by Dalia Wright
Somehow, hearing this about Robert made Margaret feel even worse. Robert was keeping up his polite act with their families and was still pretending to care about her. Margaret knew this was far from the truth. She couldn’t even respond to her mother, so she rolled over, faking a stomach pain.
At least before, Robert had been open about his behavior. Now that he was lying about it, it made it so much worse.
Chapter 9
The next day, Margaret was still lying in bed when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. It was Elizabeth. “Are you dressed?” she called out. “Robert is here to see you!”
Margaret’s heart sunk. She couldn’t believe Robert had come here. It made her angry and nervous at the same time. “No!” she called back. “I’m still sick. I don’t want to see him.”
“Margaret,” said Elizabeth, coming in now, “don’t be rude. You don’t even look sick. Just at least come down and visit with him for a little while. He came all this way to see you by himself; he says he missed you yesterday.”
Margaret sighed. She didn’t really see any way out of it, so she put on a clean dress and went downstairs to the sitting room where Robert was waiting.
“Margaret!” he said. “It’s so good to see you. I really missed you yesterday and I was worried about you. Are you feeling better?”
Margaret couldn’t believe it. Here Robert was, still putting on his act, pretending he was a changed person and not the lying rake that he was. “I don’t want to talk to you any more than I have to,” she replied to him. “Let’s just do what we originally agreed to do. We’ll get married, but we don’t have to like each other, and we’ll separate as soon as we can. I’ll give you your space and wish that you would give me mine.”
Robert stared back at her, looking confused. “What?” he asked. “Margaret, why would you say that? What about last time we saw each other? What happened?”
Margaret practically snarled back at him, she was so angry. “You know perfectly well what happened.” And with that, she turned to walk back to her room.
“Margaret,” Robert called, following after her.
She turned around. “No!” she said, even more forcefully than she had intended. “That’s enough! At least respect me enough to leave me alone!” She continued up the stairs and into her room.
Behind her, she heard Robert’s footsteps come about halfway up the stairs, then pause, then turn and walk back down.
Good, she thought. She was glad that at least he had gotten her message loud and clear. Things were, at least on the surface, back to the way they had started. Now all she had to do was forget that she had ever fallen in love with Robert.
Chapter 10
Margaret spent the next couple of days in her room sulking. She was surprised when she heard multiple voices downstairs. She was curious to find out what was going on, so she dressed and walked down the hallway, peering down the stairway.
It was Robert and his parents! Her family’s maid had just let them in, and was coming upstairs to get Margaret and her parents. She tried to duck back into her room, but as her parents passed through the hallway they saw her, so she had no choice but to follow them downstairs.
Margaret’s parents were clearly just as confused as she was. They hadn’t planned on seeing Robert’s family again until the day before the wedding, just a couple of days away now.
Once they all had greeted each other and sat down, Margaret sulkily avoiding eye contact with Robert, Robert’s father William began. “We’re afraid we have a rather large problem,” he said, looking clearly uncomfortable. “There have been claims made about Robert, well, Robert’s…” he trailed off.
“I can explain, father,” Robert jumped in. He looked directly into Margaret’s eyes, and this time she couldn’t avoid his gaze. “I now realize why you’re upset with me, Margaret,” he said. “She must have told you.”
Margaret shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said honestly. Who was Robert referring to? The woman she had seen climbing out of his window? She certainly hadn’t told Margaret anything; Margaret didn’t know how she could have.
“Oh,” said Robert, looking slightly confused but continuing on, “well, someone from my past, an ex-girlfriend, Catherine, sought me out recently and made an awful threat. She had found out about the inheritance, and wanted the money. Catherine also happens to be pregnant.” He paused, wincing slightly. “The baby is not mine, but she said that she would spread word that it is if I go through with this wedding. She is trying to blackmail me into marrying her instead.”
Margaret’s head was spinning. She didn’t know quite what to think. “How do you know that the baby isn’t yours?” she asked, trying to figure out the story for herself.
Robert paused, glancing around the room awkwardly. “I know for sure because I never, well, she and I never…” he paused again.
Luckily, George jumped in at this point. “We understand,” he said calmly, even though Margaret could tell he was worried.
“I thought I talked her out of telling anyone,” said Robert, “but last night we received a note from her at our door that she was going to start spreading the rumor soon if we don’t cancel the wedding.”
“Why can’t you just tell people that it’s not true?” asked Margaret.
“Unfortunately, with my past and my reputation, people are not likely to believe me,” said Robert, hanging his head sadly.
“What are we going to do?” asked Elizabeth. “We can’t cancel the wedding!”
“We may have no choice,” said William. “Catherine knows that we would never do anything to hurt her or her family, so really there is nothing we can do other than trying to talk her out of it or trying to buy her off by giving her some of the money.”
Margaret’s confusion turned into anger towards Catherine. What right did she have to blackmail Robert and his family? She didn’t deserve their money. The whole situation was so unfair. Robert really hadn’t done anything; she had been wrongly mad at him for weeks and now it turned out her anger was completely misdirected. Some of Margaret’s reckless energy suddenly seemed to reappear. Without even thinking about it, she heard herself say, “I’ll talk to Catherine.”
