Chapter 2

"Herm, is something urgent going on at the office?"

Herman hung up without a flicker of concern and slid the phone back into his pocket.

"It's nothing. The most important thing I have to do today is be here with the baby. And with you."

He leaned in to press a kiss to my forehead, but I dodged it just in time.

I turned my head and busied myself playing with the baby.

"Herm, if the company needs you, go. I've got him."

Herman gave me a hesitant look.

Right then, his phone started ringing again, insistent, refusing to give up.

"Then take care of yourself."

I looked down at the baby in my arms, so small.

If my own child had lived, he would have been just this precious.

And right then, the Corgi's voice rose in my ear again.

"Master, this ungrateful wretch is going to get you killed someday!"

"I can put an end to his little life for you!"

I watched the Corgi throw itself desperately toward the bed, and a thread of disgust twisted in me.

In my last life, I hung on its every word.

And it only ever pushed Herman further and further away.

Now it wanted to lay a hand on a child. So it really was nothing good.

I reached out and shooed it off, and in the scramble it caught my arm with a bite.

Seeing it couldn't get to the baby, the Corgi flopped down to the side, seething.

"Stupid woman, do you even know who Herman's on the phone with?"

"Maud's about to use seeing the baby as an excuse to come back into the country."

"By then, crying won't do you a bit of good."

Right then, the door to the room swung open.

"Tabby."

I looked up at him, the baby still in my arms.

"Herm, what is it?"

His eyes moved back and forth between me and the baby for a long moment, then settled on the wound on my arm.

After a long while, he drew a fresh birth certificate from his pocket.

"Starting today, Noah is our son."

I asked around with Herman's assistant.

He had booked Maud a flight back into the country, then canceled it.

That afternoon, Herman came to take me home from the hospital.

Maybe it was the unfamiliar surroundings, but Noah suddenly burst into wails.

"The baby's probably hungry. If it's all right, ma'am, come feed him."

The nanny moved to hand the baby to me.

For a moment Herman and I met each other's eyes, both of us caught in a little awkwardness.

Herman cleared his throat. "I'll find a few wet nurses for the baby tomorrow."

I mixed the formula with practiced hands.

"Why bring in outsiders at all?"

I slipped my arm around Herman's shoulder. "Why not just bring Maudie back home?"

"They're mother and son, flesh and blood. I can't bear to keep them apart."

Herman couldn't help but freeze.

"Tabby... you really don't hold it against her?"

I shook my head, smiling.

Of course I wanted the mistress right under my eye.

That way it would be so much easier to catch her and that scum in one net.