anyone knows her, while most who know us, this family, know how she is.”

“And?”

“So why not have people believe the baby coming is your baby, our baby?”

“My baby?”

I knew what he wanted, but the idea of my simulating pregnancy was daunting. What if someone found out I was pretending? The embarrassment would be frightening, but it was a way to protect Sylvia. Maybe I had to risk it.

“How do we do that, Arden?” I started to take off my dress.

“Simple. We have you go through the pregnancy just as Sylvia is going through it. If anything,” he added, sitting forward, “it might make it easier on her to have you mimicking whatever happens to her and whatever she has to do.”

“But people will see me and—”

He put his hand up. “I have that figured out, Audrina. After about four or five months, we’ll keep people from seeing you.” He shrugged. “We can have something made for you to wear that makes you look pregnant. Maybe we’ll deliberately let some of the weekly groundskeepers, or someone else who comes onto the property, get a look at you and be able to tell people you’re pregnant.”

“What about Mr. Ralph? He will see Sylvia. He’s in and out of the house often to fix things.”

“Mr. Ralph will do and say whatever I tell him. He sees nothing and says nothing. He’s always been that way. You know that.”

“And Sylvia?”

“We’ve kept her pretty much sheltered here. We’ll just make it more intense when the time is right. We’ll keep her up in her room. You can tell her she has to stay in bed, or Mrs. Matthews will tell her.”

I stood there in my bra and panties, looking at him and thinking about his plan. “This Mrs. Matthews, she’ll know the truth.”

“She’ll just have to keep two s

ecrets,” he said, smiling. “As I’ve said many times, what’s another secret or two at Whitefern?”

“That’s a lot of trust to place in a stranger, Arden.”