As the months passed, Kelly recovered nicely, and by late spring she was showing. Though Mildred struggled with displaying kindness to others, she was willing to give some leniency, and Kelly's duties lightened after the incident. Clearly, she had a soft spot in her heart for Patsy, though Meg was a bit surprised to see any evidence that her mother had a heart at all.
When Meg questioned her about the newspaper, Mildred insisted she knew nothing about the article or who had posted it. She said she would inquire to see if the Ashtons had released the information, but whenever Meg brought the subject up again, she would simply change the topic of conversation to something else or pretend not to hear. Meg was certain her mother must have been the one to make the information public, but she c
