Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Southampton

Meg awoke to the sound of voices coming up through the radiator pipe. She blinked a few times and then looked at the time. It wasn’t even eight o’clock yet. Who could her mother possibly be speaking to?

Slipping on the pink robe her mother had given her for Christmas last year (possibly the only gift her mother had ever given her that she actually liked), she crept over to have a better listen.

She could clearly recognize her mother’s voice, but the man’s seemed foreign to her. She tried to piece together the conversation the best she could to determine who he was and what he might be doing there.

“There’s no way out, I can assure you,” he was saying. “I’ve spent years trying to come up with something… anything… but it’s legally binding.”

“Perhaps there’s another attorney we can speak to,” her mother replied.

“I’ve spoken to lawyers this side of the Atlantic and the other, Mrs. Westmoreland. The will must be carried out as specified by your late husband, and you are running out of time.”

“Out of time?” Mildred questioned, and then Meg heard that distinct guffaw her mother made whenever she thought she was cleverer than whomever she was speaking to. “We have all the time in the world.”

“No, you don’t, Mrs. Westmoreland. You have read the contract closely, haven’t you?”

“Yes, of course I have.” Her voice went up both in octave and in volume.

“Then you’ll remember that paragraph twelve specifies that if the marriage hasn’t taken place by the time Mary Margaret is twenty-one….”

“What are you doing?”

Meg jumped, nearly hitting her head on the pipe. She turned to see Kelly standing in the doorway, a puzzled expression on her face. She shushed her and nestled her ear back against the pipe, hoping she hadn’t missed anything important.

“Well, naturally I didn’t know that or else we would have gone through with it years ago,” her mother said, her tone showing she was completely put out now.

Kelly tiptoed over and stood next to Meg, also listening intently.

“All I can say is,” the man continued, his tone also showing he was more than a bit perturbed, “I suggest you get this done sooner rather than later. Otherwise, you’ll get nothing.”

“Very well, Mr. Steele,” her mother said, and Meg caught Kelly’s eyes, finally knowing who her mother was talking to, though she had nothing to associate him with. “I shall talk to Bertram and we will make the necessary arrangements.”

“She’s nearly twenty now. That gives you about a year….”

“I am aware of how old my daughter is!” Mildred spat. “Now, Mr. Steele, Tessa will show you to the door.”

“Good day, Mrs. Westmoreland,” Meg heard him say, but in response she only heard her mother shouting at Tessa to walk Mr. Steele out.

Hurrying over to the window that faced the front of the house, Meg peered through the curtains so that he wouldn’t notice her and watched as a thin man in his mid-forties climbed into a horse drawn carriage that was waiting for him on the street. He gave a signal, and the driver took off.

“Odd that an attorney doesn’t have a motor coach,” Kelly mused.

“Well, if his other clients can afford what my mother can, it’s no wonder,” Meg responded, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Whatever is the matter?” Kelly asked, noticing her expression.

Meg didn’t answer. Instead, she crossed over to her armoire and pulled a box down from the top shelf, bringing it over to her bed. She sat down next to it, and opened the lid. Curious, Kelly followed her and sat down on the other side.

A discarded hat and scarf, along with a pair of gloves later, and Meg pulled out her treasure—a hand full of bills and enough change to cover the bottom of a wishing well.

“What’s all this?” Kelly asked. “Where did you get all of that?”

“I’ve been saving it,” Meg replied as she began to count the bills. “Forever.”

“It’s quite a lot,” Kelly muttered.

“Yes. Last I counted, I had nearly two hundred pounds,” Meg agreed. “But that’s been at least a year and a half ago.”

“Two hundred pounds? Goodness! If your mother knew about all this….”

“She doesn’t. She can’t,” Meg cut her off. Once she’d finished counting the bills, she set them back inside the box, looking at the coins, and determining there was no need to count them at the present moment, she put the other effects back on top. “Kelly—I’m done waiting to see what my mother may or may not do. I’m leaving.”

“You’re leaving?” Kelly echoed. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve been saving so that I can go to America. Now is the perfect time. Why wait any longer? I have enough for you and Daniel and Ruth to go with me. We’ll have to go second or third class, but that is all right. We probably should anyway—so that I am not recognized.”

“Oh, Meg,” Kelly began, slowly shaking her head. “America? Now?”

“Yes,” Meg reassured her. “You’ve always said you wanted to go. Why not now?”

“But Meg,” Kelly began, leaning back away from her friend a bit, “Daniel and I had been saving. But then, when Ruth came along, well, we couldn’t save as much.”

“It’s all right,” Meg assured her. “I’ve got enough saved to get us started. Once we get there, we can find employment. I can find work. Of some sort.”

“I’m sure you could,” Kelly replied. “But Meg, Daniel and I can’t expect you to take care of us.”

“I won’t be. Consider it a loan then.”

“Besides,” Kelly continued, “there’s something else.”

Meg was busy putting the lid back on the box and didn’t see the expression on her friend’s face. Once she realized she’d paused, she looked up, expectantly.

“I’m going to have another baby.”

“Certainly you are. Have another baby. Have lots of babies. Have them in America.”

“No, Meg. You don’t understand. I mean I’m going to have another baby soon. In the fall, actually. Late fall, early winter.”

Meg stared at Kelly as if she had just revealed she was actually a giant talking tomato with legs. “You’re what?” she asked, shock and a bit of outrage in her tone.

“I wanted to tell you…” Kelly stammered. “It just never seemed like a good time.”

