“I am.” Mary did not have time to think of clothes right now. “Now would be perfect. Thank you very much.”
Jennifer curtsied and exited the room, leaving Mary alone to pace up and down. Her brain whizzed at a million miles an hour as she thought over the details of her plan. Maybe her happiness was overshadowing her rationality, but Mary could not see anything wrong with her plan. If everything went as she wanted it to, then it would solve so many problems.
“Are you alright?” Charlotte gushed as she raced into the bedroom. “Are you hurt?”
“Did Jennifer tell you that I was hurt?” Mary chuckled while shaking her head in bemusement.
“Who is Jennifer?” Charlotte genuinely did not know who Jennifer was. She did not know the names of any of the people who worked in her home. “Sorry, that is not important. What is going on?”
“Take a seat.” Mary patted on the sheets of her bed. “I need to talk with you.”
“You do?” Charlotte started to feel afraid; Mary was acting manic. It was not like her at all. “Should I be worried?”
“I have an idea.” Mary slid next to Charlotte and grabbed onto one of her sister’s hands. “A great idea to help us both. I know a way we can escape.”
Charlotte snatched her hands away. She did not need to hear this; it was not right. Much as she wanted it, and it was the only thing that had helped her get through the previous day after that terrible row with her husband, she could not get her hopes up for something that was never going to happen. The girls did not live in a world where they had options. They had to do what was expected of them.
“What are you talking about, Mary? This is not something that we were discussing seriously.”
“I know that.” Mary waved her hand dismissively before her face as she jumped back up again. She could not be still; it was as if her entire body had an intense itch racing over it. “But I have been thinking. The house, the inheritance, I know what I can do with it.”
“You will not inherit it if you do not marry the Duke.” Charlotte did not mean for her words to be so harsh and cold, but they fell out of her mouth that way regardless. “That was the agreement, what our father laid out in his will.”
“I know, I know, but do you think Father would want me to marry a man who ruined the reputation of another Lady?” Charlotte said nothing, encouraging Mary to continue. “He would not; I feel certain of it. What I shall do is finally go and meet Mr Thompson – he has been trying to meet with me for a while now – and I shall make a new plan with him. I will tell him that I cannot marry the Duke because of what he has done. Then I will assure him that I understand I cannot inherit the house because of that. What I shall ask instead is for him to sell the house ...” Charlotte gasped loudly; she could not help it. The thought of the family home going to someone else was too much to bear. “And from the sale, for him to give me enough money for me to start again ... for us to start again.”
“What?” Charlotte’s mind span; she could hardly believe the words that were coming out of Mary’s mouth. On the surface of it, her words were logical, but that could not be the case. There had to be more to it, something that Mary had not thought about.
“It is perfect,” Mary exclaimed gleefully. “I am not breaking Father’s wishes. Walter knows that Father will not want to leave me with nothing, then I do not have to marry the Duke ...” Admittedly that bit still stuck in her throat, but she would get over that. “And you and I can go and live somewhere else.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Charlotte whispered as her head fell into her hands. “This is madness. It is utter madness.”
Mary felt bad. She did not mean to throw all of this at her sister to upset her. She just got carried away in her excitement. She sucked in a few deep breaths to try and reel herself in for a moment. Charlotte was the married one here, the one about to have a baby. Of course she would take a moment to come to terms with things.
“What are you thinking?” she asked Charlotte softly.
“I do not know,” Charlotte shot back. “I do not know what to think about this.”
Mary chewed on her bottom lip while she tried to figure out what to do next. She needed to start on with this plan while it was fresh in her mind – before she could talk herself out of it. But she had to do it sensitively. “I think I shall go to see Walter today,” she said. “Just to see if this plan is possible. I do not want to worry about it too much, and I do not want you to either. Not while we are unsure if this is even possible. I just think if it is possible, then it is something we need to think about.”
Charlotte nodded slowly. Going with Mary to see the man who had control over their father’s will to help her sort her life out would not be too troublesome. Her husband would probably like it; he was not as keen as Charlotte to have Mary in the house. She did not have to commit to anything. Even if Mary’s mad plan followed through, then she still did not have to do anything.
The future was in her hands ... for the first time in her life, she might actually have a choice. Maybe it was not freedom, not in the way that she would like, but it was better than nothing.
“Right, that is fine,” she finally said with a gasp. “I will come with you.” She met Mary’s eyes and got sucked into the bubble of happiness for just a moment. “What is the harm in finding out what is possible?”
Mary threw her hands around Charlotte, and she embraced her for a moment. She just had a feeling in her gut that she could make this work, and she could not wait to get it started. She could feel the braveness that she had always been told that her mother had coursing through her, edging her forward, leading her towards the right path.
“I shall just get dressed,” she said with a smile. “Can you sort us out a carriage? Then we can go.”
Charlotte nodded and gulped, hoping desperately that she was doing the right thing. Mary was determined; she did not want her to get knocked off her kilter and left unhappy ... but if they did not try, then they would not know. This was the only option they had.
***
Walter was stunned to see Mary standing outside his home office with a determined expression. “I have been trying to communicate with you for a while,” he told her in a steely manner. There was irritation inside of him because things had not gone according to his plan. “I did not even know that you had gone to your sister’s home at first. It has been very challenging for me to speak with you ... and now you have turned up out of the blue, with no prior warning. What if I have meetings all day long? I might not have time to see you today.”
“I shall wait,” Mary replied, refusing to be intimidated. “However long you need, I shall wait for you.”