22nd December, 1894 — Fort Lestrange

Gretchen had looked at the baby and found it vaguely appalling. It was sweet enough, swaddled in a cloth that had likely belonged to a Lestrange or a Selwyn during the days of the Founders, but he represented something Gretchen did not especially want to think about: she could have very easily found herself with one of these under significantly less auspicious circumstances. She had come so close to losing every advantage her family name offered and all because she had been stupid enough to think herself in love.

Damn the man, she could do better than him - whether she wanted to or not was another matter, but still.

Taking herself away from the insincere oohing and ahhing of the gathered family Gretchen slipped away to a hidden sitting room. It was a room only known to the family – and Gretchen suspected there were at least half a dozen more rooms hidden that were reserved for only the higher tier of the family – but at the moment its only inhabitant was Adrienne.

“You seem exhausted,” she said, commenting on demeanour rather than looks so as not to be rude.

Adrienne Lestrange | Philomena Sprout

  

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Bee is tremendous, isn't she?

The day of the Luncheon to celebrate their son was upon them, and Adrienne thanked her lucky stars that she didn’t need to spend the entire day with the family. The illness had plagued her for long enough after she’d given birth that she still felt she needed her space from the rest of the family even two months after the fact. Perhaps it was less a matter of physical strength and more a matter of testing her patience.

When the door opened to the sitting room, Adrienne looked up from her book on the chaise. Thank god it was only Gretchen. Still, she set her book down with a sigh. “I’m still not sure if it’s because of the baby or because of the amount of people in the other room.” She responded, though made a mental note to see what Olympe could do by way of a pepper up potion for her. “Do I look that bad?” She joked.

  

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Gretchen shrugged off the question; she had never been one for sugar-coating things and there was no denying that Adrienne looked like a hollowed-out version of the girl she had left school with. Having a child was clearly a battlefield, and Gretchen had no desire to take up arms just yet.

“I’m sure it’ll pass. Our dear aunties look perfectly well so one clearly recovers,” although whether they had looked this sickly after their lying in Gretchen thought it a wonder their husbands had ever managed to rally themselves to the task of begetting more children. Adrienne looked like the mere thought of another child would finish her off and Cash, in the brief moment she had seen him, did not look much better.

“At least they’ll leave you alone for a year or so now, no one needs a spare that quickly.”

  

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Bee is tremendous, isn't she?