Tatiana March - His Mail-Order Bride

Miranda tiptoed to the entrance and peeked into the corridor to make sure the housemaids were not spying on them. Then, taking care not to make a sound, she closed the door and returned to her sisters.

Turning to Charlotte, Miranda spoke bluntly. “You have to leave today.”

The fear inside Charlotte knotted tighter. “What did you find out?”

“Cousin Gareth has given the servants the day off on Saturday. He has given them money to spend, and offered them the use of the carriage to go into Boston.”

“He is getting everyone out of the way,” Annabel said. “He’ll ravish you, and then you’ll have to marry him, and he’ll get his dirty paws on Papa’s money.”

Charlotte flinched. Annabel was too young for such talk, but she had been the one to walk in on them and rescue her a week ago, the first time Cousin Gareth had tried to force his attentions on her. Gareth had been pursuing her since Mama and Papa died, but only recently had he made it clear that he would use any means to achieve his aim.

“At least the two of you are safe from him,” Charlotte reminded her sisters. “I don’t agree with the old English custom of leaving everything to the firstborn, but Papa did, and that means I’m the only one in danger.”

Miranda’s elegant features puckered into a frown. “Papa was a fool not to trust young women to manage their own fortune. You don’t get the money until you’re twenty-five, but if you marry your husband will get everything at once. Gareth has been gambling. He is in debt and desperately needs funds.”

“And he knows that on my next birthday we’ll be rid of him.” Anger rose in Charlotte. “I’ll throw him out of Merlin’s Leap. He’s been living on Papa’s money and keeping us prisoners here. One more year, and then we’ll be free of him.”

“He knows that,” Miranda said bleakly. “That’s why he is getting desperate. You’ll have to leave at once and find a safe place to hide from him. I stole a gold piece from his pocket this morning. Before the end of the day he’ll notice it’s gone.”

“How can I get away?” Charlotte spread her hands in a futile gesture. “Cousin Gareth has the footmen and the grooms watching every move we make. Even the cook and the housemaids are spying on us.”

Miranda leaned closer to her eldest sister and lowered her voice. “Annabel and I will distract the servants, so you can slip out. You must shelter in the forest and walk all the way to Boston. Once you get to the railroad station, you can blend in with the crowd and take a train to someplace where people don’t know you.”

“But I’ll only have ten dollars!”

“Twenty,” Miranda said. “The gold piece I stole was a double eagle.” She shifted her shoulders in an impatient gesture that brushed aside the obstacle of lack of funds. “You’ll have to find a safe place to hide, and come back to Merlin’s Leap next year, after your birthday, when you can claim your inheritance.”

“You can dress in boy’s clothing and—”

Miranda cut off Annabel’s excited chatter. “No, she can’t. She needs to look like a respectable lady. An educated person who can get a job as a governess or teacher, or a lady’s maid.”

“I can’t...” Charlotte inhaled a deep breath. “I wouldn’t know what to do...where to go...how to find a suitable position...”

“You have to,” Miranda said. “We can’t come with you, as we need to distract the servants so you can escape. If you stay here, Cousin Gareth will force you to marry him. You’ll be tied to him for the rest of your life.” Her tone hardened. “Of course, you can just let him bully you, and take Papa’s money, and anything else he might want.”

Like always, Miranda knew how to stir up courage in her sisters. Charlotte fisted her hands into the worn fabric of her ancient wool gown. One of Gareth’s petty tyrannies had been not to let them have any money, or buy anything new since their parents died. Up to now, they’d had enough to eat, but Charlotte suspected starvation might be his next weapon.

“All right,” she said. “I’ll go and pack.”

I’ll go and pack. Just like that. The end of one life and a leap into the unknown—perhaps not as drastic as a leap from the balcony into the churning ocean below, but equally frightening to Charlotte.

“But what about you...” She swallowed the lump of fear that clogged her throat. “What if Cousin Gareth takes out his fury on you? He might suspect you know where I’ve gone to and try to beat the information out of you.”

“Beat the information out of me?” Miranda’s tone held scorn. “I’d like to see him try.” She raised a clenched fist. “I haven’t forgotten those boxing lessons I got from the Irish stable lad when I was small. If Gareth lays a finger on me, I’ll punch him right on the nose.”

“I don’t think he’ll bother us.” Annabel spoke slowly, mulling it over. “He is not a violent man, but a scheming one. He’ll see no benefit in harming us. He’ll leave us alone because he’ll be too busy trying to find you.”

“I think the same,” Miranda said firmly. “He’ll rant and rave and then he’ll take off to the nearest Pinkerton bureau and hire detectives to track you down. And that means you’ll have to be very careful not to leave a trail.”

Charlotte suppressed her misgivings. Most likely, Annabel and Miranda were right. Moreover, as the heiress she was responsible for Papa’s money. The best way to protect her sisters was to stop Cousin Gareth from getting his hands on their fortune, and that meant she had to leave, go into hiding, just as they had agreed.

Miranda glanced at the grandfather clock ticking in the corner of the room. “You must be ready to slip out exactly at one o’clock. The servants will be sitting down for their lunch. Annabel will create a commotion in the kitchen. I’ll set fire to the papers on Gareth’s desk in the library. I have a bottle of lamp oil put aside for the purpose. You have less than ten minutes to get out of the house and down the gravel drive and into the shelter of the forest.”

Miranda stopped talking. Her arms came around Charlotte in a fierce hug. For a few seconds, they held on to each other. Charlotte inhaled the familiar scent of the lavender soap they all used and drew courage from the feel of her sister’s warmth.

Then Miranda released her grip and stepped back.

“Go,” she said. “We have no time to waste.”

Annabel took her turn to hug Charlotte, clinging tight with trembling arms. The excitement she’d shown only moments ago had dissolved into weeping. The most sensitive of them, Annabel sometimes appeared high-strung, but it might have merely been her youth.

“I’ll write to let you know where I am,” Charlotte said. She saw Miranda scowl and hurried to reassure her. “I know Cousin Gareth will intercept the mail. I’ll find a way to write and let you know I’m safe.”

Miranda gave a quick nod, blinking back tears. Charlotte was surprised to remain dry-eyed, but she suspected her calm was far from natural. The terror of what she was about to do had rendered her too numb to feel anything else.

“Emily Bickerstaff,” Annabel said through her sobs. “When Mama and Papa insisted you try out that horrible boarding school, Emily Bickerstaff was the nearest you had to a friend. If you write to us under that name, we’ll know it’s you, and we can read between the lines.”

“Excellent suggestion,” Miranda said. “Take note of that, Charlotte. Write to us using the name Emily Bickerstaff, or mention her name in the letter.”

“I’ll remember.” Charlotte forced a shaky smile for the benefit of the weeping Annabel. Sometimes they forgot that when their youngest sister managed to control her volatile emotions, she was the cleverest of them all.