“I can,” Mary replied thoughtfully. “Although I am not sure he will agree.”
“Do you know what will happen with the rest of the money from the house sale? Could you use that?”
Mary did not know, but she was determined that she would work it out. She had come this far; she could do the rest. She had overcome challenges she did not think she would be able to; she had pushed herself in ways that she did not know possible. Mary was starting to believe that just maybe she could do anything.
“I will sort it,” she confirmed to Charlotte. “You do not need to worry. In fact, I believe that the first thing I shall do is go back to the house. I will speak to everyone face to face and let them know what is happening and why.”
“Is that really necessary?” Charlotte could not understand it. But then she had never been close to the staff ever in her life. She had been raised in a way to assume they were part of the furniture, and that was how she had always seen them. Maybe it was not right, but it had become so ingrained in her that she did not notice. She did think about the rights of the working class, but she had not considered the people in her home to need rights. Maybe she always thought that they had it better. “I do not wish to be rude, but Mr Thompson will sort it.”
“No, they must hear it from me,” Mary insisted. She knew this was the only way. She could not let Daisy know that she had let them down from someone else. She wanted her friend to know that she had not forgotten about her and that she would do whatever she could to help her. “Do you want to come? I know you have not been back to the house since Father passed away, but maybe this will be good for you. You can get some closure and also see if there is anything you have left behind.”
Charlotte did not know if this was a good idea or not, but at the same time, she did not want to remain in the house either. Lord Jones was in a dark mood, and he had been for the last few days. The deep purple finger bruises on her arms were a stark reminder of that. She did not know what had brought it on, but it made her even less inclined to tell him about the baby that was growing in her stomach every single day. It was growing increasingly hard for her to hide her bump, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it. Her husband already thought that she was stupid; she could just act like she did not know.
He was always making jokes to his friends about how younger wives had no brains; this could just be another one in his long list of things spoken to humiliate her. She always clenched her lips together and acted like she was taking the joke for what it was, but inside, she seethed. She wanted to scream that if he did not want a younger wife, he should not have married her ... but she did not.
“Yes, I shall come,” she answered quietly. “Thank you for inviting me.”
Mary noticed that Charlotte was being pensive, but she assumed it was more about the house than anything else. Ever since the loud argument that she overheard, which the girls still had not discussed and probably never would, she had not heard a thing. She did not realise that Charlotte had orchestrated it that way on purpose.
“This is a good thing,” she tried her best to reassure her sister. “I know it does not feel this way right now, but it is. I will escape my marriage to a man who is horrible, and you can ... if you want to ... get away.”
Charlotte sucked in a deep breath, unable to hide her shock at being asked such a direct question about the one topic she was trying her best to avoid ... even in her mind. “I do not know,” she whispered as if she was afraid that the girls would be overheard even though there was very little chance of that. “I have not thought much about it; I do not want to worry myself until things move.”
“Things are moving,” Mary insisted. “The house is up for sale now. Soon it will sell. Someone has to want to buy it. By that time, you need to know what it is that you want to do.”
Charlotte knew all of this; she had a very rational mind, but at the moment with her pregnancy hormones circling her and the huge life choice in front of her, she did not know what to think. Sometimes she did not think that Mary knew how much harder this was for her. She had so much more to give up.
Do you think he will just let me leave? Do you think he really will allow me to raise my baby with you in the countryside somewhere?
But of course, she did not say that aloud. She did not want Mary to be brought down with her negative attitude.
“Yes, I understand that. Let us just go for now. I would like to deal with this one step at a time.”
Mary smiled. “Right, that sounds good. Let us get going. The sooner we do this, the better.”
Even with Charlotte so clearly upset, Mary could not contain her excitement. Yes, losing the house was never what she wanted, but it was a side effect of what she really needed to happen, so she would have to take it.
***
Daisy’s heart leapt into her mouth when she opened the front door to the house and saw Lady Roberts standing there in front of her. Not just Mary but Charlotte too. She had not seen the older sister for many years, so this truly was a lovely surprise.
“Oh my goodness,” she gasped while clutching her hand to her chest. “What are you doing here? I was not expecting you. Either of you.”
“I am afraid that I do not come with good news,” Mary told her gravely right away. “Can I please come in to speak with you?”
“You do not need to ask. This is your home.” Daisy stepped to one side and let the girls in. She watched Charlotte race up the stairs to her old bedroom without saying much to anyone. “Is she alright?” she asked Mary.
“She is fine,” Mary tried to reassure Daisy. “She just wants to see the house.”
“Right.” Daisy did not need to press further to understand what was happening. She had been expecting this for a while now. Ever since Mary left the home to go and stay with her sister she had known that the wedding was not going to happen. “I see. So the house is going up for sale?”
“It is,” Mary nodded sadly. “I am sorry about that; I just cannot marry a man that would ruin someone else.”
“I know.” Daisy rubbed her arm reassuringly. “I understand that; I do not want you to think that I blame you. The Duke was never good enough for you.”
“I sensed it right away, did I not?” She smiled as she recalled how much she hated his arrogance when she first met him. “I told you that he was not the one for me. I knew it then, but I allowed myself to get convinced otherwise.” She shook her head in a bemused fashion. “I should have simply trusted my initial instincts.”