Shaking her head, as if she were trying to clear away the obstacles, Meg said, “Well, have the baby in America. How far along are you? It’s not as if passage takes months anymore.”

“It’s not that,” Kelly sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s just that I’ve promised my mother we’d stay here until the baby is born. She wants to see the child, and I owe that to her. Who knows when we might see my mother again.”

“Why can’t she come with us?” Meg asked, still trying to solve the problem.

“Oh, no. My mother would never come to America. My brother and his family are here. As well as her sisters. And her mother is close enough in Ireland that she can still go and visit every year or two. She won’t be around much longer. Oh, no. There’s no way my mother would ever go.”

Meg let out a loud sigh and leaned back against the headboard. After a few moments of acceptance, she asked, “Well, when do you think you might be ready?”

“I’m not sure,” Kelly admitted. “The spring perhaps.”

“By then, my mother might have already married me off to Mr. Ashton.” She remembered how the lawyer had insisted the marriage take place before she turn twenty-one, though she had no idea why.

“If worse came to worse, perhaps you could go over and wait for us,” Kelly suggested, shrugging her shoulders again.

Meg considered the possibility. The thought had occurred to her more than once, particularly at times when Kelly had made her more than a bit unhappy. She’d also thought of taking Ezra with her. Maybe he would want to go. If that were the case, they could potentially be together. Though it had been over a year since their joyride out into the countryside, and she’d hardly talked to him since, she saw the way that he looked at her and knew in her heart he wanted to be with her still.

Kelly continued to look at her as if she was waiting on a response, so Meg finally managed, “All right. That’s a possibility, though I’m not sure I could make it on my own in New York City for very long on what I’ll have left after purchasing passage.”

“Well… that’s actually not all the money you have,” Kelly replied, her voice just above a whisper.

“What’s that?” Meg asked, leaning forward, her expression guarded.

Kelly let out another sigh and readjusted. Her eyes focused on her hands folded in her lap. “My mother wanted me to tell you some time ago, but I hesitated, because I was afraid you might do something foolish—like take off unaccompanied as a child.”

“Kelly?” Meg prompted.

“You have a bank account in your name, Meg. At the National Provincial over on High Street.”

“A what?”

“On the night of your father’s death, he told my mother. He made her promise to let you know, should anything ever happen to him. It was as if he knew…. Anyway, she doesn’t know how much it is, only that he opened it for you. So the money should still be there.”

“Kelly!” Meg admonished. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I told you; I was afraid you might leave. Also, if your mother found out, she might take the money from you.”

“Still… I needed to know.”

“Yes, and I’m sorry. I almost told you a few times before, but I just never found the right time.”

“I certainly sound very unapproachable today,” Meg muttered. She took the hat box back to her armoire and slipped it under some other boxes on the top shelf, including the one that held Charles Ashton’s letters. Looking through her dresses, she found one that would allow her to move fairly freely and began to gather the other garments she would need to get dressed.

“What are you doing?” Kelly asked.

“Going to the bank,” Meg replied. “I need to know if I have enough to start over.”

It hadn’t been difficult at all to sneak out the back door. Her mother and uncle were in the study having a heated conversation, and Meg could only assume they were talking about her. She couldn’t worry about that right now, however. She was on a mission.

She found Ezra outside in the carriage house with Charlotte, who was petting the horses as Ezra fed and watered them. As soon as Charlotte saw Meg, she pulled her hand away from the horse and headed for the house, mumbling about having work to do. Meg paid her little mind. After all, she couldn’t care less whether or not her mother’s employees did their job.

Ezra placed the bucket he’d been using back on a peg that hung near the barrel of oats and smiled at her, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets. “Good morning, Meg.”

“Good morning, Ezra,” she said with a nod. “Are you busy this morning?”

“I’m never too busy for you,” he replied, his eyes showing the sincerity of his words. “What can I help you with.”

She stepped closer to him, looking around to ensure no one was listening, and then said quietly, “I have an errand to run, and I’m in need of a driver.”

“My pleasure,” he said with a smile. “Where are we off to?”

As he stepped over to grab the keys and ready the vehicle, she followed him. He always kept the motor coach pristinely clean, and Meg couldn’t help but think it still looked rather nice for an older vehicle. “I can’t say exactly where I need to go, but it’s on High Street.”

Ezra nodded and pulled the passenger side door open for her. “Hop in,” he said making a sweeping gesture with his hand, and Meg climbed inside, glad not to have to sit in the back like he was her chauffeur instead of a friend.

They made their way across town, filling the void with a bit of small talk. It had been a long time since they had carried on a conversation, but it seemed like very little of substance had happened in that time. Meg mentioned a few events she had attended but didn’t dwell on them since it seemed rude to talk about places Ezra wasn’t allowed to go, and while he filled her in on the work he’d been doing in the back garden, not much remained to be said. Luckily, the ride did not take too long, and when Meg could see they were only a few blocks away, she asked him to stop the automobile.

“I will need about twenty minutes or so. Could you go drive about town and then pick me up here when it’s time?”

“Certainly,” Ezra replied, “but are you sure you want to go alone? Are you certain you’ll be safe unaccompanied?”

“I’m only going a few blocks in the broad daylight. I’ll be just fine,” she reassured him. Before he could get out and open her door, she stepped out onto the narrow walk way, and he smiled and waved before he rejoined the meager flow of traffic. She waited until she was certain he’d driven on past the bank before she began to head in that direction.