“Of course, if that’s what you want.” Mr. Hobbs placed the folded paper and the parcel into Elizabeth’s basket. “There you go. Now try not to be a stranger. Hattie is always asking about you.” Hattie was Mr. Hobbs’s wife, whom Elizabeth was always fond of.
Elizabeth smiled and took the basket. “I’ll try not to. Have a lovely night,” she called over her shoulder as she walked out of the post office. Making her way back to the house would only take a little less than twenty minutes, but now, she felt her steps were lighter. The gears turned in her head as she felt the parchment of the paper through her fingers in the basket. She hadn’t felt this hopeful in ages.
Chapter 2
Elizabeth was sitting with her Aunt Anne on another lovely afternoon. Sundays were the days where Elizabeth was given a break from her duties at the Grayson home. Elizabeth always made a point to visit her Aunt Anne, especially these last few weeks. She looked at her heavily pregnant aunt, who was having a bit of difficulty sitting in her chair comfortably. She was seven months pregnant and already counting the days when she would be pregnant no more. Elizabeth had heard of women glowing while they were pregnant, but her aunt never really had that rumored glow, especially these last few months. She looked very miserable. She complained about being hot all over and not being able to fit in her clothes anymore. If she didn’t know her aunt, she would think the woman was not happy to be pregnant in the first place. She knew her aunt was happy to have a life in her; she just didn’t want it in her anymore.
A maid set tea and tea biscuits in front of them. Anne dismissed her and poured some honey into her tea. She sipped it and visibly relaxed. “Honey tea always calms me.”
Elizabeth stirred sugar cubes into hers. “You need to be calm?”
Anne sighed. “It’s Harold again. He’s been out late this whole week. It’s not helping the baby,” she said as she rubbed her large belly.
Elizabeth sipped her tea, trying to keep her emotions in check. Harold was Anne’s husband and Elizabeth’s uncle, but she never really viewed him as such. Elizabeth’s parents died when she was only ten-years-old and Elizabeth had come to Georgia to live with Anne, who had just turned eighteen. It was tough at first, Anne being young herself; raising a ten-year-old was not a part of Anne’s plan. But luckily for the two, Anne and Elizabeth’s mother’s parents were wealthy and had left both the girls a nice trust they could live off. Elizabeth herself also had a nice nest egg waiting for her on her twenty-fifth birthday, the last gift from her parents.
Anne kept the money at the bank, only taking tiny amounts when she absolutely needed it. She prided herself on the ability to make her own living. She became a teacher at a local school, making a small but earnest living. Anne had no interest in marrying at all; she wanted to do so much more than become someone’s wife.
The town whispered about the young woman who was unwed. There were rumors of her, all over the town. People had their own stories about why Anne wasn’t married yet. But Anne did not care. Elizabeth always thought of her aunt as a wild horse, beautiful to look at but eager to run at every turn. She had such a fire in her; that is until she met Harold. Many years older than Anne, he was handsome and charismatic. He didn’t really have a trade, but Elizabeth would call him a traveling salesman. He took Anne to fancy dinners and decadent parties. He wined and dined her until Anne had stars in her eyes every time she looked at him.
Elizabeth, young as she was, always saw behind the perfectly constructed veil he slipped on each time he was with Anne. Harold was a good actor, but Elizabeth wasn’t fooled. She saw the way he asked about her trust fund, spent a long time looking around her house for things he wanted. Though she knew this, Elizabeth held her tongue, praying Harold would lose interest and be on his merry way. But years passed and soon they were engaged to marry. And Elizabeth felt a noose tightening around her neck. After careful thought, Elizabeth finally broke down and told her aunt about her misgivings. Her aunt laughed a bit and patted Elizabeth on the head, telling her she was too young to understand the relationship between a man and a woman.
Alas, they married. That first year, everything was still as it was. But after that first year, everything started to fall apart. It all started when Harold asked about the trust fund Anne had. He wanted access to it; however, as Anne had told him many times before, only she had access to the money. Her parents had arranged the account to only be accessible to her, no matter who married her. Even if she died, the money would be forfeited to charity, as was her parent’s wish. They knew terrible people would be after their daughter for this money and they were careful to protect it.
