Here we were already in the new year and, though I had tried to enjoy the festive celebrations, being now so heavy with child had made that somewhat difficult. It seemed hard to believe that since I had first met Raphael at the palace Twelfth Night Ball two years before, I had been with child on both subsequent occasions. Jesu. I had no intention of becoming that woman.
thatAlone in the drawing room, I lay back on my sofa close beside the fire, my hand on my belly idly tracing the tiny feet that kicked there. The book I had been reading had fallen to the floor. Darkness was already encroaching though the candles had all been burning for some time. It was one of those days that had never truly come light. I watched the air outside begin to fill with tiny flakes of snow, which now seemed to
