“Is he certain?” she panted with a swimming head. “Is he sure that his plan is one that will work? What did he tell you about it?”
Mary knew that she had to be mostly honest in this part. She did not want to scare Charlotte, but at the same time, she could not give details about the plan that she did not know herself. She needed to persuade her sister that this was the right thing to do without telling her everything.
“The plan is a good one,” she said reassuringly while accidentally darting her eyes downward. “Edmund knows what he is doing. I cannot give you too much because I do not want to risk being overheard, but if it is something that we wish to go along with, then we need to be ready to leave at midnight tonight.”
“Midnight?” Charlotte could barely stand that; it was too terrifying a concept for words. “We have to leave tonight? We do not even get time to think about it?”
“We do not get time for certain people to figure it out. It has to be now.” Mary needed Charlotte to understand; she needed her to realise that this was her one and only chance that she had to get away from the horrible man who had done nothing but ruin her life. “I understand that it is sudden, but what else can we do? We do not have any other options. They have all been taken from us. I can only see this.”
Charlotte nodded slowly as she focused on steadying her breath. She could hear what Mary was telling her and knew that she was right. If she waited, and her husband stopped hiding away in his office from her, then she would never get the chance to go. It really was now or never. “I see.”
“You do not need to decide right this second, but you will need to make a choice very soon. We will have to pack light so that should not take too long.” Mary hopped anxiously from foot to foot as the urgency of the situation coursed through her body. “I just need to know. I need to know what I am doing.”
“You ... you can go without me,” Charlotte stammered because she did not want all the pressure to rest on her shoulders alone. “I will understand if you wish to leave.”
Mary shook her head vehemently. “I cannot leave without you, Charlotte. All of this is for you.”
When Charlotte thought back to the stilted relationship that she had once shared with her sister, this felt almost overwhelming. The fact that Mary was willing to risk everything to rescue her was wonderful. She wondered how she had managed to survive all the years without her.
“I do not know what to say,” she said faintly. “This is all too much; it is just so overwhelming. It is ... it is ...” It was everything that she ever wanted, but now that it was right there in front of her, she did not know how to grasp hold of it. “I think I might need to go to the bathroom.”
Mary helped Charlotte to stand, and she watched as her sister staggered from the room. She shook her head sadly, hoping that she would make the right decision. She knew that Charlotte wanted to go, how could she not? But she also understood that fear. Mary was experiencing it too, and she had less at stake. She did not have a husband to lose or a baby in her belly ... but the baby was in danger if they remained. If only she had more time to persuade Charlotte; she just knew that she could do it, but unfortunately, it had to be quick. That was the only way that it could work.
Please see sense, Charlotte, she begged inside her mind. Please realise that this is the best thing for the both of us.
Heavy footsteps rang through the house which instantly brought Mary’s heart up into her throat. She had not heard those steps for a long time and knew that they could only belong to one person. Lord Jones had finally ventured from his office and at the absolute worst time too. Charlotte had just left her alone; she was by herself and vulnerable, and also seeing him would change her mind back again. Mary did not want Charlotte to remain here just because she had seen his awful face again. Her pulse pounded in her throat; she tried her hardest to gulp it down, but it remained there, stuck.
What do I do? she thought desperately. Do I intervene again or will that end as badly as the last time?
She stood up and tiptoed towards the door where she stood with her ear pressed against it. Her heart raced as she heard whispered tones, but the acoustics in the house were not good enough for her to pick up anything that was being said.
Charlotte’s eyes widened as she saw her husband standing there in front of her for the first time in days. It was almost as if he knew that she was thinking about leaving him. As their eyes locked, he did not say a word, but she could see the apology in his eyes. She knew that he was sorry ... but he always was. He never said it, but she knew that he always was. Then again it did not make any difference, did it? He was always sorry, and his behaviour did not change.
This is my moment, she thought as she looked at him. I need to decide now.
Lord Jones was much older than her and not handsome when she met him. She did not agree with her father’s decision to make her wed him, but she went along with it because she knew that she had to. She did not have any choice. Now as she saw him, he was even uglier than before, there was nothing attractive about him. He really did make her feel sick.
“What do you want?” she asked coldly as her eyes fixed to the floor. “I do not think that we have anything to say to one another, do we?”
Lord Jones reached out and rubbed his arm down Charlotte’s arm. She flinched away from him, hating the feel of his skin against hers. He let his hand flop back down by his side deflated. He knew that he had done a terrible thing; Charlotte could see it, and she could see that he probably did not think that he would do it again ... but he would.
“We cannot remain this way forever, can we?” he almost whined. “We need to sort this out, eventually. Do you not think?”
Charlotte screwed up her nose; she did not want to sort it out. Maybe there was a chance that with her husband in front of her, he could turn her mind around, but actually, even with his soft-spoken tones, he was pushing her further away. Now, more than ever, she wanted to leap into the carriage that Duke Smith had arranged and leave forever more.
“I do not see where we can go from here.” Charlotte took a step backwards. “I do not think that this is repairable.”
Lord Jones could not understand at all what was going on here. He did not recognise what Charlotte was trying to say to her. “So what are you suggesting? Would you like me to continue giving you some space? Do you think it will take more time?”