Harold didn’t take this lightly. Soon, his true colors started to show. He would go out at all hours of the night, spending most of his time out gambling in underground fights or poker tables. He’d drink himself into oblivion and then come home, taking out his anger on Anne. Anne tried to put on a happy face, acting as if nothing was wrong. But Elizabeth couldn’t not hear what was happening in their own home.
But they both silently knew there was nothing Anne could do. She couldn’t leave him; she had no protections for herself. While he couldn’t touch the money, he had the ability to take everything else from her and she wouldn’t have anything left. So, the strong woman Elizabeth grew up knowing rescinded into a ball. She kept her job as a teacher, even though what little money she made went straight into Harold’s pockets for liquor and gambling. At times, Harold gave her no choice but to dip into her trust for simple things to keep their house running.
Elizabeth was so thankful when she received the governess job. She was given the opportunity to leave the house. Anne was thankful as well; a part of Elizabeth didn’t want to leave her aunt, but they both knew it wasn’t safe for her in the house. All these years, there were whispers as to why Anne had not provided her husband a child yet; Elizabeth had known Anne wasn’t really interested in children in the beginning until she met Harold. During their engagement, she would wistfully talk about having little babies with her eyes and his nose. But after they were married for a while everything started to crumble, and Elizabeth knew her aunt started to do everything in her power to minimize their intimate encounters. She started to sleep in a separate room, away from her husband. Often, it was easy to escape her husband. He would come home so drunk, he couldn’t do anything more than flail around and call her awful names before he stumbled into a bed and fell asleep.
But of course, there were times when Anne had to fulfill her wifely duties. And when she did, Elizabeth would catch her aunt taking remedies from another woman, known to make conceiving a child impossible. This worked, for years, until one night when he came home drunk and angry. He had found out about the remedies she had been taking, the deception his wife had been committing. So, he took her, against her will. Elizabeth had not heard this from Anne herself; their maids had whispered it to her in passing, for they heard the whole act unfold. Elizabeth had to hold herself together when they told her every painstaking detail. Anne had been miserable and in bed for weeks after. The bruises on her body stayed even after the baby started to show.
What was most awful was Harold didn’t even want children; he just didn’t like his wife going behind his back. When it became apparent Anne was pregnant, all he did was yell at her for getting that way and call her lazy, making it seem as if she was just eating herself into a fat ball instead of creating a new person. He would tell the maids to give her a strict diet because, in his eyes, his wife was getting fat. It was as if it would all go away if he just willed it so. When she finally fainted at the school one day, Harold had no choice but to accept his wife’s pregnancy, for fear of what others would say. She was given strict bedrest and had to regrettably quit her job. Elizabeth knew Anne had resented her last bit of freedom being torn away from her.
And now, months later, she looked at her aunt with concern and fear. She feared for the life of her unborn cousin the most, knowing the world he was going to be born into. Her aunt refused to thin
k she was carrying anything other than a boy because Harold had said he would do away with it if it was a girl. She rubbed her belly knowingly. “Harold comes home, carrying on and on.”
Elizabeth reached over to clasp her aunt’s free hand on the table. “Maybe you should take a trip until the baby is born. Maybe to the beach? We can go visit Caroline.” Caroline was her mother’s best friend and was a motherly figure to Anne.
Anne shook her head. “You know I can’t do that. It’s too late in the pregnancy for me to take any journey. Besides, Harold wouldn’t like it.”
“Harold is giving you too much stress. If he was a good husband, he would let you go.”
Anne’s eyes narrowed at her niece. Elizabeth visibly shuttered at her bad choice in language. “Harold is a good husband, in his own way.” The delusion in Anne’s voice always took Elizabeth by surprise. She knew how she felt about him; she could see it in her face every day now. The stars in her eyes were gone, replaced by dull rocks. They could never talk about her feelings candidly. Like admitting the mistake would propel her further into a more desperate situation.
