Page 39 of Loving a Noble Gentleman
He slumped back in his seat and tapped his fingers together as he waited for Mary to speak. She felt a strange sense ofdéjà vuat the moment, but this time she was in the driver’s seat of the meeting ... which was a place she never thought she would be.
“I wish you to sell the house.” Surprisingly she managed to say that without any emotion in her voice. “And I understand that means I do not get the inheritance at all ...butI also believe that my father would not want me to end up homeless. I wish you to give me enough money from the sale of the home to allow me to start again. None of us will be disobeying my father; we will just be doing things differently.”
Walter shook his head in surprise; he was not expecting this at all. “Right, I see. The thing is that is not written down in the will ...”
“It seems that nothing is written down in the will,” Mary replied with an eye roll. “My father did not plan for any other outcome for me.”
“That is true, but still ...”
“Mr Thompson,” Mary adopted a very serious tone so that she could get through to Walter in any way possible. “I believe that if you really listen to my plan, and you hear my words, then you will see that this is the best outcome for all of us.”
“You are supposed to marry His Grace...”
“I amnotmarrying him.” Mary would not be pushed down. She would not let this man walk all over her. This stressful situation had allowed Mary to see who she really was and what she actually wanted from her life. This was not it. “That is never going to be an option.”
“Right, I see.” Walter gulped, wishing that he had more information to help him out. He did not know how to make this work now. “I shall think about it.”
“Pardon?”
“I will think about it. That is all I can agree to at the moment. There is a lot to work out with this plan; it is not the sort of thing that shall just happen.” Walter rose from his chair and pointed towards the door. “I appreciate you coming, and I really will think about what you are saying. I will try and concoct a plan from that.”
Maybe Mary did not realise that the conversation was over, but Charlotte did. She could see that saying any more would only leave them in a worse situation. “Thank you,” she said pushing her chair back. “It has been wonderful meeting you, Mr Thompson. We appreciate everything that you have done for us.”
Maybe if the circumstances were different, then Walter would have appreciated Charlotte’s compliance, but he was just too annoyed with Mary to care. “Yes, thank you,” he replied distractedly. “Sure.”
“We will see you soon; thank you for your time.”
“Yes. Thank you. Goodbye.”
As the girls left, Mary was not sure how to feel. The meeting went better than she thought it would do, but she still did not have a definitive answer. She did not know what Walter would do. She hated her future being back in the hands of someone else, but what other choice did she have? Her part was done. Now she just had to wait.
