“You need to get her out,” Iris gasped. “You need to get them both out of there.”
“I know.” Edmund’s head fell into his hands as that sense of hopelessness overcame him again. “But how can I? How can I rescue them both? Understandably because of what her sister is going through, Mary says that she does not want to marry me at the moment because she cannot leave her sister there in that house alone. But how can I take them both away from it? Lord Jones does not seem like the sort of man who will let his wife go easily.”
When Iris did not answer him, Edmund knew that he was in the middle of a question with no answer. Iris Smith always knew exactly what to do, so the fact that she did not now spoke volumes.
“You do need to get both girls out,” she said quietly instead. “I am not sure how you will do it, but I know that you are resourceful enough to find a way.”
“I do not think you get it,” Edmund said quite a lot louder this time. “I do not think you understand what that will mean. I will have to leave London. To keep the girls safe, I shall have to leave the city and take them far away. It will take me away from you and the life that we have here.”
Iris sighed loudly. “I know that, and I might not like it, but this is important. You would probably want your own space when you got married anyway, so this will only be like that. I should expect you to move on. Plus if I am going to get some help around the house now, then I shall be fine.”
Edmund leaned close enough so that he could reach out to grab his mother’s hand. He knew that this was something he needed to do, but that did not mean that he liked it either. “Will you be lonely? What if I have to go so far that I do not get to see you very often?”
“I have my friends; I have my own life, and I shall be just fine.”
Edmund nodded and agreed. He did not yet have a plan in mind and was not sure how to make this happen, but at least he had considered the complications when it came to this plan. To rescue Charlotte, he would have to take her very far away from that horrible husband of hers. He did not know much about Lord Jones; this was not someone that he had worked with during his career, but he now did not like him one bit. He found him cowardly and disgusting. The sort of man who put his hands on a woman – a pregnant woman at that – was a pig. He did not deserve his wife or his child.
This needed to happen.
“Thank you, Mother. You have been very kind.” Edmund stood up and took a step back. “Now I need to go to my office to make some plans. I do not know what I am going to do yet, but somehow I am going to save the Roberts girls. Mr Walter Thompson made a mess of their lives, but I am going to fix it somehow.”
“You are a good man, Edmund.” Iris smiled at him proudly. “And I know that somehow you will do this.”
***
Daisy felt strange in her new job; she did not quite know where to position herself most of the time. It was not her mistress – Iris was a wonderful woman who did everything that she could to make her feel comfortable, but it was still hard for Daisy to feel settled. Everything was different; she did not yet understand the routines of the house fully, and she also missed her previous employer.
Mostly, she felt like she was betraying Lady Mary Roberts by working for the man who had let her down in so many ways. She struggled with the fact that he had upset her, and now she had to work for him, but the pay was too good to give up. She could not live without a roof over her head, and this was the best place for her to survive. She hoped that Mary would understand that, but she was not convinced that she would.
“Are you alright, Miss Daisy?” the Duke called out to her. “You seem a little lost. Do not be afraid to ask for help if you need to.”
Do not like him, she warned herself. You cannot like him just because he is nice to you and it would make your job easier. He has hurt Lady Roberts feelings by ruining the reputation of another Lady.
“I ... I am,” she stammered. “I guess I am just missing Lady Roberts.”
Uh oh. She had not meant to say that aloud at all. Just thinking about Mary had made her say her name. She could feel her cheeks flame as she stared towards the ground, hoping desperately that she was not about to get into any trouble.
“You know you may write to her if you please,” Edmund commented. “I know where she is staying. I have been to visit her; I do not mind sending some communication for you.”
“You ... have been to see her?” Daisy was stunned; she had not expected that at all. As far as she was aware, Mary did not ever want to see him again ... but she quickly recognised how inappropriate her comment was. She was not with Mary now, and she was not working with her friend. She could not speak out of turn here. “I ... I am sorry; please forgive me.”
“Not at all.” Edmund smiled. “It is because of her that you have a job here. She told me how worried she is about you having no place of employment, so I helped. I am also hunting around to see if any other houses need extra hands to pass on the names of the other staff members that lost their jobs when the Roberts house was unexpectedly sold.”
“We did not know about it,” Daisy insisted quickly. “I would have found a way to warn Mary if I suspected that Mr Thompson was about to dupe her. None of us knew a thing until we had lost our jobs.”
“I know that, and Mary does too. There is nothing for you to worry about, Miss Daisy.”
Daisy’s chest warmed when she thought about Mary going out of her way to help her like that. She truly was the best Lady she had ever worked for. She missed her, but she also hoped that she found a way to get herself some happiness soon enough. If anyone deserved it, it was her.
“Lady Roberts is a wonderful person,” she whispered, almost to herself. “Truly the best.”
“I would just like to point out that the things I am being accused of when it comes to another Lady are not the truth.” Edmund had given up defending himself, but for some reason when it came to Daisy, it was important. He did not want someone working for him to think that he was a horrible person, especially not someone who was friends with Mary. “I do not like to speak ill of other people, but Lady Hartmon wanted to hurt me because I did not want her for myself.”
“Oh.” Daisy was shell-shocked; she could scarcely believe it. At first, her mouth hung open with shock, but in the following moment, an ice-cold guilt washed over her. She had encouraged Mary not to continue with her marriage to the Duke because she thought he was a terrible man. Now she was learning that she was not correct. It was obvious from the genuine look in the Duke’s eyes that he was telling the truth. “I see. I did not ...”
“It is alright,” Edmund replied warmly. “Now, would you like to write this letter or not?”