“Never mind me,” Anne continued, taking a biscuit and breaking it in half. “How are you? I feel like I never see you anymore.”
Glad for the change of subject, Elizabeth stirred some more sugar into her tea. “I’m sorry about that. I’m starting to help a little more around the house. The Mistress has her hands full with the maid.”
“Mary, right? I heard quite an earful the last time the girls came by to pay their respects.”
Elizabeth inwardly groaned. The girls Anne was referring to were a gaggle of ladies who would come by a few times a week to gossip about the on goings of the town. Elizabeth knew Anne wasn’t one to feed into gossip, and usually rebuffed the women’s invitations. However, now that she was basically bedridden, she took the invitation to keep in contact with other humans who weren’t her awful husband or the maids.
“Well, Mary just isn’t used to running a full household yet. But she’ll learn soon enough.” Hopefully, Elizabeth thought to herself. With this much gossip going around the town, if Mary didn’t make it at the Grayson house, no family would hire her.
“I do hope so,” Anne said as she leaned back in her chair. “It’s nice that you are helping out though. It gives you more reason for them to keep you after the children grow too old for a governess.”
Elizabeth thought to herself about her aunt’s words. From her own experiences, Anne was very against Elizabeth seeking companionship. She would push Elizabeth to keep in the Grayson’s good graces, so she would have a job to fall back on in case she couldn’t find a gentleman worthy of herself, as Anne put it. It was a touchy subject for Elizabeth to broach, so she calmly took a breath and straightened out her skirt.
“I was actually at the post office the other day and came across a newspaper sheet. It was a section advertising for brides.”
Anne perked up at the sentence. “Brides?”
“Yes, Mr. Hobbs told me about these men out west who request woman in these ads in newspapers.” She reached for the folded piece of paper she had laid to the side of her cup when she sat down. She opened it and slid it over to her aunt. “They ask for women who are willing to join them. They promise of marriage and stability. I was thinking of making an inquiry to one of them.”
Anne looked over the paper, with Elizabeth sitting at the edge of her seat. Her face twisted and she eyed Elizabeth warily. “I don’t know about this…”
Elizabeth felt her cheeks flush with anger. “Aunt Anne, please, don’t disregard it.”
Setting the paper down, she took a sip of her tea and sat it down on the table. “But I thought you were happy at the Grayson’s house?”
“I am, very much so. They are like a family I never had. I love those children to pieces. But, I have realized through my time with them, I wish for a family of my own.” She grasped at her aunt’s hand, bringing her forward so she was forced to stare into her eyes. “I know you are very cautious with me, especially with my inheritance hanging over my head. But I don’t truly think I will be able to find this astonishing man you think is out there for me.”
Anne still looked skeptical, so Elizabeth pressed forward. She already thought ahead, knowing her aunt would take issue with her only niece leaving her watchful eye. “Look at the ads,” she said, pointing down on the paper. “They are asking for women who are willing to work for a living. I’m never going to find that here. These men, they expect me to quit and become a lonely mistress of a house. I don’t want that. I would be so bored!” she exclaimed, falling back into her seat.
She could see her aunt’s lips fall into a faint line. Elizabeth chose her next words carefully. “I know you, Aunt Anne. I’ve watched you my whole life. I know this life you have, is not the life you wanted for yourself. I can see it in your eyes, every day I come and visit. That’s why you are so adamant I never settle, especially for someone who won’t cherish me. But you know that will never happen while I stay here. These men, they already have an idea in their heads and frankly, I don’t fit it. I don’t want to wake up one day with regrets of not trying to see what could happen.”
She folded her hands and bowed her head at her aunt. “Please, I know it’s very drastic, but I think I could be happy with one of these men. I think I could be so much more than just a wife and a mother.”
