Chapter Four: The DealIona dealt with the news that she was pregnant by the simple expedient of ignoring it. She continued about her business as though nothing had really changed. Having taken Derek's suggestions about the Quarter very much to heart, she had made the schoolroom three times the size originally planned and drafted in a couple of merchants from the Trade District to build a large workshop. This morning, she was out checking on the progress of the cobbling on Hope Street. Most of the houses were already occupied, and had been since they had had four outside walls and a roof. It was clear that some of the families were very much at home already. There was washing hanging from lines, names painted above doors, plants flourishing on window sills and women gossiping in the streets