Robert and his parents told Margaret that she didn’t have to, but she insisted. So they agreed that they would write to Catherine and arrange a time for her and Margaret to meet. Margaret wasn’t quite sure what she could accomplish by talking to Catherine—she’d managed to avoid women like her thus far in life—but she knew that she at least wanted to try to stop her. She couldn’t get away with this.
As Robert’s parents got up to leave, Robert lingered behind for a moment to talk to Margaret. “You’re sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“I’m sure,” said Margaret.
“So that was the reason why you were mad at me?” Robert asked. “And now you still want to get married, and not just because we have to?”
Margaret nodded. “I shouldn’t have been so quick to doubt you,” she said.
“It’s not your fault,” said Robert. “I know it all sounds bad. But I’m so glad that you believe me now. I love you, Margaret, and I promise that you can always trust me.”
Margaret looked into Robert’s eyes, and she knew that she could really trust him. “I love you, too,” she said back.
As Robert left, Margaret went for a walk to try to get her thoughts straight. It was hard to comprehend all that had happened. But despite the situation with Catherine and the difficult conversation she would have to have with her, Margaret mostly felt excited to be in love with Robert again. She knew that things would work out.
Chapter 11
The next day, Margaret met Catherine in town. Robert had had a letter delivered to Catherine the previous day instructing her to meet Margaret in a public place.
The two women sat together, and Margaret knew that they couldn’t possibly be any more different. Catherine was already showing, and Margaret wondered how far alon
g in her pregnancy she was. Catherine looked bored, though, like she didn’t know why she was there but she knew it was a waste of her time. Meanwhile, Margaret was nervous, but her anger made her speak up.
“You can’t do this,” she began. She wished she could be more eloquent and composed, but she was very upset. “You know very well that it’s not Robert’s baby. So are you lying just to get some money? You want his family to pay you just to stop you from spreading lies?”
Catherine scowled right back at Margaret. “No,” she said, “I don’t want to be bought off with a little money. I know how much money his family has with his grandfather’s inheritance. I want it all. I want to marry Robert so that I can be Duchess and finally have the life I’ve always wanted.”
“But it would all be a lie!” Margaret exclaimed. Catherine shrugged, and Margaret knew she had to try talking to her from a different angle. Catherine clearly didn’t care about telling the truth. “Look,” Margaret began, “don’t you think marriage should be between two people who truly love each other? Don’t you want to marry someone you love?”
Catherine nearly laughed out loud. “Are you serious right now?” She looked at Margaret’s face, her expression changing from boredom to something resembling pity. “You are serious, aren’t you?” she asked. “I don’t know you,” Catherine said more gently, “but you seem like a decent person, so I’m going to help you out. Robert doesn’t love you. I believe you that he says he does, but I’ve been in a relationship with him before, and he’s not interested in love. He was courting me and several other women at the same time. I doubt a rake like that could ever change.”
Margaret swallowed. She didn’t want to believe Catherine, but her words still stung.
“I don’t believe in true love,” Catherine was continuing. “Honestly, if you do, you’re naïve. I haven’t even heard from my baby’s father since I told him I was pregnant.
Now, it was Margaret’s turn to almost feel bad for Catherine. “I’m sorry,” she said. “But I really don’t think that believing in true love is naïve. And I don’t care if you think I’m crazy or stupid, but Robert and I are in love. If you had talked to me a couple of months ago, I would have completely agreed with you that Robert was an awful rake. But he really has changed; I’ve witnessed it.” Margaret knew now that she should have trusted Robert when she first saw Catherine sneaking out of his window, and decided that she would stick up for him and trust him now. After all, he had never given her reason not to since that day by the pond when they had their first real conversation, and began falling in love.
Catherine, however, seemed unmoved. She shrugged again. “Suit yourself,” she said. “Although I still don’t believe it, you and Robert can go on loving each other for all I care. But I’m still going to be the one to marry him. I want to be Duchess, and I want my baby to be the future Duke. I want wealth and property, and I’m going to do what I can to get it. And that involves blackmail,” she said. With that, she got up and left.
Margaret thought about calling after her, but she didn’t know what she could say to change Catherine’s mind. She’d tried all she could, and it seemed to have done nothing. She began to weep, feeling more hopeless than ever. She knew that she and Robert trusted and loved each other, and she wanted to marry him more than anything. Now it all seemed to be ruined just by one woman’s lie.
Chapter 12
The day before the wedding, Margaret and her family sat nervously in Robert’s family’s sitting room. They hadn’t cancelled the wedding yet since as far as they knew, Catherine hadn’t spread the rumor yet. Margaret’s parents suggested having the wedding anyway no matter what, but Robert’s parents were too nervous about their reputation being ruined. “We’ll still plan on it,” they said, “but if she tells anyone, we will have to call it off, at least for now. If people believe Robert has a child with a different woman than the one he is marrying, then the reputation of both of our families and our entire Dukedom will be destroyed.”