When she opened her eyes and looked at her aunt, Anne was wearing an unreadable expression on her face. Elizabeth knew in her heart, if her aunt was not supportive, she wouldn’t be able to go through with it all. Her aunt’s approval would give her enough courage to leave her town. It seemed like ages before her aunt reacted, but a small smile crept across her face. “Well, if this is your choice, then I can’t stand in your way now, can I?”
Elizabeth clasped her hands together. “Really?”
“Well, I can’t say that I don’t have my reservations about it. But if you think so steadfastly that this is where your life is going, then I can’t very well stand in the way of your future happiness.” She leaned over and grasped Elizabeth’s cheek. “I raised a strong girl in my sister’s place, and I have faith in you.” She leaned back in her seat and took the paper in her hands again. “I will help you to pick a few prospects though. I can’t let my only niece go out west to marry any man.”
Elizabeth smiled in delight as Anne started to read down the page at some of the ads, adding her opinion to each one. For the first time in a long time, Elizabeth felt a wonderful jolt of excitement for what her life was going to become.
It was a long day and Tom was more than ready to call it a night. Seth and he had worked hard all day, herding their small group of cattle and plowing more land for farming. If it wasn’t for his aching stomach he would have packed up and headed back home to his house. He followed Seth to the main house, where Seth’s wife, Samantha, was cooking supper. When they entered the kitchen, Samantha greeted them with warmth. She ran up to Seth and kissed him passionately on the lips, until she realized Tom was behind them, to which she stumbled back with a ruby-red flush flowing up her beautiful face.
Seth just laughed at his wife’s sudden innocence and went towards the kitchen table. Tom leaned over and gave a stunned Samantha a hug, which she finally gave back. Samantha was the easiest female to rile up, Tom thought to himself. She was a city girl; she had answered an advertisement Tom had made Seth put in a newspaper requesting a bride to help around the farm. Seth could not have been luckier with Samantha being the one who turned up on the train that day. Tom had watched their courtship in the beginning, with Seth and Samantha doing a dance around each other until they couldn’t contain themselves anymore. He liked Samantha; she was good for Seth and brought the best out of him. He regarded her like a sister and loved to tease her mercilessly when he had a chance, almost in the same way he teased Seth. That treatment had gone back to when they were children, throwing rocks in creeks and chasing the skirts of the nearest girls they knew.
The kitchen smelled heavenly. Samantha had come a long way from the girl Seth had first introduced to Tom. Back then, she couldn’t tell a pot from a pan. Tom would inwardly cringe when Seth would invite him to the house for a late dinner. Tom made every excuse available as to why he couldn’t stay until Seth had to physically plant him on a kitchen stool, angrily telling him to stop hurting his wife’s feelings by avoiding his invitations. And in the beginning, dinners were not the best. There were burnt bread, watery stew, and one meal that was supposed to be chili that gave Tom the shivers for a week after. She looked so dejected after each meal, when she scanned their faces and saw their grimaces with every spoonful. But Seth would give her encouraging words as only a husband could and eyed Tom with such a stern face that Tom would gulp down as much as he could before his stomach would revolt. Seth was fiercely protective of his wife and although Tom had bested Seth before in most fights, he didn’t know how he would fare if he offended her in any way.
But soon, Samantha got better. She found a few meals she did alright and mastered them. She would travel into town to learn a bit more from Old Man Higgins and took some recipes from her old maid Misty, who worked at the hotel in town. Tom thought it was also because of the baby growing inside her now; Samantha was a few months along and her stomach was growing larger with each passing day. Tom mused it was a mothering thing, now that she was taking care of another human. Seth was glowing with pride as he stared at his wife with such an expression, Tom was getting sick to his stomach. He loved the two, but sometimes their lovey-dovey antics would make him want to bang his head into the nearest wall.
“I hope you boys are hungry; I made beef stew.” She smiled as she set bowls full of the stew in front of the two gentlemen. When she placed spoons next to their bowls, Seth grabbed at her, forcing her to sit on his lap. Samantha playfully swatted at his chest. “Seth, please, let me finish,” she giggled.
Her Secret Baby Page 2
