Free Second Best Wife by Isobel Chace

quite all there, if you know what I mean. She was completely normal when her mother was alive, but her death affected her very badly. After that she never seemed to grow up. She's nearly twenty now, but she sounds and behaves as if she were half that age. I thought Jennifer would be good for her.'
    Georgina spread her fingers on her knees. 'Did Jennie know about Celine?'
    'No. I thought it would be enough for her to find out about her after we were married. Whatever happens, you see, I can't ditch Celine now.'
    Georgina surveyed him in silence for a moment. 'It's a good thing you married me and not Jennie, then,' she said. 'Jennifer is used to being the baby and the most precious member of the family—'
    'Come off it, Georgie! Jennifer is grown up and has been for a long time now. She would have shouldered the responsibility of Celine easily enough. Celine could have done with her kind, gentle ways too. It was a risk bringing you in your sister's stead, but if you so much as touch that girl you'll have me to answer to. She needs loving, not bullying, and that's what she's going to get from both of us.'
    Georgina sighed. 'How did her mother die?' she asked.
    'In a fire. Celine was got out of the house by some neighbours, but they couldn't get her mother out. Celine's father tried to make the child talk it out of her system, but she wouldn't say a single word. Whenever he mentioned Alice, his wife, the child shut up like a clam with a dreamy look in her eyes, and she's been like that ever since.'
    'Poor girl!'
    William glanced at Georgina and it seemed as if a reflection of that fire was lighting his eyes. 'I'd give anything to make that girl happy,' he said abruptly. 'I owe it to her father —and the girl
    herself. She's beautiful, Georgie, the most beautiful creature I've ever seen.'
    Georgina raised her eyebrows. 'More beautiful than Jennifer?'
    'Good lord, yes! Jennifer has a fragile prettiness, but this girl is out of this world!'
    'And you think Jennifer would have tolerated comparison with a raving beauty?' Georgina was stung into asking. 'She'd have got rid of Celine somehow — especially if she knew how fond of her you are! Her gentle ways wouldn't have lasted two minutes after she realised she was expected to share your attention with somebody else. You've had a lucky escape, William, my lad!'
    'By being stuck with you? Don't you ever have anything pleasant to say for your sister?'
    Georgina bit her lip. 'I've known Jennifer all her life,' she reminded him. 'She doesn't share things—with anyone.'
    'Only because she's had to put up with your petty jealousies whenever she wanted to strike out for herself. Older sisters can have one hell of a lot to answer for when they constantly resent being put in the shade by their younger siblings. Still, it's a risk I've chosen to take with Celine. You might say the choice was forced on me: either I got married to make a home for her, or I should have had to put her in a home and visit whenever I could. I chose to marry you — and I'll make it work if it's the last thing I do! You won't make Celine suffer for your inadequacies as you did Jennifer, my girl. I've got your measure, and if anyone can handle you, I can!'
    Georgina bent her head. 'What will you do if Celine recovers? She may not stay a child for ever. Have you thought of that?'
    'I can't afford to,' he dismissed the question. 'I have to think of her as a child. One can't think of her as anything else.'
    But he already did, Georgina thought, surprised by the insight he had given her into his feelings. It had been Celine all the time! Was it possible? Could he really have decided to marry Jennifer for no other reason but that she would be kind to Celine? If so, where did she stand herself as Jennifer's substitute?
    'A child in a woman's body,' she mused aloud. 'Does she know I'm coming?'
    He nodded. 'I had her brought over from Australia last week.
    She's already installed in the house at Nuwara Eliya where we're