Page 16 of A Dash of Scot
“I am not normally a sneak.”
“Of course.”
“But I overheard something I perhaps should not have.”
“Tell us, Mama,” Anise said, putting down her pen and twisting in her desk chair to face them.
Their mother glanced toward the door as if someone might burst through it, catching them in a bit of gossip.
“Mary was…well, she was speaking rather loudly, to be sure, and I happened to pass by the door, and I’d not have normally stopped, but I couldn’t help myself.”
Poppy bit her lip to keep from telling her mother to get on with the story already.
“She was telling Edward that since he’s been put in charge of dispensing your dowries, he should figure a way to lower your dowries and think of their own son’s legacy—keeping the rest for their child as payment for boarding us now. That a thousand pounds each was too much to give and that all the food and extra work for the servants now was somehow taking away from their child.”
“But how? Edward didn’t inherit Papa’s money and properties. That all went to our cousin. He’s only the executor of our dowries. It hardly seems legal.”
“Exactly.” Mama pulled a fan from her sleeve and started to air her face, drawing in her breaths quickly. “She is going to rob you girls in any way she can, no matter the law. And me. My first husband, Edward’s father, left me a house in the Highlands. I’ve had it let out for years, the small amount of money going back to the land, but she even suggested he sell it. Sell my house.”
Poppy had known about the country house. And the only reason they hadn’t gone there instead of begging Edward’s charity, was because moving to the country meant giving up any hope whatsoever of them finding suitable matches.
“Nay, Mama, Edward won’t agree. He’s not so mean. And besides, why would he risk it?”
Their mother shook her head. “When it comes to Mary, Edward doesn’t seem to have a voice any longer. She also said…” Mother fanned herself harder. “That you weren’t really his sisters, being that you were from another father, and there was no way to prove that I was really his mother since no witnesses to his birth were alive—except me.”
To even suggest such a thing was mind-boggling. Poppy’s mouth popped open repeatedly and then shut as she tried to wrap her head around what Mary was insinuating. “That absolute wench,” Poppy said loud enough that it covered the expletive murmured by Anise—thank heavens or their mother would have fainted right away. “Is she claiming Edward was switched at birth? In that case, there’s no way to prove that his father is his father. What a can of worms she’s trying to open. And for what? We’ve never done anything to deserve her ill-treatment.”
“I always thought her a bit of a viper, but I never thought she’d let her venom out. Nor did I think Edward would be poisoned so heartily. He was always such a strong-minded lad.” Mama shook her head. “But I heard him say nothing to naysay her. And I mean nothing. She could have been talking to herself for all I know.”
“Perhaps she was merely practicing her speech to convince him,” Anise offered.
Mama shook her head. “I’m afraid the noise was coming from his study. I doubt she would have been practicing alone there. Too many ways to get caught, though she’d talk her way out of it. She’s quite bold, but I don’t think that bold.”
“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Anise said.
“Nor would I. I don’t understand. Why does she loathe us so much?”
“Some people, Mary being one of them, are inexplainable,” Mama said. “There doesn’t seem to be a reason other than it is just who she is.”
“I think you’re right, Mama. Should I talk to Edward? Remind him of his duty and the illegalities of what she’s suggesting? The trust will not just fall to him. It can’t. And he can’t take away your house.”
“I had never wanted to put a voice to this, but I thought that house might be our saving grace if we cannot stay here.”
Poppy hardly remembered the house in the Highlands, save for the one summer they’d gone to stay there. It was small, and felt quite rustic. They had pretended to be farmers those few weeks and had a lovely time. The memories of the cottage weren’t so bad. But it wasn’t a place she wanted to live. So remote…so far from any person, it would not be suitable for two young ladies in need of a husband.
Poppy and Edward had been close growing up. His father had passed when he was barely out of leading strings, and their mother, desperate not to find herself in the situation she now faced, had married quickly. Until he’d vowed his life to Mary, Poppy might have even said he was one of her best friends. But things changed after his marriage. And Edward started to look at her differently.
Started to treat all of them differently, including his own mother.
Even now, in this massive townhouse in Edinburgh with plenty of bedchambers, she and Anise were forced to share. They’d not shared a room since they were in the nursery together. And it wasn’t as if there weren’t plenty of other rooms to be had. There were at least a dozen bedrooms in this house. She remembered running through them when they played seek-and-find as children.
This house had once belonged to Edward’s father’s father, passing to Edward when he was in his late adolescence.
But Mary had insisted that only two rooms be used for his mother and sisters. That only one maid be assigned between the three of them, though they had plenty of servants too.
“I think a conversation is a good idea,” her mother said, her shoulders slightly straightening as she said it. “Any time I try to get close to Edward, Mary shows up and intervenes. Almost as if she has some magical insight to mine and Edward’s proximity.”
“She does the same with me,” Poppy said, thinking of what had happened earlier in the foyer with Dougal. “But I’m willing to give it a try, all the same. It can’t hurt us more than she already has.”
