{"id":2510,"date":"2018-07-16T08:45:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-16T12:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/?p=2510"},"modified":"2021-12-17T12:25:19","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T17:25:19","slug":"chapter-8-a-summer-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elizabethannwest.com\/author\/readingroom\/chapter-8-a-summer-shame\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 8 A Summer Shame"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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If you are a member of my Facebook group you have learned the awful news that my husband and I have separated. It’s amicable, as amicable as these things can be, of course, but I am now in a new place and rededicated to writing all of the happy endings we all need. I’ll call it therapy. \ud83d\ude42 I chuckled so much rereading this chapter… and I’m working on Book 6 and 7 in this series this month. But first, I am getting through all of the previous books in this series to remind myself of all the little sweet moments. You can preorder A Spring Society, Book 6, directly from me on Gumroad:\u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/gum.co\/sosbook6<\/a><\/p>

XOXOXO<\/p>

Elizabeth Ann West<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Chapter 8 - A Summer Shame, a Pride and Prejudice Variation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Edward Gardiner rearranged the items on his desk for the third time that afternoon. Birds chirping in the small tree outside his office window soured his mood, and he perused the calculations in front of him for the sixth time. With Gardiner Imports Exports running like a top, he thought his first full day of working from home would present him with more to attend, but no. Instead, the household finances and bills lay in a neat stack for his attention and his business, the man’s purpose for waking each morn, had been reduced to a mere summary of numbers for his approval.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Sighing, he picked up the first account for the butcher and gave it a cursory inspection. Now that Mrs. Gardiner was full with child, he asked the Cook to provide him with the burden of the household accounts. Alarmed at the sheer number of legs of lamb and cuts of beef tallied before him, he felt pained by every good meal he had enjoyed. Why their appetites for meat ran a monthly bill of over a guinea! Most reluctant, he signed the bill for payment, and moved along, comforted by the fact that had the worst happened, at least there was plenty room for his family to economize.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Tis not normal for her to be so sullen. I cannot abide it any longer and my heart breaks for her!” Mrs. Gardiner announced her vexations with their niece, Mary straight upon opening the study door.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Yes, dear.” Mr. Gardiner had enough experience with his pregnant wife to stick with safe responses at this stage.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“She sits in her room all day, I’ve tried countless times to speak with her. All to no avail.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Mmmhmm,” Mr. Gardiner returned to reading over the sundry bill, wondering why the family used such an excessive quantity of soap?<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Please, go talk to her.” Mrs. Gardiner ceased her pacing, panting. Nearly all activity made her face red these days.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Me? She couldn’t possibly wish to speak with me,” he said, turning around in his chair.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Edward, she is your niece. Sometimes a girl needs a father.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Edward Gardiner’s face paled. Of all of his nieces, Mary was the hardest one with which to converse casually. Although, talking with Mary would certainly be more pleasant than her younger sisters. He racked his brain and worked for a subject to ease their discourse. As he mulled his options, his wife’s impatience grew.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Please! This moping and isolation must stop. We cannot, in good conscience, allow her to feel pained as she does.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Of course, of course, I shall see to her now.” Edward managed a weak smile for his wife who looked at him with insistence. He shrugged on his morning coat he had removed earlier. His walking cane with the ornate head of a lion in his grasp, slowly and deliberately Mr. Gardiner took the stairs to the second floor. Mary’s room was the smallest on the right side of the home as it was the room she preferred. A gentle knock elicited a barely audible response from within and he creaked open the door.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Mary?” The room was dark as she had not bothered to light a candle, the curtains were closed on the tiny window. Heavily relying on his cane to carry his weight, he hobbled to the far side of the room and pulled back the curtain, allowing natural light to spill in, illuminating a flurry of dust fairies flittering between him and his niece. Mary wore black from head to foot and sat prim and proper on the edge of her bed. “I believe it is time we had a talk.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Uncle, I appreciate you and Aunt, truly, but I fear my burden is mine to carry.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Dragging the lone chair from the small vanity, Mr. Gardiner settled himself as comfortably as he could manage. “Nonsense, there is no burden not lightened by sharing it with another.” He tapped his nose at his bit of wisdom, hoping to find a smile, but instead, Mary viewed him with her flat expression.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“My actions killed a woman. I am a murderess.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Edward Gardiner sucked in his breath, not prepared for such a bold statement. “Surely not my niece! There must be a misunderstanding.” Frantic with worry, Gardiner’s mind raced as he tried to think how on earth Mary could be speaking the truth? All he knew was she did not wish to go to the house party at Matlock for the upcoming hunting season and for that, he could not blame her.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“It’s true. My selfish desires directly led to a woman being shot in cold blood. And . . .” Mary’s face crumpled as the emotion of finally admitting her guilt overwhelmed her. Gently, her uncle patted her shoulder.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Why don’t you begin at the start of the troubles and I will judge if you are to blame for what sounds like a most unfortunate accident.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“But it was no accident! She was shot!”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Frustrated, Edward Gardiner gripped his walking stick more firmly. This was not what he agreed to when he offered to speak with Mary to appease his wife, and he wondered if she knew the fantastical story Mary was holding to her chest. “Well, why don’t you tell me how you came to be in the midst of such an incident. Let’s begin there.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

Mary sniffed and searched for sincerity in her Uncle’s face. Feeling safe, she divulged the entire story of how she convinced the Colonel to take her with to apprehend Wickham and the terrible outcome. She left out the actions in the carriage afterward. Her uncle listened intently and at the end, felt ready to commit murder himself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“Mary Eloise Bennet, you will dress for dinner and come downstairs. You need to live, and no doubt, the story you have related to me is not your fault in the slightest! And you should never have been present for such a scheme! When I get my hands on that puffed up robin\u2014”<\/span><\/span><\/p>

“No, Uncle, please, I love him.” <\/span><\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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