How to explain the end of a marriage to a child? Choosing her words carefully, she said, “He decided he didn’t want to be married to me anymore, Kit. The only way a man can divorce a wife is to say bad things about her. That’s what he was doing.”

Kit lifted his head. “How could anyone say bad things about you?”

As much as she loathed Denshire, she shouldn’t descend to his level. Remembering what Lucas had said about the French pox, she said, “I believe he has a disease that can affect a person’s mind and make him act differently than he used to.”

“Like the king?”

Mad King George was a good example. “Something like that. I don’t think they have the same disease, but in both cases, their minds are affected.” She swallowed hard, then forced herself to say, “Your father is to be pitied, but that doesn’t make his actions right.”

“I don’t ever want to leave you again, Mama,” Kit whispered.

“Oh, my darling.” She hugged him close, wondering how long it would be until he would consider himself too old to be hugged by his mother. “I want to keep you close too, but that won’t be possible. If your father found out that you were with me, he’d take you away from me again, and he might lock you up in an even worse place than the Scranton School. The law says he’d have the right to do that.”

Christopher jerked his head up. “Why does the law say that?”

Kendra wanted to spit out that the law had been created by bullying males, but she didn’t think that would help her son understand. “English law has been developed over centuries and it says that a man’s wife and children belong to him, like a horse or a pair of boots. He can do anything he wants with us.”

Christopher’s eyes narrowed to slits. “That’s stupid!”

“I agree. Someday the laws might change, but for now, your father has the legal right to take you away from me.” Wanting to emphasize the danger, she continued, “He might even charge me with kidnapping you and try to put me in prison.”

Christopher looked horrified. “He could do that?”

“He could try.” She shivered. “I don’t want to know if he would succeed. But don’t worry about that now. Rest. You’re safe here for now. While you’re sleeping, I’ll go downstairs to talk to Lucas about the best way to hide you from Denshire.”

Kit covered another yawn. “You like him?”

“Yes, I like him a great deal. He’s trying to help me change my situation so that you can stay with me again.”

“Is that possible?” Christopher asked hopefully.

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “We’ll certainly do our best. Now get some sleep.”