And so they sat, the parents trying to think of other ideas, and pondering how much money would keep Catherine quiet, while Margaret moped quietly to herself. She knew that Catherine wouldn’t settle for a sum of money; she had her mind set on being a Duchess.
Strangely, Robert was nowhere to be seen. Margaret thought about asking his parents his whereabouts, but given the tense atmosphere, decided against it. Instead, she excused herself to go get some fresh air, and went to stroll around the garden.
She thought about how far she and Robert had come, but now how far they were set back again. She didn’t know what to do about Catherine. She felt bad that the father of Catherine’s baby didn’t seem to be in the picture anymore, but despised the way that Catherine was willing to lie and ruin others’ lives just for money and a title.
Margaret sat down on the bench looking across the pond. She thought back on her conversation with Robert when he told her he had changed. She knew from his entire demeanor and his beautiful green eyes that he was sincere. She thought about their kiss, and wished Robert was there to hold her. Margaret realized that she would give up wealth and a title easily if it meant a happy marriage with Robert. Unfortunately, there was no possible way to do that.
She sighed, still trying to hold onto the tiny thread of hope that maybe Catherine would change her mind and decide not to spread the rumor. But she had seen the coldness in Catherine’s eyes and knew that this was unlikely.
Margaret was sitting and feeling angry about Catherine, but mostly thinking about Robert when he suddenly appeared, out of breath from running up to her. “Where have you been all day?” she asked him.
“I have big news,” Robert said, catching his breath. “I found out from some old friends who the father of Catherine’s baby is. His name is Jonathan, and apparently when he found out that Catherine was pregnant, he traveled to visit extended family members that gave him a lot of money in exchange for work on their estate.”
Catherine looked confused. “Is he coming back?” she asked.
“Yes!” exclaimed Robert. “He returned last night, and I just went to meet him this morning. The reason he left and labored so hard was to earn money for Catherine and their baby. He knows that she wants a better life for their child than what they could afford.”
Margaret’s heart rose in her chest. Despite all that Catherine had put them through, she felt truly happy that her baby’s father had not really abandoned them, but had instead gone to bring them money. “Has he told Catherine yet?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, not yet,” said Robert. “Although he earned a large sum of money, he heard about Catherine’s plan to try to marry me. And now he’s afraid that what he has still won’t be enough to change Catherine’s mind.”
“That would be crazy if she didn’t change her mind!” Margaret remembered that Catherine didn’t believe in true love though, and realized they still might be in trouble. “We have to talk to them again,” she said. “Both of them.”
Robert agreed, and together, they came up with a plan. Robert sent his messengers out with separate notes to deliver to Catherine and Jonathan immediately. Both notes, signed by Robert, said to meet him in town that afternoon.
Margaret and Robert knew that for their plan to work, they had to execute it perfectly. Together, they rode in Robert’s carriage into town, nervously awaiting Catherine and Jonathan. Although Margaret was still anxious that Catherine couldn’t be convinced, she had her hopes up. If all went well, Catherine would decide to be with Jonathan, and Margaret and Robert could be married the next day without any threat of blackmail. She prayed for this to be the case; she loved having Robert at her side and didn’t want to spend a single day without him.
Chapter 13
Jonathan was the first to meet Margaret and Robert. “What did you want to talk about?” he asked Robert, looking confused. “We already spoke this morning; nothing has changed since then.”
“Catherine is coming here,” Robert explained. “She thinks sh
e’s meeting me; I didn’t tell her you would be here. Now is your chance to tell her what you’ve been doing for these past months.”
Jonathan protested. “I can’t tell her yet,” he said. “I still don’t have enough money. Besides, with you here, she’s going to be even more focused on your fortune and title.”
“No,” said Margaret, feeling surprisingly hopeful. “You need to tell her that you love her, and that you love your future child. Tell her that you’re willing to do anything for them, and that you want to be a family.”
“We’ve never said those things to each other,” said Jonathan. “I don’t think she feels that way about me.”
“But do you feel that way about her?” Robert asked him. Jonathan nodded. “Then you need to talk to her, now.”
They finally got Jonathan to agree, and sat waiting for Catherine.
Two painfully long hours later, she finally arrived. When she spotted Jonathan, her mouth hung open. Margaret never would have thought she’d see Catherine so shocked. “What are you doing here?” Catherine managed to ask Jonathan. But before he could even answer, she seemed to regain her composure. “Never mind,” she said, “I don’t even want to know.” She stormed off in the other direction.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” said Jonathan glumly.
“Wait!” called Margaret, getting up to hurry after Catherine. She caught up, and Catherine finally stopped and turned to look at her.
“Did you arrange this?” Catherine asked Margaret angrily. “Jonathan abandons me for months, and now he’s suddenly back the day before your wedding is supposed to take place. How convenient for you.”
“Catherine,” said Margaret, “I should hate you, but I don’t. I honestly want you to be happy, and all the money in the world won’t give you or your child that. This wasn’t all my idea; Jonathan really wants to talk to you. Please give him a chance.” Catherine just looked back at her with her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Please; give Jonathan this one chance,” she repeated, adding, “and then I’ll leave you alone forever.”