Charlotte was shocked to see Mary speaking to a man of authority with such confidence. The girl she had left behind before she got married was shy and very quiet. She did not ever step out of line or say things that people would not like. Something had changed her, brought her out of her shell. Maybe it was all of this.
Walter shook his head, defeated. This new version of Mary was something that he did not feel comfortable with either. She was so challenging to work with; she made his life very hard.
“Fine,” he finally replied. “I shall speak with you now.”
He extended his arm behind him and invited the girls inside. Mary strutted in with her head held high, the need to help her sister driving her forward, with Charlotte shuffling behind her. Walter sighed loudly and entered too. He hoped that this annoyance would be over soon enough, but it seemed to be a never-ending nightmare.
“Right, Lady Roberts,” he said as he took his seat in his office. “What is it that I can do for you? What is happening with you and His Grace?”
“I am not marrying His Grace,” she told him in a tone that suggested there was no room for argument. “I do not know if you have heard the rumours by now or not, but he tried to ruin the reputation of Lady Victoria Hartmon. I refuse to marry a man who believes it is alright to do that.”
“Right,” Walter replied wearily. “So I suppose it is time to work out what to do next ...”
“Yes, and I have some ideas for that.”
“Of course you do.” Why could she not just be one of those Ladies who did as they were told? Why did he have to get stuck with the one who was determined to make his life a living hell? “Please, enlighten me.”
He slumped back in his seat and tapped his fingers together as he waited for Mary to speak. She felt a strange sense of déjà vu at the moment, but this time she was in the driver’s seat of the meeting ... which was a place she never thought she would be.
“I wish you to sell the house.” Surprisingly she managed to say that without any emotion in her voice. “And I understand that means I do not get the inheritance at all ... but I also believe that my father would not want me to end up homeless. I wish you to give me enough money from the sale of the home to allow me to start again. None of us will be disobeying my father; we will just be doing things differently.”
Walter shook his head in surprise; he was not expecting this at all. “Right, I see. The thing is that is not written down in the will ...”
“It seems that nothing is written down in the will,” Mary replied with an eye roll. “My father did not plan for any other outcome for me.”
“That is true, but still ...”
“Mr Thompson,” Mary adopted a very serious tone so that she could get through to Walter in any way possible. “I believe that if you really listen to my plan, and you hear my words, then you will see that this is the best outcome for all of us.”
“You are supposed to marry His Grace...”
“I am not marrying him.” Mary would not be pushed down. She would not let this man walk all over her. This stressful situation had allowed Mary to see who she really was and what she actually wanted from her life. This was not it. “That is never going to be an option.”
“Right, I see.” Walter gulped, wishing that he had more information to help him out. He did not know how to make this work now. “I shall think about it.”
“Pardon?”
“I will think about it. That is all I can agree to at the moment. There is a lot to work out with this plan; it is not the sort of thing that shall just happen.” Walter rose from his chair and pointed towards the door. “I appreciate you coming, and I really will think about what you are saying. I will try and concoct a plan from that.”
Maybe Mary did not realise that the conversation was over, but Charlotte did. She could see that saying any more would only leave them in a worse situation. “Thank you,” she said pushing her chair back. “It has been wonderful meeting you, Mr Thompson. We appreciate everything that you have done for us.”
Maybe if the circumstances were different, then Walter would have appreciated Charlotte’s compliance, but he was just too annoyed with Mary to care. “Yes, thank you,” he replied distractedly. “Sure.”
“We will see you soon; thank you for your time.”
“Yes. Thank you. Goodbye.”
As the girls left, Mary was not sure how to feel. The meeting went better than she thought it would do, but she still did not have a definitive answer. She did not know what Walter would do. She hated her future being back in the hands of someone else, but what other choice did she have? Her part was done. Now she just had to wait.
Chapter 19
“I cannot believe it,” Mary gasped in shock. Her free hand, the one that was not gripped onto the piece of paper in front of her, clapped against her mouth as she tried to process what was in front of her. “This is ... it is so unexpected.”
She reread the words again and again, trying to find something that she had not spotted before, something that would tell her that she had gotten it all wrong, but there did not seem to be anything. It appeared that what she was reading was the full truth.
“What is it?” Charlotte was trying to contain herself, but her sister’s anxiety had her all riled up. She felt like she was on edge, and it was a scary place to be. “What is the letter about.”
“It is from Walter,” she declared distractedly. “He is following through with my plan. The house is up for sale.”
“Our family home?”
Charlotte’s sad tone brought Mary back down to earth with a thump. She had grown so excited by the idea of moving forward that she forgot she was saying a big goodbye to her past. Her childhood home, the last place the Roberts had all been together as a family; it would all belong to someone else now. So would the staff.
“Yes,” Mary gasped as her gut hurt like she had been punched hard. “And I forgot to secure jobs for the staff?”
“Huh?” That was not the direction that Charlotte expected the conversation to go in. “The staff?”
Mary glanced up at her sister to see the question in her eyes. “Yes, the staff. One of the maids there is my friend. Her name is Daisy.”
“You are friends with one of the maids? I do not remember you ever being friends with the staff.” This was all so strange. How did she not know her sister at all?
“No, that sort of came about because of you, actually.” Mary smiled a little, remembering how it had happened. “When I first met the Duke, he made me feel that I was boring, so to spice myself up a bit, I copied what you said to me about being interested in the rights of the working class ... although since then I have become very interested in the same things as you.” She shook her head, realising that she was getting off track. “Anyway, that hardly matters. Daisy heard me, and we started talking since then. We have become quite close. She is almost a friend to me. In my excitement about saving you, I did not think about how it would affect her. She might end up with no job ...”
“Can you not ask Mr Thompson to pick a buyer who wishes there to be staff within the home already?”