Six days later . . .
Six days later . . .When Mayhew had said that his brother-in-law was a magistrate, Willie had pictured someone serious and stern, with gray sideburns. Sir John Belton did have gray sideburns, but thereafter reality had diverged from what she’d imagined. Sir John was jolly rather than stern and his eyes twinkled with good humor. His wife had twinkling eyes, too, and their six-year-old twins were giggling, harum-scarum delights.
didThe Beltons had welcomed her into their home without question, and it should have been awkward, staying with people who were practically strangers, except that after the first half hour the Beltons hadn’t been strangers at all. They’d been friends. They’d been family.
family.The time while Mayhew was in London had passed swiftly. Willie had
