Chapter 24
By the time Edmund reached his home, he felt utterly hopeless. This was a situation that continued to grow increasingly complex with every passing second. Every time he thought that he and Mary could find a way to make it work, something else got in the way. First Victoria, now Charlotte ... there was a never-ending string of issues.
He wanted to solve them all. He wished that he could find a way to make Victoria tell the truth; he wished that he could get Charlotte away from her horrible husband ... but there was only one problem of Mary’s that he actually thought that he could help with. It would just take him a little persuading when it came to his mother, but he hoped that would not be too much of a problem.
“How did it go?”
He found Iris waiting in the hallway when he stepped back into his home as if she had been waiting there the whole time. That took him aback. He knew that she wanted things to get back on track with him and Mary, but he did not know how important it was to her.
“It ... erm, it went,” he answered vaguely. “Actually, it is good that you are here. There is a lot that I want to talk with you about. Do you mind if we take a seat?”
“Yes. Sure. Let us ...” Iris felt uneasy. She did not know what any of this meant, but it did not sound positive. “Yes, let us sit.”
They walked through into the living room and took their respective seats. Iris perched her backside on the edge of the chair and leaned her elbows onto her knees where she waited for her son to start telling her the truth.
“It is not good. Things with Mary are bad because of the house. She is terribly upset.”
“Oh, I am sure that she is,” Iris agreed. “That must have been truly devastating for her. I do not know how she is even holding herself together. Does she even know what she is going to do now?”
“Actually …” Edmund let out a little laugh. “She is not too concerned about herself. I am sure she is worried about what she is going to do, but it is not her main focus. She is too busy being worried about everybody else.”
“Is there anything you can do to help?”
Edmund knew his mother would ask this because of her kind heart, which is exactly why he brought it up. He stared intently at Iris, trying to work out whether she would be agreeable to her or not. Her expression was closed off; she was not giving anything away which meant he just had to go for it.
“There is a girl, a maid that used to work at her house. Daisy. It was her friend, and she is very upset about where she is going to work now. The house has been sold, and as far as she is aware, Daisy is out of a job, and she is afraid for her future.”
“I see,” Iris drawled. She did not like to admit it to anyone, but she was starting to grow weary of doing so much herself. She had been trying for a very long time, but there was a big chance that this had all happened at exactly the right moment. “Well, I suppose she could come and work here. We could use some help, could we not?”
The tight knot loosened in Edmund’s chest; that was one of the biggest problems solved. Now Mary could come and visit her friend; she would know that she was alright and being looked after.
“That would be wonderful, Mother. Thank you very much.”
Iris leaned back in her chair and stared at her son. He was not done; she could see that. “What else, Edmund? There is more. You have to tell me what is going on.”
“I know that I do not need to say this to you, Mother, I know that I can trust you with anything, but I need you to keep this a secret. What I tell you next must stay between you and me.”
“You insult me,” Iris squealed, a little miffed. “You know I will not break your trust. I might listen to gossip, but I never spread it myself. I never even believe it wholly. Everything that comes from the mouth of someone else is never the whole truth.”
“Right, I see. Well ...” Edmund paused. “This is not something that I heard directly from the person, but I did get it from her sister, and I saw evidence to back it up. Mary’s sister is pregnant.” His heart hammered as he thought about this horrible situation again. “She is having a baby with a man who beats her.”
“What do you mean by evidence?” Iris’ tone suddenly turned stern. “What did you see? Did you see him do anything?”
“I did not,” Edmund admitted. “And Mary has not, but Charlotte has told her. When I was there today, I saw a bruise on Lady Jones’ cheek. She had attempted to cover it up with make-up, but I got a glimpse of it anyway. There is something very unpleasant going on in that household.”
“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?”
“I ...” Daisy felt embarrassed as she had to admit this, even if it was not her fault. “I do not know how.”
Edmund felt very silly as he realised that of course, this was the case. Daisy was not fortunate enough to be offered an education; there was no way she would know how to form letters in a recognisable way. She would also not be able to read a reply either ... but he could help with both of those things. Anything to make Daisy happier. He was also excited for Mary to learn that he had employed Daisy too; he just knew how happy she would be. He had not done it for that reason, but he could not help hoping that it would make her like him more.
“I shall write it for you,” he told Daisy happily. “I can do it now if you like?”
“Oh, my goodness, that would be lovely; thank you very much.”
Daisy nodded happily as she spoke. She felt utterly grateful for Duke Smith and his kindness. Her only regret was that she could not express her newfound like for Edmund to Lady Roberts. Not without it going through him which would have been very humiliating. She would just have to hope that she would get a chance to speak to Mary face to face. Then she could tell her what she had wished she had said all along ... that marrying Duke Smith was the right thing to do. She allowed herself to be swayed by something that she was only told which was wrong. She would never make that mistake again.